Chiang Mai Trip Report -2

We picked up a driver outside the airport who quoted us a similar price to the taxi stand inside, and I was tired of trying to find a better deal, so we agreed and he took us to Baan Orapin. FYI on our return trip to the airport we used a taxi by meter and it was cheaper. (And when we waited in the Bangkok airport taxi line later in the trip to be sure we’d get a taxi by meter, he shut his meter off after we started driving away and quoted us a flat rate that was posted on a list on the back of the seat. Sneaky little buggers!) The adage is true, the meter rate is almost always cheaper. Anyway, the staff at Baan Orapin was very good. Unfortunately our first night there while we were away at dinner at the Riverside Café, it rained and when we returned our room was filled with flying ants. Someone had been there I guess to turn the bed down, but it wasn’t turned down, and the lights were left on inside along with the ceiling fan. The fan had killed several of them, so now there we dead bugs covering the floor. We discovered a crack in the floor near the bathroom where they were all coming up through, and so my husband ran back out in the rain to a store down the street to get bug spray. Thankfully the bed in that room had a mosquito net. That seemed to do the trick for the night, although I didn’t get out of bed again until morning. When I told the owner we had lots of bugs in our room at breakfast he didn’t seem surprised, and said it happens with the rain. Later that day when we were at our cooking class he called us, they had gone in the room to clean and were astonished on how many bugs there were, he was so apologetic and asked if it would be ok if his staff moved us to a different room so they could spray that room and under the foundation. When we returned that day to our new room, our things were placed EXACTLY as we had them in the other room. Wow, that’s service! It was these kinds of experiences that really made me love the people of Thailand.

Day 5- This day was spent doing a cooking class with the Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School. This was a blast. The morning started with a trip to the market to learn about the ingredients, then each course started in a classroom with an overhead mirror followed by us cooking the dish at our own stations. The staff was hilarious! The food was delicious, and we couldn’t have eaten any more by the end of the day if we tried. That night we ate at The Good View on the river. There was a great Thai (or Philippine) band that sang a wide variety of popular American music. Very entertaining, but the food was just ok, not amazing.

Day 6- Our trekking trip with Sergeant Kai, who was really great too. Spoke perfect English, friendly, funny, and brought us a unique experience. We started off by taking an hour elephant ride through the jungle. There were many other tourists here, and our mahout seemed to struggle a little with the elephant and a couple times he knocked him quite loudly on the top of the head with his stick to get his attention. Not having ever done this before, we figured this was standard, but it still made us feel a little bad. Plan on buying lots of bananas on the route to keep feeding the elephant to keep him motivated. Next we took a bamboo raft trip, no other tourists here. The water was lower than usual, but we still got plenty wet. Good thing I had my camera tucked away in a waterproof bag. This was a pretty and relaxing ride too. Then we had lunch at a local restaurant, and Sergeant Kai ordered way too much food, but it tasted excellent. Later we were off to Doi Inthanon national park where we planed to take a 2-3 hour trek through the jungle. We parked near a local Hmong village, and as we walked through it someone was playing a gong, so Sergeant Kai spoke to one of the villagers to inquire and found out that someone in that house had died and they were having a ceremony to ward off the evil spirits. It turned out that a Shamen (tribal doctor) lived in that village, and as we walked by their hut-like home we could hear her inside chanting. Another person inside with her saw us and waved us to come over, after speaking to Serg. Kai, they invited us in. We sat on small wooden stools on this dirt floored hut watching the Shamen dance and chant in front of an altar of candles, ribbons, images, gold leaf, ect. She had white linen like cloth covering her face and never once turned to look at us or stop the ceremony. According to the attendant, she would potentially do this for hours until she could sense the evil spirits have left the home of the family who’s loved one had died. Sergeant Kai was really excited about this, as he had never experienced this before either, so we felt really lucky that day. Then we went on our walk through the jungle where we saw no other tourists, visited several waterfalls, and finally came upon some rice patties. Wonderful views there, we walked along an irrigation canal until we entered a Karen village. There is a local coffee grower there, so we stopped for a little local espresso, freshly ground and brewed in front of our eyes. Not sure if serg. Kai slipped him some money, but it didn’t seem like he was charging anything. My husband is a coffee freak, so he really enjoyed this. The water seemed to be super hot so I didn’t worry too much about getting sick. Then we continued to walk the road through the village seeing people go about their daily duties husking rice, herding water buffalo along the road, feeding animals (pigs, chicken, oxen and water buffalo). At the end of the village, there was a man on a motorbike waiting for Serg. Kai to take him back to get the car. My husband and I continued walking the road until we got to the meeting spot. At this time it decided to rain and pour as a monsoon was passing through. We were completely soaked! That night back in Chiang Mai, Sergent Kai was planning on meeting a British friend of his at the German Brewery, and he invited us to join him. We had a blast with them, and the German beer was pretty good too. There was also a very good Thai Pop band performing which was cool to see.

Day 7- More of a relaxed day, slept in, went down the street to wash a load of laundry for 25 baht. Walked around the main city center of Chiang Mai and stopped at Wat Phra Sing, saw a local ceremony being chanted by the monks. Ate a very cheap lunch, 130 baht got us two main courses, two drinks, and mangos and sticky rice. Gotta love those chiang mai prices. That night we went to a traditional northern Khantoke dinner at the Chiang Mai Cultural center. The food was interesting, and generally tasty. They had dancers doing a variety of northern thai dances, and after the show you went to another pavilion to watch dances performed by some of the tribal cultures. A good nights entertainment, and food we wouldn’t have eaten elsewhere.

Day 8- Woke up not feeling well, body aches, tired, little appetite. Unfortunately preordered the traditional thai breakfast the day before for that morning, which was very spicy and would have been good, but I wasn’t much in the mood to eat. I worried that the Owner of Baan Orapin thought I didn’t like it. After breakfast I went back to bed for a couple hours, then felt a little better. We decided to only take on one excursion today, but unfortunately made a poor choice. We rode in a Rot Dange (the diesel two row taxi trucks) up to the top of Doi Sutep. The ride was absolutely nauseating, not only because of the winding road, but because the diesel exhaust came right in the back door and nearly gassed us to death. That evening was the Sunday market, which was like a calmer version of Marti gras. We found some very inexpensive things including a large wall wood carving for 300 baht ($8). That night went to eat at an Italian restaurant (La Gondola) due to my still queasy stomach. Very delich.