Wednesday 3/20/2008- Saturday 3/22/2008:
We sadly departed the JW Marriott and flew from Phuket to Chiang Mai for the last leg of our adventure with our travel buddies. Chiang Mai was definitely our favorite spot of the trip. After arriving at the airport we watched as a parade-like float drove threw the airport parking lot. Apparently it was some sort of festival. We were then greeted by a taxi who took us to our new home: Fern Paradise. This was a hotel which basically consisted of a bunch of large tree houses. We expected them to be a bit more rustic, but they ended up being rather comfortable and probably better than our accommodation in Ao Nang. Our concierge at Fern Paradise was Ohm who was the owner and architect’s son. He was incredible and helped us plan all our activities while we were in Chiang Mai.
For dinner on our first night, we met up with Laurel and her friend Luke. We met Laurel on our flight from Bali to Bangkok. We went to a very nice restaurant called Daalaabaa. It was expensive for Chiang Mai (which means it ran us about $15/person for dinner and drinks). It was fun seeing Laurel again and meeting her friend Luke.
Thursday morning Dermot made a tee time for golf at Green Valley while Michael, Erin and Katie all headed into Old Town to do some exploring. The golf course was great and Dermot managed to play well. The front 9 was great, but then a combination of allergies, heat stroke and sunscreen in the eyes managed to ruin his back 9. Dermot’s caddy was very nice and could not understand why he volunteered to walk around in the sun without an umbrella for shade. The caddie in Thailand cover every single square inch of their skin with some form of clothing or hat, just so they will not get any color from the sun. Getting a tan in Thailand is looked down upon, because only the poor working should have to stand out in the sun all day.
While Dermot golfed, Michael and the ladies visited Buddhist monks at Doi Suthep. We were lucky enough to be there during their blessing, so Michael and Katie got blessed by water being splashed, and were given bracelets of tied string around their wrist wishing them good luck. Our next stop down the very windy road was to the King’s Northern Thai home, Bhubing Palace. It is only open for visitors from Jan-March, so we were lucky to be able to sneak a peak at his house. The grounds were much manicured with intricate flower gardens, palms, and ‘guest homes’ made of log cabins. After our tour, we head into Old Town.
Dermot met up with everyone in the Old Town where we decided it was time for a little break, by taking trip to Sinativa Spa Club. We each got the two Hour special Package: Shiatsu Massage & Eastern Head Massage for ladies and aromatic oil massage and herbal steam and Jacuzzi for the gentlemen. This trip was not quite as enjoyable as the spa trip in Ao Nang, but we’re not complaining…. We had the spa’s taxi drop us off at the Riverside Bar, where we would be taking a dinner cruise along the Ping River. The views were definitely more impressive than the food, but we still enjoyed our dinner. After the 75 minute cruise we headed back to Fern Paradise and got a good night’s rest because we would be rafting and riding elephants the next day.
Friday morning we were picked up at our hotel by the rafting company. We then took a VERY bumpy 2 hour ride to the rafting spot. The group was just the four of us and a fellow expat named Chad. Chad was finishing up a two year English teaching assignment in Thailand and heading back to Oregon.
The Mae Taeng River was not exactly raging as it was dry season, but the rafting was a lot of fun. The guides were highly entertaining as were all the local children who were swimming in the river. We learned that while we couldn’t speak each other’s language, splash fights were a universal language…smiles had by all.
Half way through our rafting trip we got out of the river and then rode elephants for about an hour. It was more or less what we expected, except we didn’t realize that elephants were capable of climbing very steep and rocky hills and have no fear of heights as they seemed to enjoy standing on the edge of a cliff. We also didn’t realize that we didn’t steer the elephant, and his ‘owner’ walked (sometimes VERY) far behind us.
We were a bit nervous at first, but soon trusted our elephant who we rewarded with some bananas as a treat. We realized that ½ hour was more than enough time on elephants, as this picture of Erin shows…. Haha.
Back in the river we finished the rest of our rafting trip and then got back in the van for our drive home. For dinner we decided to be a little less adventurous and went to an Italian place called DeStefanos. The food was very good, considering were no where near Italy. The owner was from just north of Milan and managed to bring some fantastic Italian cooking to Thailand. After dinner we went to the night bazaar to do some shopping. Katie and Dermot bought a bag for Michael and Erin to bring home with some unnecessary ‘el crappo’ collected over the past 2+ months. Erin found a silk runner for the end of their bed as a memento from Thailand. The haggling process of the Night Bazaar fun and we all walked away with something we wanted.
On Saturday we woke up in our tree houses for the last time. We packed our bags, had breakfast, took pictures with Ohm and his mom and then said goodbye. We were going to Asia Centric Cooking School for the day before heading straight to the airport for our 4:15pm flight to Cambodia.
Our cooking school was lots of fun, and our instructor, Gay, was very professional and spoke English very goodly. Haha… We made 7 dishes over six hours, and we were seriously STUFFED. We started the morning at the market, where we each got baskets to help carry our ingredients home. We had a great group of UK and French couples, and of course we were Team America. (Freedom isn’t free!...from the movie Team America? Anyone?..) Our favorite dishes were the deep fried spring rolls, pad thai, and deep fried bananas. We also learned how to make chili-paste, and how to ‘de-spicy’ it with peanuts…very very important for Katie’s sensitive palate.
After serious food comas, we said our tearful goodbyes to Erin and Michael and made our way to our next stop: Cambodia.