Chiang Rai & Laos Tour from Chiang Mai

We wanted to take a day trip to Chiang Rai to see the white temple and golden triangle. They  were areas & sights that sounded really interesting and would have been easier to see on an organized tour than trying to go ourselves. 

Well the trip kinda sucked. We realized we really don't like organized tours and felt like we were hoarded like cattle. It was a long day - started at 7:30 am and lasted until 7 pm. 

Our first stop was at these hot springs. Which was really a glorified rest stop. The parking lot was surrounded by cheap jewelry stands. And the hot springs were not natural. They took the hot water from the ground and pumped it in man made pools around the parking lot. The water was SO hot, I couldn't even put my feet in.  

We went to the White Temple - the main reason for taking this trip. It was stunning and so unique, but completely crowded with tourists. All buses must go on the same route and stop at the same time. 

We also wanted to see the Golden Triangle area. But the tour just drove by the fields, and said about 3 sentences of historical information. So we only saw the region from the window of the van. 

We got to the River which separates Thailand and Laos. We took a short river cruise, but only a part of it was interesting and pretty. We did get to see some fisherman shacks, but most of the sights they pointed out were casinos.

We got to cross the boarder into Laos, but you don't go to a real area. We visited a border market, which is another area of tourist stalls selling fake bags and a local whiskey. We were there for about 30 minutes and so we didn't really see Laos, any city, or culture. 

We did try the local whisky, which was soaked with scorpions or snakes or some weird thing. Each had a different meaning, such as energy. 

Our last stop was the hill tribe villages. These are three different types of refugee groups from Burma, the most famous of which lengthen their necks by wearing gold jewelry and another has big ear jewelry. 

They have an outpost closer to Chiang Mai, but we chose to go on the tour to the further area because it was supposed to be less touristy. Well I didn't feel that. The people did live there, but they are transplant outposts to exhibit their culture to the tourists. It's like watching the people in a zoo. The culture displayed starts and ends with seeing them in their traditional dress...which you see while walking through the tourist stalls where they are selling their tourist souvenirs (the long necks do weave in front of you). But this is the only way they can make a living. 

Overall, we did get to see a lot, but it felt like we were on a Disney tour instead of really enjoying culture. 

Chiang Mai, Thailand

We arrived in the evening, and we immediately dropped our bags and went to the Sunday night market. It was right around the corner from our hotel. There were huge streets lined with crafts, clothes and so many street food options.

Our goal was to eat as much food as possible, and we succeed!!! We spent less than $7 and tried SO MUCH!

Pork bun & gyoza 

Sticky rice and banana 

Fried crab sandwich 

Pork balls 

String mushrooms wrapped in grilled ham

Coconut pudding

Seaweed salad sushi

Pork jelly

We even popped into a few temple courtyards because we were so in awe of the buildings. They are covered in gold! Very different and much more ornate than the temples we saw in Bali. 

We spent our first day in Chiang Mai walking everywhere around old town. We probably walked a total of 11 miles, and we saw all the main sights.

Wat Chedi Luang 

Wat Phan Tao 

Three Kings Monument 

Wat Chang Man

Wat phra Singh Temple

Wat Duan Dok

After all the walking, we got a foot massage at HHC. It is one of the more highly rated places and was hidden. It was a really good massage. I definitely enjoy the massages more than Josh, but I am converting him! 

We also ate more great food. Josh found this cool Australian breakfast place, Overstand. We had good coffee, a smoothie and really great and unique breakfast sandwiches (like hummus, egg and chorizo). For lunch, we went to a very local place, Huen Phen, which was good, but some of the dishes were so spicy we couldn't eat it. For dinner, we went to Dash. It was good Pad Thai, but the traditional way is not like what I've had in NYC, and I'm conditioned to that, and like it better! :/ whoops. What made the meal was that the owner was talking to the table next to us so we eavesdropped and got a really good Thai culture and history lesson.

After dinner, we checked out another night bazaar, which was a lot of cheap stalls all the same and way less impressive than the Sunday market. 

After such a full first day, we had a slow and relaxing start to day two. We went to a yoga class at Wild Rose, which was a beautiful thai studio. We had a very good teacher who mad slight corrections that make all the difference and led a unique class. 

We then went for breakfast (really almost lunch) at Good Morning Chaing Mai. Awesome coffee. Finding good iced coffees was a daily mission. 

The yoga studio owner was also there and gave us a tip to go to a temple on the outskirts of town - Wat Pha Lat (Wat Palad). It has a small waterfall running through it and a cool hike surrounding it.

At night, we took a cooking class at Zab-e-Lee cooking school. 

Anne the owner picked us up and took us to a local market to pick out supplies. The experience was great, with her pointing out and explaining all the different vegetables and spices. There are so many different varieties we don't have - for instance they have egg plants that look like peas.

We cooked four courses:

1. Stir fry - I cooked cashew chicken and Josh cooked pad Thai

2. Appetizer - I cooked papaya salad and Josh cooked spring rolls

3. A soup - we each cooked different ones (but I don't remember)

4. Curry - I cooked Padang Padang and Josh did Massaman

It was so fun but the class was also really helpful to understand the Thai flavorings. It will make me enjoy the local food more because I will know what we are eating. 

After the class we walked around. We went down Ratchama street, which turns out it is lined with "bachelor bars". That basically means prostitutes are hanging out at the entrance and call every guy in. Even though we were walking together, that didn't stop them from calling us in too. All the old guys going in and leaving with girls was a sight to see. When a guy walked in, they would immediately get mobbed with girls hanging all over them - literally with a leg propped over or curled under their arm. They go in selling it (more like forcing it), not waiting for an advance or indication from the guy. There was no getting a drink - Walking in was the start of a sex deal it seemed. We were not ready for that and didn't expect to see the prostitution in Chiang Mai for whatever reason. I thought it was really only in Phuket. Wrong. 

We also walked into a mall like bar strip. The hookers were out in full force here - and we saw our first lady boys! But also at the end was the Muy Thai "arena" so we caught a glimpse of the fighting. 

Day 3 started with another good breakfast - this time at Cafe Than Aeon. They had awesome iced coffee and the best fruit / yogurt / granola ratio. We got really into breakfast places to start off the day, and get good thai coffee (loved the sweetness).  

I went and had a traditional Thai massage at Naraucha. The Thai massage is so different. She was using her legs, putting me in odd positions, and even kneeling on me. It was a stretch and lengthen massage (vs. kneeding) which I didn't like as much as the ones I've gotten at home. But for $8, who cares!!! It was still very nice. 

That afternoon we went to Pentara elephant farm. It was expensive and Josh had no interest in it (because he has gone on a real African safari and seen elephants in the wild). He fought me tooth and nail and made all the comments he could. Well it was awesome!!! And while he won't admit it, or talk about it, the smiles he had were an indication he liked it.

And I thought it was AMAZING!!! first we got to interact with two adult female elephants and a 5 month old baby. The elephants often parent in pairs of females. Our tour started with an introduction of the sanctuary and the elephants. We were then each paired up with an elephant.

I had "Pouchan" - a 14 year old male with tusks. He was quite playful! First we fed our elephant a basket of sugar cane and bananas. It was so slimey and weird! Mine then picked me up in his trunk!

We next learned how to tell if the elephant was healthy and gave him a bath. The bath was really cool (except it was basically in elephant poo water). We got on top of the elephants to scrub them. Mine used his trunk to spray me while I was on him!

I haven't been that in awe, playful and genuinely laughing in so long! We all lined up for a photo and got sprayed. Then we went on a short elephant walk through their forest area. But the short walk was plenty. It was an awesome afternoon!!! 

That night we walked around a lot looking for a dinner place. We got a late start so the local places we knew of were closed. We went to an unimpressive western place. But it was right near a strip of cool bars. We had a drink after at Zoe in Yellow. It had a lot of travelers there as well as locals. And at least not all the locals seemed to be hookers! Ha. We watched one crazy guy dance for awhile - he was clearly on Molly and loving the music. Very entertaining!!! 

I go back and forth on Chiang Mai...it's a cool city. And livable if you stay away from the hookers. But it seems the main draw is all the tours you do from Chiang Mai. The city is cool but it's all temples and massage places, so you can see all that and the markets in few days.