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We arrived in style on the overnight VIP coach from Ayutthaya to Chiang Mai with its wide reclining chairs and even a 'bus hostess'. We were welcomed into our hotel, the 'Wangburapa Grand' situated by the city's moat where we would call home for 5 nights. We have done such a lot in Chiang Mai so here we go-
A day with the elephants: We chose the Rantong elephant save and rescue centre as it had great reviews and it seemed like a much smaller place than the alternatives. We arrived on a pick up truck with 6 others. I was surprised as the elephants were allowed to roam free but came straight over when they saw we had a basket full of bananas. They sucked them out of my hand with their trunk and tucked them into their mouths 3 at a time! Once changed into our fashionable elephant outfits we were taught the 'Karen' mahout language which involves controlling an elephant with voice commands only, no sticks. Luckily we all got to have a practice on an elephant before we embarked on the trek. Climbing on and staying on was the hardest part and involved using muscles I didn't think I had! The mahout calls were the easy part! We were prepped, approved and ready to go. Oli sat just behind the ears and I sat in the middle of his back with only a small piece of rope to hold on to. Every time Oli shouted 'Pai' (walk on and stop trying to eat everything in sight!) our elephant lifted his trunk and splattered us with whatever was lurking inside, dust, water or mud! The sun was beating down and the trek was becoming steeper and steeper, so it was hard work but the view over the rice terraces was incredible. After a lunch cooked by the locals and a quick snooze it was my turn to be the mahout. This time we headed for the river. We climbed down the hill sitting on our elephant and tried desperately not to fall off and as soon as we got into the river I shouted 'me-long' (sit down) and we both tumbled off into the river between two very happy elephants. In fact ours was so excited to be there that he rolled and splashed around the entire time we were down there, so we bathed the baby elephant instead! I let Oli ride back to the ranch and we made our way back through the rice terraces to the city.
Flight of the gibbon: With our harnesses and helmets on we were excited to be at 'Thailand's best attraction'. This involved taking about 20 zip-wires through the dense mae-hong son jungle. I was particularly scared as each platform was so high, but it was the 800 metre long wire (longest zipwire in the world) that made me crumble to my knees! Being coaxed by the instructors I jumped and before I knew it I was in the middle of 2 mountains, alone and moving at what felt like the speed of light. An exhilarating experience! We also had a go at a few bridges, two abseils and one that they call 'superman', where you jump off face first being held up by a wire attached to the back of your harness. Scary- but very fun! We even saw a gibbon! This was a very expensive day but worth every penny!
Cookery course: Taught by a lovely young thai girl called Sue, we were the only customers to book for the evening course that day, so it was our own private session! We were taught about the thai herbs being grown in their garden and then taken to a local market to learn about the different ingredients that we were going to use, like the rice or noodles. We got the cook pad thai, chicken with cashews, papaya salad and spring rolls which we then got to eat (regretting the Burger King we just ate for lunch). Then we got to make our own curry paste from scratch which was the best part using a pestle and mortar. I made Massaman and Oli made the northern dish Khao Soi. Both were the most delicious things we've eaten so far (but we would say that, we made them!).
All in all a few great trips done from Chiang Mai. We also fell in love with the city itself with its vibrant walking street, night bazaar and an array of temples, even one on the mountain. We had a fantastic time here!
Statistics:
Lonely planet recommended restaurants: 3
Temples seen in Chiang Mai: 7
Dishes cooked and eaten by us: 6
- comments
Mum Do you think this is your best place so far? Those photos with the elephants are amazing-to be that close to them must have been lovely (if a bit smelly..??) Enjoy Pai xxxxx
Rachel Sounds amazing - jealous of the elephant meeting and cookery course!
Rob N Wow the elephant trek and chilling out in the water with them sounds unreal. I'm told its a common thing to do as an attraction but to me that is epic!