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We had a brilliant time in Chiang Mai. Everyone told us that we'd love it there and they were right!!!
Day 1 - The Thai cookery course.
We opted for an evening course rather than a full day course. There were 6 of us in total plus our cooking teacher 'Perm'. Perm regarded himself as a bit of a comedian and though his jokes weren't all that funny the fact that he laughed hysterically after he'd cracked one made you laugh as well. The cooking course was held at his house which was in itself an adventure as it allowed us to see where and how the average Thai lives and I can report that they live pretty much like the British. We were driven into a suburban area with little cul de sacs off it, the houses are all dorma bungalows with private walled gardens and to top it all off the roads have speed bumps to slow the traffic down. Ring any bells - I could have almost been on Providence Green!
We cooked some cracking meals but the highlight of the evening was the live fire event - see photo album for photographic evidence. We were making Chicken and Cashew nut in Oyster sauce and just as we put the chicken in he came round and threw some water into the wok - completely unecessary for the meal but great fun for everybody!
We got a recipe book after the course so if anybody wants a green curry when we come home.....David's your man!
Day 2 - The 2 day Hill Tribe Eco Trek - day 1
There were many many treks to choose from, all a variation on the same theme, but eventually we opted for the Lahu Hill Tribe Trek. (Apologies Rich and Becky we did check out the Pooh Eco Trek but at 4,500 Baht per person as opposed to the 1,200 Baht we paid it was pretty much out of our budget - thanks for the suggestion though!!!)
On the journey over to the trekking area we stopped to buy water - the minute you stepped off the truck you were accosted by thai women in traditional costume trying to sell you lovely hand knitted water bottle holders but the thing that caught your eye was their teeth. They are as black as if they're rotten to the core but they aren't, they've actually been blackened by chewing Betel Nut. Betel nut has a mild narcotic effect and is addictive - as you chew the betel wad it creates red saliva which the chewer spits out but their lips and gums turn bright red. As the years go by, if they continue chewing Betel nut, this redness becomes so deep that it basically looks black - it really is not attractive!
The first port of call on the trek was an elephant ride - we actually tried to find a trek that didn't include this (as we've already ticked that box) but unfortunately they were non existant. We were on one of the smallest elephants and as it was fairly obedient the handlers decided we could go solo. This in itself was fine but to make it more interesting they took us up narrow paths and along the edges of ravines and the drop was on my side and the elephant went too close to the side and it was all very scary!!!!! But even worse than that was Leon and Belinda's elephant - good grief I would have been crying if I was on that one, it just did what the hell it wanted and got branches from the riskiest of places. To top it all off we thought at one point that it's handler, who was an aged man, had either died or gone to sleep as he suddenly slumped on the the elephants head and stayed like that for a little while. Belinda's face was a picture!
After the elephant ride came the 3 hour trek to the Lahu village tribe. Boy it was hard work we climbed up through jungle terrain to approx 1000m above sea level. David found it OK but I felt that the guide was going too fast and we only had one real rest stop. I thought I was going slowly but eventually 4 people fell behind me which made me feel better. To stay in a village like that is quite an honour. We all stayed in a communal hut, where we ate, slept and were entertained. The food was excellent and as the nights up there drop extremely cold (this is their winter!) they built us a camp fire. To create some atmosphere the younger guides played the acoustic guitar and sang - people were complaining when they sang Ronan Keating's 'When you say nothing at all' for the 18th time but I appreciated it! There was a mad (or is that alcoholic) Englishman from Sheffield on the trip who owns a guesthouse in Chiang Mai and he introduced the boys to the delights of Lowcow a thai rice whisky. Me thinks that he may have enjoyed it slightly too much himself though!!
Day 3 - The 2 day Hill Tribe Eco Trek - day 2
The Sunrise was glorious from our hut and we were so high up that the cloud was below us. The morning of day 2 was all about getting down the mountain we had worked so hard to climb the previous day. In essence this sounds easy and at the time it didn't seem that bad but believe me we all knew about it in our legs the following day.
The highlight of today was the white water rafting - David, Leon, Belinda and I were in one boat. All the boats got very competitive and there was much racing and splashing. At one point we all got out of our boat and just drifted in the strong current - this was OK until we had to climb back into the boat! We finished the journey with a little bit of rafting. They split us into 2 teams so there were 6 on one raft and 7 on the other. Our raft seemed OK and we managed to navigate down the river in no time at all but the other raft wasn't quite so lucky. Basically it was sinking under the weight and all the people were up to their waists in water - it was hilarious to watch from the other raft!
Day 4 - The Bike Ride
We had one day to see Chiang Mai so we decided that the most efficient way of doing this would be on 2 wheels! We found a bike rental place just opposite the hostel - 50B (1 pound) for the whole day. They weren't the best bikes but they worked - Leon, David and Belinda had matching silver raleigh tourers complete with baskets for their handbags and manbags whereas I had an unamed blue model that basically looked like a childs bike!
Chaing Mai has been a really enjoyable stop on this trip we have met some great people and leave with very fond memories - next stop - Phuket!
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