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Our guesthouse is owned by a Frenchman so we had a lovely french breakfast! We then set off to explore! The city is very cultural and there are 180 temples here! There were two main ones that we wanted to see so we went to find them! We enjoyed just wandering through the streets as you don't get hassled here for tuk tuks or massages! The Thais are also more friendly here, while walking down the street many people who pass you or drive by smile which makes a nice change! While trying to understand the map and work out where we were, a young Thai guy stopped to tell us where we were! We carried on chatting and he told us more about the city and how it is much cheaper to shop here than in Bangkok! He also told us about a parade that was happening this evening for the boys becoming monks which we were keen to see. He then mentioned how he had recently visited England and how he had been staying in Bicester! What a coincidence!! He had just graduated from university in Sydney and was traveling a bit before starting work! He didn't think it was that much of a coincidence but we left him thinking wow, what a small world!! We found a small temple to mooch at and take photos of before continuing on and finding a much bigger one to explore. Wat Phra Singh has many beautiful buildings with all the detail and sparkly bits and is the most visited temple in Chiang Mai! We had a mooch around the buildings and on our way out we got talking to a teacher at the school for boys and monks. He told us of more places to visit and recommended a good place to book our trek and where to get a suit made, the same place as the guy earlier had recommended! We then discovered that he had been taught English by someone who lived in Oxford! Odd!!
We then decided to jump in a tuk tuk and visit some of the places he had recommended! First stop was at Wat Sri Doncahi, another temple set beside the river but less touristy! It was much smaller but contained a lucky Buddha! We got talking to yet another Thai, told you they were friendly, who lived in Bangkok but was originally from Phuket. He agreed with us that Chiang Mai is much nicer than Bangkok! Again he recommended the same places as the other 2 people we had already spoken to.
It was then back to the Tuk Tuk for a long drive to a gem stone gallery! We didn't realise what it was when we told about it but gave it a go anyway! It was in the largest jewelery store where we were shown a short video about mining for gems and how they are made into jewelery. We then got to walk through the factory and see it for real! Was quite interesting but we weren't too fussed! We were then led through to where they sold all the jewelery! There were some very pretty pieces but we knew better than to ask for prices!! We made our way around rather quickly and out the door to our tuk tuk! He took us across the road to where some local handicrafts we being made, including umbrellas! We watched as they decorated the umbrellas with such ease and in no time at all! One of them decorated my sunglasses case with an elephant! He did it so quickly but in detail and precision! From there we went back into town to visit the tailors that had been recommended by so many people! Mark hadn't even considered buying a suit before but decided to enquire about trousers for work! They were reasonably priced and we found a nice style so he got measured up and we go back tomorrow for a fitting! We then got the tuk tuk to drop us at the TAT to book our trek! We leave on Monday for 2days and 1 night! We get to ride on an elephant, go bamboo rafting, visit lots of waterfalls and stay with a hill tribe! Exciting! From there we wandered through town and got some late lunch, more like tea really! We then popped back to the guesthouse to drop bits off. We gave our washing in this morning and it was washed, dried and ironed by the time we had returned! It was nice to wear clean clothes for once!!
We then went to Wat Chedi Luang to watch the monk parade, however there was nothing to be seen! There were lots of monks around and lots of young ones but no parade, no crowds and no elephants like we had been promised! We looked around the temple anyway which was full of detail again. In the middle of the courtyard is the old temple that was part destroyed in an earthquake. There was still much detail to be seen, including elephant statues!
From there we went down to the Saturday market which seems to be a big thing here. There were lots of stalls selling clothes and handicrafts as well as lots of food stalls. We had a mooch around before getting some dinner from the stalls. We were both pretty shattered so made our way back to the guesthouse for some snoozy time!
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