Chiang Mai, Thailand

It's been a couple of busy days in Chiang Mai!


walking the daily walk to the Blue Diamond Cafe

On Thursday, Jochem and I celebrated our 5-year anniversary, and what better way to do this than with food? So, we signed up for a cooking class with the Chiang Mai Thai Farm Cooking School. In the morning we were picked up by our driver, our teacher and 3 other couples (2 girls from the Netherlands, 1 couple from Australia and 2 boys from England). Our teacher was a young Thai woman who pretty much laughed at everything that was said and done - it was hilarious. First, they took us to a local market to teach us about traditional Thai ingredients. Then we were taken to their organic farm where we were shown how to cook jasmin and sticky rice. After that we received a tour of the farm and then it was time to start the cooking! In the morning I prepared yellow curry paste for my yellow curry, coconut milk soup and sweet and sour stir fry. Jochem chose different dishes to prepare so that we could taste each other's food. Our teacher made a papaya salad and off we went to eat it all. Afterwards I was stuffed, but I still had to make spring rolls and bananas in coconut milk. My favorites were definitely the coconut milk soup and the bananas in coconut milk - mmm... After the cooking class we spent some lovely hours at the Blue Diamond Cafe, sipping herbal tea and reading. We ate our leftovers in bed.


preparing vegetarian spring rolls


lunch with our cooking class

On Friday, we had arranged for something very special. We were again picked up at our guest house to spend a day at the Elephant Nature Park. This is an elephant sanctuary willed into existence by Sangduen 'Lek' Chailert to offer retired, injured and abused elephants a new home. Since these are domesticated elephants, they can't return to the wild, so Lek offers them a semi-wild home to be in. These elephants don't perform in shows and can't be ridden, although we did feed them and helped bathe them. It was important to me to see this place, because I admire people who stand up for animals despite huge obstacles. I always try to be a good tourist in this regard, so despite several opportunities to ride elephants, hug tigers and hold monkeys, we have withdrawn from these tourist attractions and, instead, opted to go here. If you ever decide to ride an elephant, I encourage you to think twice, because you may have no idea what that elephant has has to endure in order to ride you on its back. In Thailand this is called the 'crush,' which is a ceremony in which a young elephant is locked inside a cage too small to move in, and then deprived of water, food and sleep while being continually beaten and stabbed. This lasts for approximately 3 days, though longer with male elephants, who fight harder, with whom it can take up to 7 days. The whole idea is to crush the elephant's spirit with so much pain until it listens to human authority. So, I am definitely glad that I didn't opt for the elephant ride while I was in India last year, although I do feel bad about climbing on its back to bathe it, if only for 10 minutes. But at Lek's santuary, the elephants are living in peace and it's an amazing sight to see. Moreover, the park is situated beautifully - it's in a valley, surrounded by lush, green mountains. The buildings are all open and made with natural materials, which makes you feel like you're in nature all the time. Dogs and cats roam free everywhere. There is vegetarian food, and posters that say "Elephants Make Great Vegetarians" and yoga classes on the roof. We immediately fell in love with the place, and even seriously thought about staying for a week to do volunteer work, but eventually decided against it for various reasons. We did, however, vow to come back within 10 years to volunteer. We've only made a vow like this one once before, in 2007 when we first visited Cinque Terre in Italy, where we vowed to come back after 5 years. We ended up coming back a year later, so here's hoping, because I wrote in my journal in big, fat, capital letters: IT IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE I HAVE SEEN IN SOUTH EAST ASIA THUS FAR!









On Saturday, we hired a scooter and drove to Doi Suthep. This is a hill just outside the city where the famous Wat Phra That Doi Suthep is located. The temple was beautiful of course, but it was especially nice to feel the wind in my hair, leave the heat of the city, and see some green up close and personal.


Wat Phra That Doi Suthep


on the steps leading up to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep


enjoying the view over Chiang Mai from Doi Suthep

At night we went to the Night Bazaar where we bought a fake Calvin Klein watch for me. I never wear a watch because I hate them, but I no longer have my cell phone to tell time and I guess that Jochem got sick of me asking every 30 minutes what time it is.

Today it is Sunday and we are taking it easy. We'd like to get another massage because the first one was so good and I'm quite curious about this whole reflexology business. Other than that I just want to get myself into some AC, because it's been getting hotter and hotter here. It all started when the rain stopped. So far, so good. However, the humidity stayed. And now, on top of the humidty, we have a searing sun that hurts to the touch. My body feels like one of those extremely spicy curries that gets hotter and hotter over time. The fact that we don't have AC in our room, but just a fan, doesn't help matters much. I sure do miss the swimming pool at the Atlanta in Bangkok! My sensitive skin is protesting quite a bit, having always behaved like a newborn baby in need of constant care, but what can I do? I take showers twice a day and try not to lose it and usually this works out fine. But I sure am looking forward to spend some time on the beaches of southern Thailand. But first: LAOS!

We have booked a bus to Chiang Khong and we will be picked up at 8.30 PM tonight. We will arrive in Chiang Khong at around 2 AM, sleep in a guest house, have breakfast, and then try to make our way to Laos as soon as possible. We hope to catch a longtail boat to Huay Xai, in Laos, cross the border, and then catch a slow boat to take us to Luang Prabang over the Mekong River. After Luang Prabang we will probably just fly to Siem Reap in Cambodia, visit Angkor Wat, and make our way back to Bangkok over land. We might be stranded on a boat somewhere for several days, so please don't be alarmed - we'll get back in touch as soon as we have arrived in Luang Prabang.



If you'd like to see more pictures of our world trip, check out our picture gallery here!