Cooking, Trekking, & Motorbikes

We've had an amazing and eventful week in Chiang Mai (northern Thailand). Chiang Mai is one of the best places to go for courses of any kind (cooking, yoga, massage, etc), as well as jungle treks, zip line adventures, and day trips to small towns surrounding the area. It's a small, unique town that still has an old-Thailand feel (still has a large brick wall surrounding part of the old city from back when it needed to be protected from invaders).

I decided the second day I was here that I wanted to partake in a cooking course. After some deliberation between the ten different school's advertising fliers sitting around at our guesthouse, I decided on the Thai Kitchen Cookery Center. I felt like a kid on the first day of school, a little nervous, hopping into the back of the school's transport truck and saying hello to a few strangers who soon became my new "friends". Linda (from Australia), Hayley & Ross (both from England) and I spent all day slaving over the wok together and bonding over our travel experiences.

By the end of the day, I had cooked Pad Thai with prawns, Chicken with Cashew Nuts, Massaman Curry (a sweet curry with potatoes, onions, and chicken), spring rolls, coconut milk chicken soup, and fried banana in a toffee sauce and vanilla ice cream. SO DELICIOUS. I can't wait to try the recipes at home--that is, if Albertson's carries curry powder and strange Thai vegetables.

That night, the four of us, plus my Ross and another girl we had met, Bridie, decided to go to Pai (a small,hippie mountain city about 100 miles north). We rented manual motorbikes and headed up. Thank God Ross knows how to handle a scooter. 5 hours, 1 decent lunch break, and 6 sore butts later, we had arrived. We spent the night drinking rum, playing King's and other drinking games, and had a great time wandering around Pai. Despite running out of gas pre-Pai (word to the wise- don't rent from Mr. Beer's Motorbikes!), and waking up to a mysterious flat tire on our bike, all in all it was a great time with some fantastic new friends.

On November 5th, Ross and I joined with about 10 other travelers set out for our jungle trek, something that we had been looking forward to since we began our trip. It was a two-day, one night trek and the first day consisted of visiting a butterfly/orchid farm (which was alright but made for some great photos), and a long, difficult, ardous 10 km hike. A little stressful, but we did it! We then ate some delicious food, enjoyed the company, and spent the night by the fire in a hilltribe village with no electricity...The "cabin" we all slept in was completely made of bamboo and wood, and we slept on mats on the floor covered with mosquito netting...An interesting night for sure.

The following day, we awoke to toast and a hard boiled egg along with some Nescafe (the coffee of choice over here), followed by some more light trekking until....drumroll....we got to ride on the elephants! Ross and I lucked out and got a mama elephant, so her baby was walking with us the whole time. We just walked around the hills for 40 minutes or so and fed her some bananas..It is definitely a wonderful experience. Being that close to these creatures is just surreal. We had heard some horror stories about the animals being badly abused and mistreated, but the extent of abuse we witnessed was a firm swat on the head with a stick if the elephants did something wrong (ie. turn the wrong way, get naughty, etc.). We hope that's all the punishment they receive.

Then, we rode a bamboo raft down the river, which was eh. Next, we white water rafted down another river which was amazing...Complete with helmets, life vests, and paddles. It was pretty intense at some points but I loved it..I could have done that all day! Finally, we ended our trek with a trip to a waterfall- pretty cool but nothing to write home about (ha). Next time we find ourselves in Chiang Mai, we would love to go to the Elephant Nature Park (both Bridie & the other Ross did this) where they got to bathe, swim with, ride, and play with the elephants all day. A lot more expensive, but completely worth every baht.

Now, as we say goodbye to Thailand and continue our journey to Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam we are very sad to say goodbye. From the beaches and islands, to the quiet green hillsides, and especially all of the amazing friends we have met, Thailand has been very good to us. We can't wait to see what the next month and a half has in store for us!