Friday, March 28, 2014

Chiang Mai: Thailands redemption city!

Chiang Mai was next and it was my favorite! For as gross, polluted and dirty as Bangkok was, Chiang Mai was the polar opposite.  It was absolutely lovely.  The city was large enough that you could find things that you needed, but small enough that you didn't feel like you were going to be run over by a motorbike.

Its safe to ride bikes in Chiang Mai, so we did!
Kelley found this cute little hotel called Pak Chiang Mai (http://www.pakchiangmai.com).  It was a quaint hotel that weaved jungle and water features throughout it despite it being tucked inside the middle of the city center. It truly felt like a little oasis despite the fact that when you stepped outside and walked 50 meters to the right, you were smack dab in the middle of a hawker filled, bustling thoroughfare.

Jungle setting in the city
The rooms were super clean and had HOT water!
 Our first night there, we walked around town a bit then went to dinner at a place called Hot Chilli (There is no website, you can find it on Trip Advisor though).  It was super touristy and decked out with leftover Valentines Day paraphernalia, but the food was extraordinary. 




We had curries and whole fish and vegetables and delicious mixed cocktails. YUM!

Some delicious gin based cocktail

Chicken Coconut curry

Market vegetables

Bacon wrapped Asparagus

Whole steamed fish
There is so much to do in Chiang Mai, it is ridiculous.  I didn't feel like we had enough time there and we stayed for 3 days before heading up to the elephant sanctuaries.  One day we took a cooking class and learned to make 4 different dishes from scratch, then got to eat it all.


As part of the class, we took a field trip to the local market where we learned to identify the vegetables needed for the dishes.  We learned about freshness and substitutions that were possible as well as how to make variations to our dishes.  It was really cool.

Cooking class trip to the local market

Chillin at the market

Liv prepping her veggies for the wok. 

Time to eat!

Summer and Liv making Papaya Salad

Kelley and Emily squeezing out coconut milk
Time to enjoy the Tom Kah
In the end, we made Pad Thai, Tom Kah soup, Papaya salad, fried spring rolls, green curry and red curry.  We even made the curry paste, which was a pain in the ass and consisted of muddling chili's for about 20 minutes.


>>>Sorry guys, I'm headed to the airport…I'll have to put the caving and elephant sanctuary in a separate post.  This ought to wet your whistle though  :)  <<<<











Bangkok by day, I could take it or leave it

Oooh weeeee….this was my lucky day!  I have been waiting for this week for ages!  Summer, Liv and Kelley are joining me on my adventure!  They were nice enough to plan a 2 week Thailand vacation to coincide with my travels.

Emily, Kelley, Liv and Summer together again!
The girls and I met at the airport.  They are not hard to find since Summer looks like a giraffe/unicorn hybrid amongst all of the tiny, dark Thai people.  She is 6 foot tall (giraffe) with white blonde hair and super pale skin (unicorn).  Hello ladies!


It was exciting to watch someone experience all of their “Asia firsts”.  First tuk tuk ride, first bug cart, first street food etc.  I know how excited I was, so it was fun to see how excited they were.

First Tuk-Tuk ride!

Freshest coconut milk possible
First Bug Cart!
We did 3 nights in Bangkok, which is a lot.  I'm actually not a huge fan of Bangkok.  Hollywood has glamorized it as an exciting dirty Vegas and I guess it is, but it is also a congested, dirty city that is in the middle of conflict and carelessness right now.  I didn't really care for Bangkok and will probably just use it as a transition/layover point going forward. The only thing that salvaged my time in this city were Summer, Kelley and Liv.

We spent the majority of the time shopping the various street stalls of Koh San Road for “unique” treasure of Thailand, that happen to be at every 4th stall along the way.



We ate green mangos with chili powder, mango sticky rice, fritters and baby Thai tacos on the street and eventually progressed to chicken skewers, pancakes, noodle soup and kebabs.  Everyone developed their own obsessions on this trip….

 

Summer had mango sticky rice 2-3 times a day and was obsessed with the morning fritters in Bangkok.  Toward the beginning, she had an Ali Baba style harem pant obsession, but it waned after a week.

Mango Sticky Rice = Mango, rice, condensed milk
 

Harem Pant obsession… Pair #1
Harem Pant Obsession Pair #2
Kelley was obsessed with shopping for everything, it didn’t matter what. She bought so many souvenirs! She is sure to be the most loved person upon her return because she may have bought souvenirs for everyone that she has ever met.

Shopping with the Long Neck tribe


Liv was obsessed with watches and swimsuits.  I think she bought 3-5 of each. (including one America swimsuit that she bought for me. Thanks! I love it!)

Swimsuit obsession #1

Swimsuit obsession #2, #3
Obsession benefactor = ME!  Thanks, Liv!
I was obsessed with trying to stay within budget without looking like a cheap, whiny bitch….and making sure I kept up my ghetto fabulous nails.

We realized while we were trying to find our initial hotel, that it was in the heart of the conflict demonstration area.  It was 40 minutes or so from Koh San Road, so we decided to swap hotels the following night to something a little closer, the Diamond Hotel.

Our original hotel was super cute and the owners were very nice and helpful, but proximity to the demonstration and protesters’ conflict zone made the choice a little easier.

 

We visited the Grand Palace and bunch of Wats on Budha Day, which was kind of special.  It marks the day when the monks all go to the Wats to pray to Budha who supposedly achieved Nirvana on that day.  The Wats were crowded and so was the Grand Palace.




3 monkeys in a temple





The Grand Palace entryway was beautifully manicured



The details in every building were insane!


Summer and Em clowning around

Em and Summer getting our zen on


So much gold…everything was covered with glorious gold

Even the frescas on the walls had a hint of shimmery gold


My favorite part, however, was the textiles museum.  Queen Sirikit was voted the best-dressed woman in the world in 1965.  When she was touring the world, she wanted to represent Thailand, which had lost its identity in dress since adopting a more western style. So she worked with world-class designers to combine the traditional Cambodian prints with more western styles.  He outfits were brilliant and beautiful.  They were classic and modern, inspiring really.  The textile museum had a collection of about 100 dresses that were worn and talked about the fabrics and sashes and the meaning and events she wore each piece to.  There was even a video that illustrated how to cut each pattern and assemble it. I wish I had a copy of that video!

Photo Credit: http://www.thaiwaysmagazine.com/thai_article/30-02_queenmuseum/head.jpg