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.
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| 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.
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| Jungle setting in the city |
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| 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!
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| Some delicious gin based cocktail |
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| Chicken Coconut curry |
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| Market vegetables |
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| Bacon wrapped Asparagus |
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| 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.
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| Cooking class trip to the local market |
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| Chillin at the market |
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| Liv prepping her veggies for the wok. |
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| Time to eat! |
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| Summer and Liv making Papaya Salad |
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| Kelley and Emily squeezing out coconut milk |
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| 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 :) <<<<
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