Tuesday 18 December 2007

Chiang Mai Thai.

Arrived here exhausted after an 11hr bus ride from Ayutthaya! After sitting upright for this length of time our feet had swollen (first time for me...first time since pregnancy for Pam!)but we immediately started to feel some affinity with the place as our accommodation is run by a Thai/Irish couple who have sympathy with what travellers need...(cup of tea and good Thai/European cuisine!!). Our first day was spent on the mountain to the west of Chiang Mai visiting a Temple on top of the hill and then taking a songthaew to Chiang Mai Zoo.


We booked ourselves on a 3-day trek into the hills of Doi Inthanon with a company who are renowned for supporting projects linked with these tribes and who have an excellent track-record in this field. The trek consisted of a morning visit to an elephant sanctuary, followed by a walk through the jungle to stay with trhe local Karen tribe. Day two consisted of a 10 k trek through the jungle hills, followed by yet another camp by the river, and day 3 started with a bamboo raft ride(scary this!! but pleasant enough as it turned out), and finished with a visit to the National Park and an impressive waterfall.
There were 11 clients in all and 4 guides, of which the lead guide Daet was extremely competent, knowledgeable and had an excellent sense of humour.


We both thoroughly enjoyed our experiences and meeting other people of 'like mind from Canada, Germany, US and Austria.




The next day saw us booked onto a Thai Cookery course. We had promised ourselves that we would take up the culinary challenge when in Thailand and so along with our new friends, Walther and Yasmin, 'Ziggy' and Melanie, we were to become Mr Visoot's new students. His knowledge of ingredients was fantastic and his presentation extremely amusing as he ranged the musical scales of voice intonation with gems of wisdom about Thai food!! He kept us amused and interested all day as we cooked(and ate!!) five dishes each. Our menu consisted of red, green and yellow curries, steamed Tilapia, Sweet & sour chicken, spring rolls and sticky rice & coconut with banana and a host of other dishes. We also tried our hand at food decoration!!! I just wish someone had told us not to have breakfast!! The day also included a visit to the local market to buy the food we were to cook.
The next few days are definitely 'rest' days as we prepare for a flight to Ventiane in Laos via Luang Prabang on Saturday(22nd)...courtesy Lao airlines.......watch this page!!!!!!