Chiang Mai #1

20th June 

Today began with a 14 hour train journey from Bangkok to Chiang Mai via sleeper train from Hualamphong station at 7:35pm. We sat in 2nd class with two girls from Germany however they shooted off to bed pretty early. During the day we made our way to the National Museum, a nice place to see even more Buddhas! The funeral carts were pretty impressive though. 

21st June

The sleeper train was an experience and a half, I must of had at least 4 hours sleep.. if that. We took a stroll into Chiang Mai Old Town and had a 'proper' (not sure what I meant by that) Thai lunch at a place named Blue Shop. I had a beef soup with a Chang beer, which was delicious. We then booked up the Thai Farm Cooking School and dined at a place named Dash! It was beautiful, a wooden structure that you would find in Disney Land ha. Had a green Thai curry which I would highly recommend if you ever visit!

Blue Shop

Beef Soup

Dash, Green Thai Curry

 

22nd June

A jungle trek was booked for today and after some standard fried eggs on toast we got into a shared taxi to an orchid and butterfly farm, that was lovely. From there we went up the mountains for an elephant trek. I had never wanted to do this whilst in Thailand and probably regret ever doing this, they looked tired, chained up and just unhealthy. After the short walk my emotions sank and I felt pretty down the rest of the day. We stopped off for some pineapple and rice then trekked up to a waterfall that was beautiful and a nice place to cool off. The trip then consisted of some white water rafting and bamboo rafting both of which was a fail as the river was pretty low.

Tour guide made us banana leaf hats

The evening on the other hand was one of the best. We found a restaurant named Cooking Love on the handy Trip Advisor and decided to make our way there. The owner was brilliant and apparently had reservations all evening. To start we ate shrimp springs rolls followed by a HUGE mango curry. Was beautiful. From there we took a walk to realize the massive Sunday market was on. I purchased an elephant apron from a deaf community, some massage oils (free massage included) and a wooven elephant magnet for my nan. Highly recommend this market if you are ever in Chiang Mai on the weekend! 

Cooking Love