The tour started properly on Sunday 27th January and our local guide, Ant, took us on a boat up the river. We stopped near a pier in one of the canals off the main river where hundreds of catfish were swimming around (see photo). Fishing is not allowed in that part of the river, allowing catfish to thrive and grow to huge sizes. Shame, as they are really tasty to eat! After feeding them with copious amounts of bread, we headed towards Wat Pho to continue the tour. Even though I visited Wat Pho on Thursday, there were a couple of other buddhas which, for some reason, Martina and I had missed (see photo).
My roommate Karen (who is from Derby and travelling for a year) and a friend of hers who is in Bangkok then headed to Chinatown for lunch. On the main street in Chinatown we struggled to find any restaurants, as the road was full of jewellery shops. As usual, we ordered loads but enough so that we would not be hungry on the night train to Chiang Mai. I went for a foot massage near the hotel, which was great and included me a mini head and back massage. Bargain value – 200 baht for one hour (about 3.50 quid).
At 4.30pm we caught taxis to the train station. Traffic in Bangkok is terrible, probably even worse than London but you could never see them introducing a congestion charge in this city. I pity the poor tuk tuk drivers and the damage they are doing to their lungs with the fumes. The train left Bangkok at 6pm on the dot. I was quite impressed with the service. The waiter comes around to take your order for dinner – you can have a la carte dishes or a set meal for 150 baht (all in second class!). The seats convert into beds and there is an additional bunk on the upper level. The train was full and we went into the bar to carry on the party, as people got into their bunks quite early. The Thais working in the bar and the conductors joined us for a few beers but at about 10.20pm, when we told them we had no more money, they abruptly shut the bar, told us to go to bed and scolded us for keeping the bar open longer than normal. During the middle of the night, a Korean child in our cabin started screaming “Mummy mummy” - apparently he had fallen out of the top bunk and was hanging out of it by one leg!
We arrived in Chiang Mai at 7am on Monday morning and took a taxi to our hotel, the People’s Corner. After breakfast, half of the group went to the Baan Hongnual Cookery School to do a course in Thai cooking. Everyone else decided to only cook 4 dishes but I went for the 6 course option, being a complete pig and I was also of the view that I never know when I will come back to Thailand. We first went to the local market to check out the fruit, vegetables and other ingredients for Thai cooking.
Back at the school (see photos) we had our own cooking station and cooked Pad Thai (sitr fried spicy noodles), Tom Yum soup, green and red curry, chicken and cashew nuts, sticky coconut rice with custard and bananas with coconut milk. As the saying goes “This piggy went to market…” and ended up rolling herself out of the cookery school. It was delicious and the food I cooked tasted better than the Thai food I had already eaten.
After the course I managed to squeeze in another Thai massage for an hour (at only 200 baht) before we went on a tour to Doi Suthep, a famous temple situated on a mountain to the North West of Chiang Mai. The temple was founded in 1383 and was chosen by placing a relic of the Lord Buddha on an elephant’s back and letting the elephant roam until it came across a place where it trumpeted and circled before laying down. This was taken to be a signal that an auspicious place had been chosen to build the temple. There are approximately 300 steps to climb with a golden stupa at the top and you also get a great view of the Chiang Mai valley (see photo). At 6pm you hear the monks chanting and we saw the sun setting over the valley.
After the trip to Doi Suthep, four of us went to a local stadium to watch Thai kick boxing (Muay Thai) (see photo). There were 9 matches in all but we stayed for just over an hour to watch 4 of them. The more experienced boxers come along later in the evening and it was much more interesting than watching boring old boxing (much better to kick the sh*t out of your opponent with your feet and hands!).It was a great atmosphere, with all the locals shouting and cheering when one of the boxers put in a good kick. After the boxing, we visited Chiang Mai’s famous night market, which sells all sorts of local crafts. I was very restrained (not much room left in my luggage), plus I have been looking for that elusive Buddha statue of which I can’t seem to find many.
My roommate Karen (who is from Derby and travelling for a year) and a friend of hers who is in Bangkok then headed to Chinatown for lunch. On the main street in Chinatown we struggled to find any restaurants, as the road was full of jewellery shops. As usual, we ordered loads but enough so that we would not be hungry on the night train to Chiang Mai. I went for a foot massage near the hotel, which was great and included me a mini head and back massage. Bargain value – 200 baht for one hour (about 3.50 quid).
At 4.30pm we caught taxis to the train station. Traffic in Bangkok is terrible, probably even worse than London but you could never see them introducing a congestion charge in this city. I pity the poor tuk tuk drivers and the damage they are doing to their lungs with the fumes. The train left Bangkok at 6pm on the dot. I was quite impressed with the service. The waiter comes around to take your order for dinner – you can have a la carte dishes or a set meal for 150 baht (all in second class!). The seats convert into beds and there is an additional bunk on the upper level. The train was full and we went into the bar to carry on the party, as people got into their bunks quite early. The Thais working in the bar and the conductors joined us for a few beers but at about 10.20pm, when we told them we had no more money, they abruptly shut the bar, told us to go to bed and scolded us for keeping the bar open longer than normal. During the middle of the night, a Korean child in our cabin started screaming “Mummy mummy” - apparently he had fallen out of the top bunk and was hanging out of it by one leg!
We arrived in Chiang Mai at 7am on Monday morning and took a taxi to our hotel, the People’s Corner. After breakfast, half of the group went to the Baan Hongnual Cookery School to do a course in Thai cooking. Everyone else decided to only cook 4 dishes but I went for the 6 course option, being a complete pig and I was also of the view that I never know when I will come back to Thailand. We first went to the local market to check out the fruit, vegetables and other ingredients for Thai cooking.
Back at the school (see photos) we had our own cooking station and cooked Pad Thai (sitr fried spicy noodles), Tom Yum soup, green and red curry, chicken and cashew nuts, sticky coconut rice with custard and bananas with coconut milk. As the saying goes “This piggy went to market…” and ended up rolling herself out of the cookery school. It was delicious and the food I cooked tasted better than the Thai food I had already eaten.
After the course I managed to squeeze in another Thai massage for an hour (at only 200 baht) before we went on a tour to Doi Suthep, a famous temple situated on a mountain to the North West of Chiang Mai. The temple was founded in 1383 and was chosen by placing a relic of the Lord Buddha on an elephant’s back and letting the elephant roam until it came across a place where it trumpeted and circled before laying down. This was taken to be a signal that an auspicious place had been chosen to build the temple. There are approximately 300 steps to climb with a golden stupa at the top and you also get a great view of the Chiang Mai valley (see photo). At 6pm you hear the monks chanting and we saw the sun setting over the valley.
After the trip to Doi Suthep, four of us went to a local stadium to watch Thai kick boxing (Muay Thai) (see photo). There were 9 matches in all but we stayed for just over an hour to watch 4 of them. The more experienced boxers come along later in the evening and it was much more interesting than watching boring old boxing (much better to kick the sh*t out of your opponent with your feet and hands!).It was a great atmosphere, with all the locals shouting and cheering when one of the boxers put in a good kick. After the boxing, we visited Chiang Mai’s famous night market, which sells all sorts of local crafts. I was very restrained (not much room left in my luggage), plus I have been looking for that elusive Buddha statue of which I can’t seem to find many.
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