I love Chiang Mai

I love Chiang Mai! It is so peaceful here and we love our little guesthouse. We spent our second day here on a trekking tour, which consisted of elephant riding for about 45 minutes through the jungle. Amazing! A little scary to be on such a big animal so high from the ground. At one point one of the ties to our saddle seat came off the elephant and our elephant driver panicked a little (I could tell he was trying not to freak us out) and had to climb to the elephant's rear end and re-tie us on, yikes! We rode a mama elephant and her little rebelious baby followed us the whole time. Next we trekked through the jungle and through rice fields (very muddy!) to a waterfall. Unfortunately the water was very muddy because of the rain, so we did not get in the water, but it was a nice scene nonetheless. Then we went to a small hill tribe village where people who immigrated from Burma lived. They dressed in traditional colorful woven clothes and different people wear different colors according to their status. For example, single women wear white tops and married women wear colored tops. Next we had lunch in the village (stir fry vegetables, curry chicken with potatoes, and fresh pineapple for dessert). Then we went to a river and got on very long (probably about 15 feet long) bamboo rafts, which were basically bamboo poles tied together and steered by smaller bamboo poles. It was very relaxing, but our guide insisted on teasing us and splashing us repeating "no wet, no fun." It was a very fun day and the people in our tour group were so friendly (we were the only Americans, the rest were Dutch and French).

After this we were exhausted and muddy and sweaty so we came back, took a nap and showered, then went with some friends from the guesthouse to a bar nearby to listen to live music. It was open mic night so our friend Will (British) played his guitar and sang, which was amazing!

The next day we decided to take a Thai cooking class, which was another awesome experience! We started at 9:30am with a market tour, in which the chef taught us how and what to buy at the local market. Then we went to the cooking school outside of the city (called Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School, owned by a world famous Thai chef). We each had a little station with a stove and wok and for each meal we watched a demonstration, made the dish ourselves, and then ate them. We cooked 6 meals in all: Chicken in coconut milk, Thick Noodles with pork in thick sauce, Red Curry with Fish, Sweet and Sour Vegetable, Papaya Salad, and Steamed Banana Cake. We were stuffed by the end and everything was delicious! We definitely learned a lot, and got a free cookbook anyway in case we forget! When we got back we relaxed a little, then went to the Chiang Mai Night Market, which was huge and amazing (lots of clothes, carvings and jewelry), but kinda expensive (for Thai standards) so we didn't buy much.

Today we decided we love Chiang Mai so much that we wanted to spend an extra day here. We spent all morning trying to book a flight back to Bangkok due to trouble with using our credit card on the internet. We will fly back tomorrow, and even booking one day in advance the price was still about $60, so cheap! Then we went to another (much cheaper) market and got some souvenirs and then got a 1 hour Thai foot massage for 130 Baht (about $4!!). It was AMAZING! Now we are relaxing at the guesthouse for a while and may go swimming later. Next we head to Cambodia (Angkor Wat)!!