For this blog post I have gone with a bumper edition of photos, and tried to keep the words to a minium. Enjoy!
Chiang Mai is the capital city of Chiang Mai Province in Northern Thailand. The city was founded in 1296, and the Old City part is easily identified by the crumbling wall that still surrounds it. The Old City is approximately 2km by 2km, and full of Buddhist temples and beautiful buildings. But more about that later. Chiang Mai Province is also well known for the National Parks that are made up of mountains, waterfalls and forests. Hiking, or trekking as it is more commonly referred to here, is a popular option to explore these National Parks, and we had signed up for an overnight hike.
Water buffalo (above) and some of the typical houses that we passed (below)
Chicks looking for their mother (above)
and Wan, our guide, showing us how to make a traditional
trap for catching mice or other small animals (below)
Miles and miles of National Park and forest,
and taking a selfie with Wan
Our overnight accommodation looked
very similar to these buildings
And then on day two we got to meet some Ellies. These two elephants are looked after by a local village. Just about everyday they get to interact with tourists that are passing through, and this includes feeding time (bananas and sugar cane) and a dip in the river for a bath. We liked the fact that these villagers don't use bull hooks on the elephants, and that there is no riding of the elephants. It can be quite difficult to find an elephant sanctuary where elephants are being treated ethically, but this one seemed to have the right idea.
And then after bath time we finished the day with a rafting trip down the river.
Once back in Chiang Mai, we then spent the next few days exploring some of the many Buddhist temples. Apparently there are over 300 Buddhist temples in Chiang Mai Province, and about 30 in and around Chiang Mai Old City. Initially we thought that we would be all 'templed-out' quite quickly, but were pleased to find that the temples are all so different and each has it's own character, that we were quite happy to just keep exploring and finding as many temples as possible. We can't remember all the names of the different temples (we must have visited at least 20), but these are some photos from some of our favourites.
And, of course, no trip is complete without visiting the local markets. So here is a photo of some of the delicacies on offer.
And then it was time to move on again. Our next stop was Bangkok, and we had decided to take the overnight train to get there. A photo of the Chiang Mai train station below.
The carriage, which consists of bunk beds down either side.
Privacy is by means of a curtain that you pull across.
And Bron writing postcards on the train
(These seats get converted into the bunk beds)
Next time: Bangkok
