Wat in Chiang Mai
We chose our hotel (U Chiang Mai) mainly because we wanted to take it easy and have some time to swim and relax. The breakfast is amazing especially the choices of different coffees and teas and the wonderfully prepared egg combinations.
The day starts around 11am with the discovery of neighbouring Wats. We visit at least three; all within walking distance. At one of them, a monk is almost frozen in a seating position, eyes wide open. People come and go, take pictures with him, he doesn’t even blink and sits in immobile meditation to the point that some people asking around if it is a statue.
The way takes us to the monument of the Three Kings, nothing fancy in itself, but there are three young girls performing graceful traditional dances in equally traditional outfits. We sit around for a bit. The heat is unbearable and Zoe returns to the hotel for some fresh conditioned air. We continue and visit two other Wats, very beautiful ones.
Noemie takes time to admire (and tries to catch) birds from a seller. We later learn that these small birds can be bought to be released to bring good luck. There are so many wats in Chiang Mai and you will sure visit the obvious ones, but there are also hidden gems behind walls and we discovered some nice ones this way. We eventually can’t handle the heat either and go and rest and fetch Zoe at the hotel.
We have a good lunch at Hot Chili, the design is also nice.
Today is Sunday, famous in Chiang Mai for the night market: Sunday walking street. It is right outside the hotel although you could not tell from the serenity of your room. The general feeling is pretty relaxed though around 8pm the crowd becomes quite dense and it is hard to even stop as everyone goes at a steady pace. It is funny to notice at the end of each street the lining of foot massage parlours right on the street and the wide collection of foreign toes on display. There are many things to look at and to taste. We buy some t-shirts, souvenirs, and flip flops. And we taste pork skewers, coconut biscuits, and finish with traditionally made ice-cream. Jeremie tries the Durian flavoured ice-cream and is not convinced.
From Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai
We pack our luggage once again and load everything in the car towards Chiang Mai. On the way south, 13 kms ahead, lies an out-of-this-world Wat: Rong Khun.
The architectural and artistic design is very futuristic. The outside is a glittering white produced with the help of mirror-like crusts in the never-ending sculptures.
We definitely are in a movie set with star wars and monster dragons emerging from the surrounding water ponds. The impression we get must have been the same for visitors to Gaudi’s structures a few decades ago. Inside, the walls are covered with new age creations and drawings of movie characters featuring Keanu Reeves in the Matrix and Star Wars. We walk around amazed. Even the fish in the water ponds are a match with the theme.
We continue our trip to Chiang Mai and after a small tour in town, we stop by a place to eat and search for a hotel. Although we had a reservation, we couldn’t help but take a sneak peak into a nice place on our way and we are seduced.
After some rest and a swim, I go for a stroll in the streets around the hotel. The streets of Chiang Mai reflect the serenity of the temples everywhere. People are smiling despite the heat. After dinner, we go for a midnight swim with Zoe.
Tips of the day:
Hotel: U Chiang Mai where we get a reduced rate, at 4,250 Baht per night for a room right beside the swimming pool. The 24hour check out policy and the all day breakfast is hard to beat. On top of that, there’s a nice selection of music on Ipod in the room, there’s a free yoga class, beautiful designs all around, great service and you can borrow bicycles for the day.
For lunch we went to Whole Earth, a beautiful place with very nice food and garden, but I got food poisoned from what I had ordered (something in a banana leaf).
For dinner we went to Pizza da Roberto in the other side of town, Jeremie’s pizza is quite nice but I am too sick to eat anything.
Long Neck Karen
After a hearty breakfast we hit the road and head to a village where the famous Long neck Karen tribe can be found. We look for the place for hours and eventually we end up finding it. There are actually different communities that live together which makes it easier for tourists to know their culture while earning themselves some money although it feels a little bit like a human zoo.
We first meet the Akha tribe who play us some traditional music and Noemie is delighted and is shouting ‘encore’… Then we encounter the Miao, another minority from Yunnan province in China. They also have a nice dance to show us and their little kids end up spending a lot of time playing with Noemie. We then meet tribes from Burma, among them women wearing really big earrings that makes you wonder what has happened to their ears.
At last we get to the famous long neck Karen, the tribe known for having metal bracelets around their necks which have earned them the nickname of human giraffes… It is amazing to see them in this heat with stacks of hot metal on their skin, getting on with their lives. It is said to originally protect them from tiger bites, but there are so many theories that we don’t know which to believe… We have lunch and then head to the pool and then get a well deserved massage, but not the pain in the feet. Jeremie somehow attracts the mean ladies! Aie aie aie!
At night we walk around at a slow pace at the night market and do some shopping and decide to eat at the same place as last night and order wonderful steamed fish and fresh juices.
Tribes and Golden Triangle
We leave early for Mae Salong, a village where many ethnic minorities live. On the way, we discover a tiny Akha village. We sit down and try to engage a conversation based on sign language. Having a young child helps a lot to break the ice and suddenly we are not intruders but part of the family. The community lives in wooden houses, scattered on narrow dirt roads with chicken running around. We had seen the Akha minority in Yunnan during our past trip in China and I can say that they look and dress almost the same. We walk around in the village for an hour and buy a few souvenirs.
Then we arrive to Mae Salong, and stop at the open-air market by the road side. It looks more touristy then the other places and we end up buying ourselves some tea and nice teapots.
Back on the road that leads us to the Golden Triangle. It is a winding road in the mountains with nice views on surrounding scenery and rice paddies. The Golden Triangle is the area on the border between Thailand, Myanmar and Laos, separated gracefully by the mythical Mekong River. The whole area sleeps on the glory of the opium days.
We have a quick lunch then charter a speed boat for a trip on the Mekong that takes us close to a casino on the Myanmar side, and then we stop at an island in Laos, where it is a large set of stalls and souvenir shops. There are very nice antique opium pipes and teapots. Coming back to the main land, we continue to Chiang Rai and find ourselves a nice business hotel right in the city centre, very close to the night market. At night we go and explore the market and our best experience is dinner at the bazaar’s main square where the food is good and we can enjoy nice live music.
Tips of the day
Tail boat trip: 1 hour for 400 Baht (the trip in the boat takes half an hour and the rest is spent on the island on the Laos side)
Hotel Wiang Inn in Chiang Rai, is a good deal at 2200 baht per night, breakfast included.
Chilling out at Tha Ton
It doesn’t take us a lot of thinking to figure out what we will do today. We have been moving a lot these past days and we decide to stay and enjoy the pool. It will be farniente time! We spend time on the terrace, walk around in the beautiful garden on the river side and look at all the nice flowers and the water ponds.
We spend the day eating, swimming, eating, sleeping, having a massage, and relaxing.
Towards the end of the day we go and visit Wat Tha Ton. The place is made of different temples spread around in nature, at different stages. It is quite nice and the setting is magnificent. On top, it all ends at a very big temple with a stunning collection of Buddha statues from a multitude of countries, not all of them known for their traditional Buddhist heritage.
For dinner, we come back to the restaurant where we’ve been yesterday and order exactly the same dishes…
From Chiang Dao to Tha Ton
After an agitated night (we were four in one bed with Noemie snoring continuously), we leave early to the Chiang Dao market that takes place every Tuesday morning. Ethnic minorities come here every week from nearby villages to buy and sell supplies. There is not a lot to buy except some out of fashion clothes and a lot of food. The varieties of dried fish are quite amazing, so are the fruits. We didn’t have breakfast and decide to try the strawberries sold with the spices and sugar mix. An interesting taste at first but we end up fighting for the rest.
Women come dressed differently according to their ethnicity; dresses (and teeth) are quite colourful. We manage to chat with one or two characters and get some pictures with black smiles. On our way out, we pick some kind of sweet and savoury donuts from a stall, we are not sure what this really is but we also eat the whole bag.
Our next stop is the Chiang Dao cave. There are plenty of Buddha statues around, sometimes hidden in the upper parts. It gives a very particular feel to the place. Otherwise, the cave in itself is nothing to write home about. In a section of the cave, there is a movie shooting and the make-up of actors and the whole setting is amazing.
We leave Chiang Dao and head north towards Doi Ang Khang supposed to be one of the nicest summits in the area. The road is very nice with changing sceneries, but at the end it winds up a lot and Noemie ends up vomiting all over in the car, just before we get to the restaurant. There isn’t a lot of choice but we end up at an excellent place, the Angkhang Nature resort where we have a wonderful lunch with a view on the mountain. Jeremie takes a dish of regional cold cuts and delicacies and I take a dish with pork meat and a great sauce. The strawberry juice is to die for. Noemie is feeling better right away and tries to charm the waiter.
Nearby there is a Chinese village, Ban Luang that we find completely uninteresting, so we get back on the road to Mae Salak. We don’t find what we are looking for and finally we arrive to Tha Ton.
Noemie is now in the speech learning stage and repeats everything we say. She says all the time ‘on est en Thailande!!!’
We stop at the pier and enquire about taking a boat trip to Mae Salak but instead, we decide to drive to Wawi, said to be – according to Lonely planet – a large multi-ethnic community with dozens of hill-tribe villages. We drive for more than an hour from Tha Ton. The road is nice, but we are now quite tired. Once we arrive, it is hard to hide our disappointment. There is nothing remarkable as such in Wawi or in the nearby villages that we cross.
We head back to Tha Ton and decide that we deserve to stay at the best resort in town! It is a riverside property with superb rooms. We soak up in the wonderful pool for some time.
We dine at another resort, supposed to offer the best food in town. We arrive and find the restaurant empty, but we are determined to try it: the food is delicious, Jeremie takes a grilled chicken plate with an excellent marinade and I have a whole steamed fish in a tasty broth that the waiter lights up ceremoniously. The mango juice is the best on earth (and we have had our share of mango juice in many countries of the region). A tiring day but rewarding day behind us, we go to sleep - no questions asked.
Maekok River Village resort
Tip of the day
We stay at Maekok River village resort in Tha Ton: it is a five star resort with spacious and beautifully decorated rooms are at 2,600 baht, breakfast included, which is excellent value for money.
Dinner at Tha Ton River View hotel, excellent food with a setting by the river.
Elephantastic!
We wake up at dawn to catch the plane to Chiang Mai. Noemie takes on her to make a show in the plane and we end up running after her during the whole trip. Upon arrival, our rented car is awaiting us and all goes just as planned; just a few minutes to fill in the rental papers, buy a map, and we hit the road. But hey, it’s not the right road and we spend some time figuring out the logic of the directions.
We are headed towards Mae Sa valley, we turn west and arrive to the Mae Sa elephant camp. Everything is well organised and the elephants appear to be treated well. At the entrance we buy bananas and sugar cane to feed them. Suddenly without warning you notice the elephant’s trunk grabbing food from your hand! Noemie is astonished and looks for Titio - her famous cuddly - to show him the elephants. She is not afraid at all but is holding on very tightly to my shirt.
Then a group of elephants arrive to the nearby river and we take some pictures during their bath time. Their trunks come and caress our hands looking for food while we are comfortably looking from the deck. They splash a round of water on Jeremie while he is trying to take a close shot.
We have lunch at the basic but ok restaurant on the camp. Then it is time for the show we are shown to a small stadium. The elephants come equipped with a multitude of tricks and skills to show us. First there are acrobatic performances and dances. Then they start a football game and everyone is amazed by their abilities, from regular playing to penalties, they have become masters. There are other games where they also score well including basketball and darts. The last performance is the most incredible: each one of them, paint brushes in hand, draw different complicated paintings that are later sold to visitors, some for as high as US$ 2,000. We leave the elephants unwillingly, especially for Noemie and Zoe, and go for a tour of the Mae Sa valley but we are quite tired and we decide to head directly to Chiang Dao, where we had planned to spend the night. We look around in the country side for accommodation but to our surprise everything is fully booked. We find ourselves at a small bungalow place with good food.
Tip of the day
Car rental at Northwheel. Our car is quite spacious, in good condition, at US$ 55 per day with unlimited mileage.
Hotel Malee’s Nature lovers bungalows: an old fashioned backpacker place with uncomfortable beds. There are basic bungalows for 700 baht, and bigger ones for U$ 50.
