In the bus I met a Dutch traveller called Paul who had been
travelling for over a year already, we got to talk and when we got to Chiang Mai
at 6 a.m. we figured out that we could as well visit the town together, we
dropped off our backpacks at my hostel (because the one where he was staying
didn't feel like opening his doors) and wandered in the city.
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| The Temple where we joined the monks |
At the time
though, everything was closed, so instead of having something regular as
breakfast we had a Thai noodle soup together with a cold drink, not what you
would call continental breakfast, but it had to do. Luckily we found a little
car-bar that served coffee, we had a few cups to get some energy (because you
know… sleeping on a bus is not really easy) and got the chance to join some
monks in their prayers to Buddha, it was a very relaxed experience, honestly,
nothing like going to church in Europe, where you feel pushed to donate money,
feel uncomfortable with the accusations of the priest, etc. Okay, it might be
because we didn't understand a thing of what the monks where saying, but still,
I found it very chill.
We continued the walk and found so many amazing temples,
I even think that I saw more good looking temples than in Bangkok, and for sure
if you compare the m2 that I walked in Bangkok with the m2 that I walked in
Chiang Mai.
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| One of the waterfalls at Doi Inthanon |
By lunch time we headed to our hostels to check in and met a
big group of people that were studying in China but decided to go on holidays
in Thailand for the end of their semester. They said that they were going to
visit a mountain at the Doi Inthanon National Park, where apparently at the
top (that seems to be the highest point in Thailand) you can find a very impressive temple.
So we rented a little scooter and joined them on the
adventure, on our way there we stopped for a quick lunch and to get some water,
snacks… It was something of a 2 hour drive to get to the park’s entrance, and
it would be another 2 to get to the top. But before heading to the top we went
to visit one of the waterfalls that you can see there, one of the rivers pass
by, and a little town that we found there. Then the sun went down and with it
the temperatures started falling very quickly, of course I wasn't prepared for
this, being the fool that I am I thought that we would be back before sunset
and didn't think about bringing a jersey or anything to cover me from the cold.
So I had to stop at little store in the town we found to buy a sweater before
continuing to the top. And even with the sweater it felt extremely cold. As we
approached the top everyone was freezing, even with sweaters, and the worst
part was, we went through all of it in vain, because the temple was closed,
they close at 6 p.m. well, that was a little waste, but anyway, it was a cool
journey and I had a good time.
Once we got back in town we just crashed, because of the
lack of sleep it took me no time to fall asleep.
The next morning I would be changing to the hostel where
Paul was staying, but before moving I wanted to return the scooter, but of
course, the scooter wasn't starting, I think that it’s because of inactivity
but I’m not much of a mechanic so I couldn't tell, after a little while of
trying I got it to start twice, just to have if fall out again as soon as I
stopped. But the third time I got it going and I managed to get to the place
where I rented it, before returning it I tried to start it again and it went
fine, that’s why I think that the reason of its malfunction was because of
inactivity. Anyway, once everything was settled I grabbed my luggage and
continued to the next hostel, checked in and went to have some lunch. In my
search of a place to eat I found a little place that did cooking lessons, so I
signed up to do that the following day. After lunch and after getting back to
the hostel I regroup with Paul to go and visit the Tiger Kingdom of Chiang Mai.
The tigers there are trained and raised to get used to
people, it’s not the same as in South Africa and they are kept in little cages
when there are no tourists to visit them, but it was still a worthy experience,
it was my first time seeing a tiger and I got to ouch it as well, we posed for
some pictures together and eventually had to say goodbye. It was a sad to see
how they proceeded to lock away the animal after we left, but well, the people
here do everything for money.
Back in town we headed towards the Chiang Mai Night Market,
we got told that it was something spectacular to see but when we got here I
didn't find it too different from any other market that I had visited up to
now, lots of souvenirs, fake t-shirts, sunglasses and little statues made out
of tin cans, so a bit disappointed we headed back to the hostel.
There in the centre of the hostel you have a little centre
where you can sit to relax a bit, and we gathered there, there were some other
people and we ended up talking all together, there were some girls from South
Africa, a girl from Switzerland and the group we met yesterday and joined up to
the mountain.
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| My red curry and spring roll |
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| Wat Chedi Luang |
The next morning I decided it would be my last full day in
Chiang Mai, I headed towards the cooking school and had an amazing time, made
Pad Thai, red curry paste, the red curry itself a spring roll and sticky rice
with mango. And the best part of all is that I got to eat all of it. It was
awesome.
After the cooking school I started searching for the biggest
temple of the town. When I found it I was amazed, and even more because I had
already seen part of the temple when we were walking through the town for the
first time, but somehow managed to miss the spire which amazing and massive
part, the temple was called Wat Chedi Luang and dates all the way back to the
mid-15th century. Back in the hostel I booked the bus to Pai, a
little city west of Chiang Mai where you can do loads of outdoor activities and
where the river Pai passes. During the evening I just did the same as the night
before and hanged out at the centre of the hostel, met some different people
this time but enjoyed it as well, because everyone has a different story to
tell and different experiences.
And now I’m here, in the mini bus, heading to Chiang Mai,
they told me that it’s going to be a bumpy ride uphill and it might take up to
4 hours to get there. But everyone adds that it’s completely worth it.
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