Chiang Mai, Thailand

Monday

We don’t have a lot of plans for our time in Chiang Mai, but one thing that WAS on the list was visiting an elephant sanctuary. They are growing in popularity and are a big tourist draw, so many sanctuaries are opening all around the country. That being said, many do not improve the lives of working elephants and may include chaining, use of hooks, and elephant riding. After much research, one sanctuary in particular comes highly recommended and is verified by many well known sources, including Lonely Planet — Elephant Nature Park.

Elephant Nature Park (ENP) is about an hour drive north of Chiang Mai, in the mountains. It was started on donated land in 1995 with 4 rescued elephants. It has since grown to house 80+ elephants — almost all rescues and a handful that have been born at the sanctuary. Most of the elephants at the park are at least 60 years old, but one is thought to be 104!

We were picked up by our guide Pim and rode in the van up to the park. There were 6 other people in our specific group, so we were a small bunch.

When we arrived, we were one of the first groups there. We started with feeding two blind elephants. They were friends and spent most of their time together. Pim taught us how to feed them the bananas. Never one banana at a time either, they’re hungry! 😉

Next we followed Pim into the grounds to see some of the other elephants up close. She explained how some elephants are picky eaters and some are fed a special diet. The oldest elephants do not have their teeth any more, so they primarily eat ground corn stalks. Some of the elephants like the corn stalks while some like the fresh leaves. Some of the elephants even peel the corn cobs before eating them. I guess we all have our preferences!

We took a break for lunch and had plenty of options from the huge vegetarian buffet. After lunch we walked with Pim down to the river. Here the mahouts for a few of the elephant families were encouraging them to get into the river. The first family wasn’t very interested in being wet, so they came right back out of the water. But the second family spent a fair amount of time in the river. This is also where we saw the 104 year old elephant. She clearly had experienced a lot in her lifetime. She too got in the river, but Pim said she only lays down when the water is high because the buoyancy helps her get back up.

On our walk back to the raised platforms, we saw several other groups of elephants and watched one crossing the river. We also watched the oldest of the elephants born at the sanctuary, Princess, helping herself to pumpkins and bananas from her mahout.

We had about thirty minutes left to explore the compound, so the kids wanted to visit some of the cats that had been rescued. Many were scattered around the park, but there were several hanging out in the “cat house” area that tolerated attention and petting from children. Caden picked out a souvenir t-shirt from the gift shop and then we headed back to Chiang Mai.

We had a great time at Elephant Nature Park. It’s clear that they are passionate about creating a safe home for the rescued / retired elephants and do their best to balance the tourism interest with the health of the elephants. We were comfortable supporting their program with our tourist dollars.

We were all pretty hungry by the time we were back in Chiang Mai, so we needed a plan for dinner. We heard there was a small food court at the Maya Mall, so we headed there. One thing we definitely miss in Thailand is safe sidewalks. Our route included walking on the shoulder of a busy highway for about 100m and then having to cross at an uncontrolled crosswalk. We jokingly commented that at least at a crosswalk someone might get fined for hitting us. 😉 Don’t worry though, no one got injured in the walk. It was a bit nutty though! We found several tasty things to eat at the food court, including Keller’s favorite — stewed pork leg.

Tuesday

Today we’re exploring Old Town Chiang Mai. Unlike the newer area of town, there are actually a handful of sidewalks around. Not everywhere, and you have to dodge parked motorcycles and food stands and other tourists, but there ARE actually sidewalks. LOL.

Before heading to Old Town, we went to lunch at Tikky Cafe right next to our AirBNB. It came highly recommended by another American family that is living in the same compound. Elle said that they go to Tikky almost every day — the food was delicious and the drinks were quite tasty. Plus the pricing was great. I have a feeling we’ll be here more than once since it is so convenient.

We took a Grab down to Tha Phae Gate, aka the East Gate. Old Town is a square ringed with a moat and the crumbling remains of city walls. It makes it pretty easy to orient yourself too, which is nice. Some of the decorations for Yi Peng, the lantern festival next week, were already set up.

On the way to Wat Phantao, the kids found a crepes stand that they wanted for dessert. Caden chose nutella and banana while Kamy chose cinnamon and sugar. Both kids enjoyed them and it was fun to watch them make the crepes fresh.

Right next to the crepe stand was Wat Pan On. It was beautifully decorated with the colorful paper lanterns. It can imagine it’ll be lovely all lit up at night too! The interior of the wat was lovely too. Many (or even most) of the Wats in Chiang Mai have serpents at the entrance. They make for great photos!

We stopped at several little shops along the main street, including some with carved wood elephants and silver jewelry. We didn’t buy anything there, but it was fun to look anyway.

Wat Phantao was high on the recomended list of places to visit while we were in Chiang Mai. Unfortunately it is currently covered with scaffolding for renovation. Surprisingly, I was most interested in the ruins of Wat Chedi Luang, right next to Phantao. This massive Wat was partially destroyed by an earthquake and once housed the Emerald Budda (that now resides in the Grand Palace in Bangkok). UNESCO provided some expertise and funding to partially restore and reinforce the existing structure, so it was interesting to try to imagine what it would have looked like before it was damaged and abandoned. Another temple building has been built on the same grounds with lovely mosaic exterior. There is a Buddhist university in the complex too.

We ended our wandering with dinner at It’s Good Kitchen, which also came highly recommended. It’s a good thing we aren’t tired of Thai food yet because it’s available everywhere! We caught a Grab back to the apartment and called it a night.

Wednesday

Kamy and Caden enjoyed playing with the little boy next door in the morning. His name is Leo and he is 2 years old. The kids have been awesome playing with him — tailoring their games to his level and following his lead. I’m very impressed! Plus it’s been a good way for them to work out some energy and have some free time and space the play.

Once Keller got up, we took a Grab down to a small park just inside the Old Town. It wasn’t very big, but the kids happily played on the playground and with some other kids in the sand for about an hour. By then we were all getting hungry, so we walked up to another well reviewed Thai restaurant — Family Kitchen. We particularly enjoyed the fried rice, but the rest was just okay. Oh well.

Next we wandered through Old Town and ended up at a massage place! Kamy had been asking about a massage for a few weeks and Caden was interested too, so we splurged for all four of us to get foot massages! The masseuses thought it was funny that the kids were getting a massage too, and the women working on the kids’ feet had a much easier job than the men doing Keller and my feet! 😉 Caden said it was fine but Kamy really seemed to enjoy it. I know my feet and calves were pretty sore when the time was up. LOL!

We wandered further south and found some very tasty street food — fried chicken strips with sweet chili sauce. Caden also picked out a “cool milk” drink. It was quite pink!

We headed to the Three Kings Monument where there were more lantern decorations staged for Yi Peng events starting this weekend. We’re looking forward to seeing what it looks like all lit up!

We ended the night down at the night market on the east side of town. We found some tasty food and a souvenir or two as well. It was clearly “early” for the night market since it wasn’t busy, but we enjoyed walking by all the stall, especially the artists on the bottom floor. There were some amazing pieces there, but nothing that we needed to take home. We’re happy with our painting from Patong.

Thursday

Caden had picked up a tourist flyer for the Grand Canyon Water Park and expressed an interest in going there. Since Keller has been working late each night, we decided that the kids and I would go to the water park in the morning and we’d meet up with Keller later that afternoon — either at the water park if he was interested or back at the apartment.

The kids were up and ready to go first thing in the morning! We caught a Grab down to the park and were there about 15 minutes after it opened. The place was deserted, so the kids had it almost to themselves. They quickly changed into their swimsuits, put on sunscreen, and headed onto the inflatables. I found a spot in the shade at the restaurant and watched from there.

Caden’s favorite things were the large slides that fling you into the water with a big splash. Kamy really enjoyed some of the round inflatables, including one that you could spin from inside like a hamster.

Both kids liked the smaller childrens area too, since the blue and white slide was “very fast!” We took a short break for lunch (burgers and hot dogs) and then they were back at it. Kamy and Caden really enjoyed playing at Grand Canyon and would recommend it for anyone that wanted to go!

About 4pm we wrapped up and headed back to the apartment. Keller meanwhile had gotten lunch at Tikky Cafe and was enjoying some quiet downtime. Leo missed playing with the kids today, so they played in the yard for a bit before we headed out to Time to Table, a board game cafe. We played a round of Formula D. Kamy won in a last minute move! Suddenly it started raining very hard. We’d planned on walking down for some street food for dinner, but that was suddenly less appealing. 😉

Instead we went next door to a Hot Pot place! We were a bit out of our depth and really didn’t know what we were doing, but we were well fed regardless! We ordered the family combination which was a huge variety of meats and other things to dip in the hot stock.

The rain had mostly ended by the time we finished dinner, so we walked to Seasons ice cream for dessert. The kids and Keller all picked out mint chocolate chip ice cream and said it was quite tasty! Then we walked back to our apartment for the night.

Friday

Today we booked a food tour! We’re a bit intimidated to order some of the items on the menus and certainly find ourselves ordering the same general thing most of the time. So we figured the best way to try new things was to go with someone who can tell us what something is, what is a good example of that food, and show us where to go.

We met at a Wat near Old Town and left from there. Moai is our guide and we ended up with a private tour since the two other people on the tour didn’t show up. Oh well! Our first stop was for Khao Soy — a curry and noodle dish exclusive to the north part of Thailand. This is her favorite example of Khao Soy and she said this restaurant has been open for 30+ years and is still run by a mother and son. Moai also said that they usually sell out by 1 or 2pm, so it’s best to come early if you want to eat! We really enjoyed both the chicken and the beef khao soy dishes, though Keller liked the beef a little better. Caden preferred the spicy pork noodle dish though.

From there we got back in the red truck and Moai took us to a local Thai market outside of town. Here there were a myriad of stalls, all specializing in different local ingredients and cuisine. Moai took her time explaining what we saw as we passed — a ton of fruits and vegetables that were unknown to us. She also introduced us to steamed rice balls — tapioca or rice flour wrapped around ground peanuts in a spicy sauce. They look like they will be sweet but they’re quite savory instead. They were a new favorite for Keller! This lady has been making them for more than twenty years at this same place. She has it figured out by now! Unfortunately we haven’t been able to find them again since, but we’re still on the look out for more!

We also tried some Burmese curry (similar to massaman in flavor) and ground buffalo. The locals eat the buffalo raw, but that’s too much for our constitutions! Moai showed us how to eat both with sticky rice and our fingers. It’s not a clean process. We did like the northern Thai spicy sausage though — ground meat with lemongrass and other herbs. It is very fragrant and has a sharp bite to it. We liked it!

Next we moved to another restaurant that was well known for their portions of a rare mushroom from the northern hills. It cannot be cultivated (like morels in the US), so it is pricey and seasonal. We didn’t really care for them though, as we thought they were tough and rubbery. We also tried some vegetables mixed with egg and sauteed water weed. We are trying new things, even if we don’t really love them. That’s okay though!

Our last restaurant stop included grilled chicken with a dipping sauce and papaya salad. Unfortunately, none of the papaya salad we’ve tried has some close to the one we had a Yawee. I’m afraid we’re spoiled on it now! The grilled chicken was pretty tasty though.

Lastly we walked to a local ice cream shop. It is an honor system, where you put money in a box on the wall for how many ice creams you take from the freezers. We opted for a range of flavors, including mango sticky rice, pandan, and lychee. We thanked Moai for a great experience and headed home. Fortunately we were pretty close to Maya, so the walk home wasn’t bad.

Keller and I were quite full from our food tour, but the kids wanted something to eat, so we got pad thai and green curry take away from Tikky for dinner. The kids also played outside with Leo and his mom for a bit before bedtime.

Saturday

Today I scheduled another cooking class! Chiang Mai has an overabundance of cooking schools — more than 70 altogether! It’s definitely a common activity for tourists. I chose Benny’s Home Cooking and lucked out! I had a great experience and there were only two other people for the entire class. It was nice to be in such a small group.

Our first stop was a local market, where Benny showed us which ingredients we needed and pointed out a lot of the local produce. (I had a head start on this knowledge from the food tour and two prior cooking classes though.) She also helped us pick out the materials needed to build our own krathong — floating sculptures that are released on the river for Loy Krathong (in concurrence with Yi Peng).

I also bought a bamboo steamer to make sticky rice at home! I am hopeful that I can recreate mango with sticky rice back in Texas. The mangoes won’t be as good, but hopefully the rice will be!

I also treated myself to a Thai ice tea — black tea that has yellow 6 added so it turns a flourescent orange color, the same color additive that Kraft mac n cheese uses. Thai tea also adds evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk. It has definitely grown on me … a little like a blend of tea and coffee together and I like it! Even if it is bright orange. 😉

Next we went to Benny’s home where she hosts the cooking classes. They have a large outdoor kitchen set up for 8 stations. Her kitchen fairies are her family — her partner, mother and sister all work behind the scenes preparing the ingredients and cleaning up after us. Her garden is quite impressive and provides almost all the herbs needed for the dishes we cook.

We made a lot of tasty food — chicken satay, thom yum soup, and pad thai. I chose to make massaman curry this time which was quite delicious!

She also taught us how to build the krathongs from the banana trunk and banana leaves. I like how mine came out!

Meanwhile, Keller and the kids had a good day as well! Kamy and Caden played with Leo for a while in the morning before heading to lunch with Keller. They went to a burger place that was mediocre, but they did take an electric tuktuk which the kids really enjoyed! They ended up at Time to Table again and spent the afternoon playing games. Caden won Dominion handily and then they played a new game, Unlocked! It is based on the escape room concept, where you have to decipher clues to unlock doors and escape in the time allotted.

I showed up just as they were finishing up Unlocked, so it watched the last of the game and then we all played Sushi Go Party edition. Keller really liked the new version! It allows you to swap out different cards for the game, which added a lot more variety. We were a little bored of regular Sushi Go at this point, so the change was good!

We worked our way towards Old Town as the first events were starting for Yi Peng. We stopped for dinner at some food stands near the North Gate. One stand is particularly well known — Anthony Bourdain ate here on his Chiang Mai visit and it’s become a bit of a tourist draw. The stand is referred to as Cowboy Hat Lady and is run by a woman wearing … yep, a cowboy hat. The biggest thing going for them though is their delicious braised pork leg. Keller and Kamy both really like it, so they were quite happy! I was still pretty full from my cooking class, so Caden chose a pad thai from another stand and we called that dinner.

Next we headed towards the south side of town, through Old Town, for the Saturday Night Walking Street. On the way we passed some activities at the Three Kings Monument, including a place for kids to create lace paper flags for their krathongs. Caden made a couple of iterations before he was happy with his and Kamy made one before deciding to keep her pink one.

We grabbed ice cream from White Elephant on the way further south. There were three options for flavors — mango, coconut, or butterfly pea. Keller and I shared a coconut with banana and chocolate concoction plus coconut in oatmeal cookies and the kids each had a scoop of butterfly pea.

We finally made it to the Saturday Night Walking Street. It was busy, but not too bad. We passed all kinds of stalls — selling food, knick knacks, tourist items, and handmade creations. We didn’t buy much, but it was fun to look!