George’s Adventure

Monday 20th November 2006

Our last day in Bangkok on Thursday 17/11 was pretty funny.  Janine has no malaria tablets for Laos but you can buy them pretty easily over the counter in chemists in Thailand.  Of course the ones Janine wanted are not sold in the local chemists but apparently in a hospital right accross the other side of town in a hospital for tropical diseases (nice!!  I did look at everyone in there a bit funny).  Anyway to cut a long story short they dont sell malarone in Thailand and the doctor actually told Janine she didnt need to take anything for Laos.  After much umming and arrhhing, im on my 5th or 6th beer at this point when Janine finally decides she will not take any malaria tablets.  That evening however, in my beer intoxicated state we make our way to the train station and board a sleeper train to Chiang Mai which arrives at 1pm the next day.  The sleepers were great.  We were in a second class sleeper with a fan and about a million other people but I really got used to it after a while.  The ‘trolley’ as i like to call it consisted of people walking up and down the aisles carrying juice and foods.  Great!

When we arrived at the station we took a tuk tuk to our guesthouse, checked in, and went out for some food and walked to Wat Phra Singh.  This is a temple that houses the ‘Lion’ buddah.  The grounds are just as impressive as the buddah itself as the ‘wihaan’ is well known for its mural paintings which are faded in parts but beautiful.  In the grounds there are trees with captions on them which i loved and whilst I was wandering around by myself a novice monk came up to me and asked me if I could spare some time to talk with him and two friends to improve their English.  Of course, I obliged, chatting away.  When Janine wandered around I don’t think she could believe her eyes.  Haha!  That evening we wandered to the famous Chiang Mai Night Bazaar.  Again, a marked where you can buy practically everything. 

The thing about Chiang Mai is not only its cooler temperature compared to Bangkok but it doesnt have that dark edge to it that Bangkok has.  Bangkok is very business and money orientated and you are constantly fighting against tuk tuk drivers and women who want to sell you wooden croaking frogs or men who want to sell you suits (do i look like i need a suit?).  Chiang Mai is less frantic and you do not get hassled as much (those women with the frogs still walk about – i think im going to have nightmares about them).

On Saturday we had an early start as we had enrolled in the Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School.  This was the first cookery school to open in Chiang Mai in 1993 and it is owned by Sompon Nabnian, who is one of Thailand’s international TV chefs.  The da was wonderful.  Now, I know it might be hard to picutre me in a kitchen with an apron on and not burn anything – but I really enjoyed it.  The day was relaxed but informative.  I cooked chicken in coconut milk soup, fried big noodles with thick sauce, followed by  red curry with fish and fried mixed mushrooms with baby corn.  After all that I made a papaya salad and sticky rice AND my favourite favourite……steamed banana cake. Yummy.

After our little day of cookery we decided to hit the town and ended up meeting a group of other travellers, some Swedish and some English who we spent the night chatting and drinking with.  We had so much fun.  I ended up with a flower necklass, bracelet and rose by the end of the evening.  So much fun.

Yesturday we did a day trip to the Elephant Training Centre Chiang Dao.  Our first stop of the day was to the elephant dung centre where they show you how they recycle elephant dung.  Very interesting.  Next, onto the actual elephant camp where we saw them bathing and where they put on a show, carrying logs, hoisting flags, painting pictures, playing football and even dancing to music.  We got to ride an elephant, I had forgotton just how uncomfortable this is, go bamboo rafting down the river, and ride an ox cart – very bizzarre.  The lady kept prodding them with a stick, despite the fact that there is only one way to go. I thoroughly enjoyed the day and we finished off the evening by visiting the Sunday night market near our guesthouse.