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| Chiang Mai, according to the guidebook, is a quaint, moated and walled city surrounded by mountains with legendary mystical attributes. It still kind of is, but it has also become pretty modern and cosmopolitan. It has over 300 temples, which in a city this size makes it look pretty good, with temple chedis covering the skyline. Chiang Mai is considered the second capital and is clearly slap bang on the tourist trail, although at the moment there seem to be very few of them around (apart from us two of course!!)
To get here we set off from Bangkok's Hualamphong station on the overnight sleeper. In our 2nd class air-con carriage we had two bunks which were made up early in the journey by an attendant - complete with fresh white linen. We found that one bunk was substantial for the two of us and pulled our curtains across and watched as we left Bangkok and headed 'up country'. From the train ride we watched the urban sprawl of Bangkok begin to disappear and woke the next morning to the greenery of Northern Thailand. Nathan pinched a good few hours sleep, but Sue a good few less as Nathan was snoring most of the way!!
In Chiang Mai the tuk-tuk drivers are ALWAYS beeping you as you walk past and shouting "Taxi - you want a ride - very cheap" - even if it's obvious you're heading in completely the opposite direction and it's a one-way road! Can you imagine a cabbie doing that in London? But apart from that little hassle, it's great here - superb places to eat and drink, lovely temples to see and loads of relaxing to be had!
Yesterday we did a one day cookery course at the 'Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School' (courtesy of our friends Sarah and Gordon who paid for this as a wedding pressie) which started off with a trip to the local market to have a look at the ingredients we were going to be cooking that day and then it was back for some cooking. We did six dishes and got to eat all of them including a steamed banana pudding which made it all worthwhile!! Nathan will definitely be cooking (and Sue eating!) these dishes when we get home, so try and get yourself invited, it'll be well worth it!! | | | | Previous Entry: | Next Entry: | | 20 Apr 2001 : Bangkok - Thailand | 2 May 2001 : Phitsanuloke - Thailand | | A few more nights in the capital | Last few stops in Thailand |
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