Northern Thailand - (5th September - 15th September 2006)

Chiang Mai is the northern capital of Thailand. It acts as a stepping stone into the forests and hill tribe areas that fill the province and was our next stop. We're not planning on exploring the North very much, but it's a great city to relax in (loads cooler than Bangkok), so we stuck around for a few days. It used to be that if you weren't planning on trekking there wasn't much to stay for but now there are lots of things to keep you busy and lots of nice restaurants to keep you full. Since tourist treks have taken off in the area there have been a lot of negative side effects for the local tribes and the environment. Normally the treks are between 1 and 3 days and will involve staying with a hill tribe (the ethnic minorities that live in the area and have mainly come from Tibet, Myanmar, China and Laos), some rafting, and maybe an elephant ride. But there have been problems with disrespectful tourists, drug use, poor quality guides and just generally a lot of tribes being taken advantage of. The only real winners were the tour operators. Apparently they are trying to improve the situation, but we'd already decided not to trek in Thailand (there are supposed to be more eco-friendly tours available in Laos) so I was a bit worried that we'd run out of things to do. I was so wrong!! There's so much to do now, mountain biking, rock climbing, massage courses, yoga, thai boxing, quad bike tours..... They even have scuba diving and wind surfing even though they're nowhere near the sea.

Before we could sign up for any of these though we had to find some accommodation. As normal we started with the Lonely Planet and went to a place called Smile Guest House as it had a positive review and was a decent price. It was nasty though, the price had gone up by 25% since the book was published last year and the rooms were dirty and in serious need of some TLC. Luckily there was another place 50m further down the road called Somwang GH. The rooms were loads better, there was no left over "items" from the previous tenant, they were cheaper and they were run by a really nice family. Once we'd settled in we started to look at all of the activities that were on offer and settled on a Thai cookery school (there were dozens to choose from) for a day of cooking and eating, some downhill mountain biking for me and we ummed and ahed over a massage course.

In the evening we took a stroll around the massive night market, all the same stuff as BKK, fake watches, trainers, CD's, DVD's, bags, T-shirts and a load of the Thai tribal crafts that you think will look great in your living room, until you actually get them home and realise that they look ridiculous. So the only thing that we bought tonight was food.

Our first full day in town we weren't planning on doing anything except relax after a few hectic days of wats and bus rides. So it was a lazy morning, lots of eating, some internet time and then some more eating.

Day 2 was the cookery school and on our menu was red curry paste, red chicken curry, spicy papaya salad (som tam), stir fried chicken with cashew nuts, fried vergetables with tofu (pad thai) and sticky rice with coconut milk and mango (all Thai specialities). I just substituted tofu for chicken for the meat dishes. The plan was pretty simple, we'd go to the market to buy some of the ingredients, then we'd cook it, then we'd eat it. Maybe we were a bit OTT practicing so much for the last bit yesterday, but I'm sure that it's better to be over prepared. We got picked up from the guest house and were joined by a Swiss girl, a mother and daughter combo from Germany and another English couple on honeymoon in Asia. Then we drove out to the market where the teacher told us all about the different kinds of rice, how they make coconut milk and coconut cream, and the different kinds of curry paste. Then we had a chance to explore the market and ask questions. The actual school ws about 20kms outside of town so was going to be a lot quieter than all of the other schools that were in town. Also at this one we got to learn about some of the herbs and veggies that grew at the organic farm; galangal, chillies, lemongrass, kaffir limes, regular limes, long beans, different shapes and sizes of aubergine. Then it was back into the kitchens and a chance to take off the ridiculous hats that we had to wear outside - no escape from the aprons though.

First up was curry paste, this involved us cutting up some garlic, chilli, lemon grass, galangal, shallots and kaffir lime, adding it to the cumin seeds, ginseng and corriander and then putting it all into the biggest and heaviest pestle and mortar I've ever seen. Next step was simple - pound it for about 30 minutes until it was a smooth paste. This was then used in the red curry that we made. We all got a wok and a burner each and they had prepared all of the other ingredients for us, so all we had to do was put in the coconut milk curry paste and tofu follwed by the aubergine, onion, and seasoning. Dish one done. Stir Fried Tofu with Cashew Nuts - pretty simple and made even simpler by them cutting up the ingredients for us. Spicy Salad was back to the pestle and mortar with the green papaya, chillies, lemon juice, sugar, long beans, tomato, peanuts and soya sauce. And then that was it for meal number 1. So we all sat down to eat in the garden. It was so good!!! We're such good cooks!!!!

After eating and after a lot of sitting around relaxing it was back into the heat of the kitchen to make dinner. Pad Thai is pretty simple: add all of the ingredients, fry an egg, and then mix them all together. Then it was dessert. Sticky rice is the sort of glutinous rice that is used to make sushi and is often eaten in parts of Thailand and Laos. They use it in the dessert by adding coconut milk to it and then serving it over pieces of mango. Got to admit I've never liked it but didn't really have much choice about making it. We were both too full to eat this while we were at the school, but a couple of hours later we ate it for dinner in our room at the guest house and again it ws fantastic - even the sticky rice tasted good!!! After dinner we headed out on the town for some internet time and then on to some Thai Boxing. It was a much lower key event than the stadium in Bangkok, basically they had the ring in the middle of a large bar and they probably made more money out of the drinks than the admission. At the beginning Kamay was a bit skeptical, especially as the first bout was a couple of 9 year old kids and they were really going for it - kicks, punches, knees and elbows were all being thrown and not a tear in sight. But as the night went on, I think that she started to enjoy it a lot more than I was expecting. Don't get me wrong, she wasn't shouting for blood , but she wasn't asking to leave. The main fight of the night was a bit of a mis-match between a Kiwi and a Thai that looked about 10kgs lighter. It was a good fight though and the Kiwi won with a spinning elbow that was the only KO that we saw in the evening.

Friday morning I got picked up again from the guesthouse and driven across town to the mountain biking office where I met the rest of the group (an Israeli, an Irishman and a Dutch couple) and we were given our instructions for the day. Then the bikes (proper full suspension jobbies) were loaded onto the roof of the truck and we drove the 30 minutes to the summit of Doi Suthep (one of the nearby "mountains"). We got kitted out with all of the safety equipment that we'd need (well, that they had) and started practicing with the bikes around the car park. I've got to admit that the bikes and the safety equipment had definitely seen better days but it worked, and besides it must be hard to replace some of the parts in Thailand. Our main guide was the American guy that owned the business, so it was good to get somebody who was fluent in English, well, as much as an American can be. The only downside was that he kept on riding off and then getting us to follow him a minute later so that he could take photos. At least he gave us a copy of them all at the end though. As soon as everyone was happy with their bikes we started down the mountain. The first few minutes were on tarmac, then we went through a village for a minute or two and then the gradient and quality of road went downhill. It was all single track trail from here, sometimes grassy, but mainly just big rocky stuff with lots of gravel, way tougher than I was expecting. And still we saw people on scooters coming up the trail towards us!!! In the whole day I only came off the bike once, which I was amazed at, and this was when I looked up to say hi to guy walking up the hill. Yeah, I know it was my fault!! Around noon we stopped near a waterfall for a chance to cool off in the cold water - it was just what we needed because by then it was boiling hot and even though there wasn't much pedalling involved sheer terror meant that I was sweating buckets. There was a bit of a hairy moment as we got out when the Irish guy almost got swept away down the next waterfall, but apart from that the rest of the afternoon was just more of the same.

While I was doing this Kamay was back in town checking out a few of the temples, there are a lot in Chiang Mai, so it was only going to be a few of the highlights.

In the evening we walked to the Riverside Restaurant. It overlooks the river and is supposed to have really nice food and good live music. The food (spicy yellow noodle soup - khao sawy - for me and squid with pepper and garlic for K) was alright but not really worth the extra money when you compared it to the food that you could get from the roadside vendors. And the band didn't turn up until after we'd paid and were heading out of the door.

The next morning we were going to Pai. You can get there on a twisty 4 hour bus ride which in the past has always been hideously overcrowded, so we decided to hire a scooter for the 140km trip. We left most of our stuff at the guesthouse and headed out on the bike. It was a bit hairy getting out of Chiang Mai, but then when we were out in the countryside it was all a lot easier. Although it was a lot more painful than the bus it was way better, we could slow down when we wanted to and even stop for photo's. The scenery was beautiful, it's getting towards the end of the rainy season, so although it means that we got wet a lot, everything was green. It was all so pretty.

Pai is a bit of a hippy hang out, there are a lot of people who get here and stay here, including a lot of people that looked as though they were actually living here permanently now. It's a beautiful place, nothing very much to do, but a great climate and a very relaxed atmosphere. The relaxed atmos may be something to do with the amount of opium and hash that "used to be" grown here. Despite the government incentives to change to other crops we were still offered various things on our time here, which obviously we rejected - amongst other things I don't really fancy the sort of penalties that they dish out here. We managed to find some accommodation in some bamboo huts really close to the River Pai and basically relaxed for 5 days. It was great. The afternoon that we arrived we saw a storm was about to hit so we just sat on the porch of our hut and watched the rain fall. We spent a lot of time out here with books over the next few days. In Thailand they have these triangular cushions which although they look a bit odd are perfect when you're feeling lazy, you just lie down with the top of your back/head against them - it's perfect! The town only really consists of about 4 or 5 streets so it didn't take long to see it when the rain stopped in the early evening. Best thing that we saw around town was by far the fruit and chocolate rotis. There are two couples that both have stalls selling these sweet treats, so over the next couple of days we sampled both and Kamay decided that the one nearest the bus station gave us the most chocolate on the roti (kind of like a thin pancake), so this was the one that got most of our business (normally at least once a night, and often twice - a pre dinner dessert and a post dinner dessert).

On the 2nd day in Pai (after breakfast in the fab All About Coffee) we took the bike out to a waterfall about 30 minutes drive away, the actual waterfall was nothing special but the ride out there was nice, and it filled a bit of time. Then it was the long route back to town , just taking in a bit more of the scenery and stopping off at Pai Canyon and Pai Hot Springs. The Canyon isn't really very impressive, but what was impressive were the guides that we had while we were there. 2 dogs!! As we got there and parked the bikes there were these 2 small dogs and they led the way into the canyon and stayed with us the whole time, even turning around when we decided we'd had enough and chappeauroned us all of the way back to the bikes. All of the way we were thinking that they were really well trained dogs and that as soon as we got back to the bikes their owner would be there and would charge us for his dogs' services. There wasn't though. The Hot Springs were even less impressive. Until recently all of the National Parks cost very little to go into, but all of a sudden they've started charging foreigners 200 Baht (locals pay 20 Baht). It's not that much, about 3 pounds, but when you're on a bit of a budget it's a fair slice of your daily allowance. It's fine if it's a decent park and you can spend a long time there, like at the Erawan Falls in Kanchanaburi, but we were only here for about an hour. Anyway, whinge over. The hot springs are your normal egg smelling geo-thermal pools that you can supposedly sit in. Well, that's what they said - it was about 80 - 90 C though!!! We could have cooked eggs in there, no way were we getting in. So we left a little bit dissapointed. Cheered ourselves up though in the knowledge that we'd bought ponchos that morning and a lot of people that we met on the road hadn't and it was now throwing it down on the final leg of our return trip to town. The next day we did even less than this - just ate, read, ate and read. Found a really nice place that did vegetarian food as a kind of buffet thing. They cook it all in the morning and then you just point at whatever you want and they put it with rice. Pai is a great place for food!! I'm sure that a lot of the Thai food is toned down for the foreigners compared to "proper Thai food" but it was so nice for me to be able to get all of the things that is available on the streets but with tofu, or with vegetables.

Our next day in Pai was a bit more active. The next largish village/town on the road west is a place called Soppong, about 60kms away. It was more steep twisty roads to get there along with quite a few landslides and pot holes, so some of the ride wasn't all that enjoyable especially when it started to rain on the way back from Soppong in the afternoon. Soppong was fairly nice, not much going on, there was a market selling the normal kinds of fruits, vegetables and nick nacks - nice enough, but the scenery on the way there was the main reason for us coming here.

Back in Pai there is a temple on the top of a hill where you get a good view of the whole town (Wat Phrae Mae Yen) so we were hoping to get there in time for sunset. The road up was very uneven and incredibly steep but we just about managed it on the scooter. Unfortunately the sunset wasn't as impressive as we were hoping, just because of the clouds, but we did get a great view over all of the rice fields and the surrounding hills. Even without the sunset, it was well worth it. In the evening we went to the cinema!! There was a place in town where they had 3 or 4 rooms with big screen TV's and DVD players, and basically you rent a movie and relax in the room. It was ace - we had three big sofas to spread ourselves over and a good movie - great way to spend a rainy evening.

Our final day in Pai, a little bit sad, but I'm sure we'll get over it. We'd been convinced by a Kiwi couple the day before that an elephant ride was a good idea so against our better judgement we signed up for a morning trip. In Thailand they've used elephants for years either in the wars or in industries like logging. Now that there are restrictions on logging they have all of these "tame" elephants that need to be kept. So they are being used in tourism, they're well looked after, they get to roam free in the jungle at night, are well fed and obviously enjoy what they are doing. Or so we were told. Most of this seemed true enough when we arrived. We got to meet the elephants that we'd be riding and could feed them bananas, man they can eat more of those things than I can - respect!!! But this was more like they were doing tricks than anything else. Then it was up onto their backs - no seats just straight onto the backs and holding onto a piece of rope that went around their middles and down the road and into the jungle. K and I shared an elephant with her at the front and me behind and it made the 4 hour scooter ride feel like luxury. It was even worse when we went downhill as you had to hold on so tight with your legs but the whole time you're slipping forward so you're also holding on with your hands but still slipping forward - it was a long way from enjoyable. Finally we got to the river where the elephants had a bit of a walk and then a game of get the tourists wet. On command from the guides they'd fill their trunks with water and spray it over their backs. Seemed like lots of fun when we were told about it, but didn't realise how staged it was - the guides shouted and jabbed the elephants with sticks to make them do it. I guess we weren't being very realistic in what we were hoping for from the trip, but we thought that the elephants would have seemed to actually want to be doing what they were doing rather than just completing a series of tricks. They really are magnificent animals and amazingly gentle given their size and strength but we both wished that we hadn't done the elephant ride. Made it all better though in the afternoon by finding a place called the Fruit Factory - amazing fruit juice combinations (orange, lime apple and ginger for me) and real fruit ice creams. Then it was a bit more relaxing!!

7.00 the next morning we were on the road back to Chiang Mai. This time it was loads colder through all of the hills so that every time we got to a bit of sunshine we slowed right down just to warm up a bit. We got back into Chiang Mai with some time to see a few more things including the excellent Tribal Museum. It's spread over 4 floors in a pretty funky little building on the outskirts of Chiang Mai. It covers all of the major tribes that are spread over Northern Thailand and tells you about the various cultural differences between them all; clothes, music, crops that they farm, farming methods etc. Particularly intriguing was the tribe that has a swinging festival in August. Sadly they didn't have many details, just a big picture of a swing in a field. It was nice that there wasn't too much stuff that you end up rushing through most of the second half because you've got a bit bored (something I suffer with in most museums) and everything had an English translation. After this it was time to get some food, and there is supposed to be a good vegetarian place on the other side of town. So after a bit of getting lost we eventually found it. It's a big Buddhist place that's funded by the Asoke foundation where you can buy lots of food to cook at home, as well as Buddhist cassettes and books, etc and obviously the only reason we were here for - the food. And it was disgusting!!!! It's the same deal as the place in Pai - where it all gets cooked earlier and you just load it onto your plate, except that this stuff was cold. I think that even if it had been hot though it would have still been pretty nasty. The only saving grace was that we only paid about 30 pence for it. Even this was wiped out when we realised that we were supposed to wash up our own plates and cuttlery afterwards!!!!

Tomorrow we are flying to Luang Prabang in Laos. We could have taken the bus, but it would have involved about 24 hours of bus travel, an overnight stop and a lot of back tracking later on, so we decided to spend the extra money and put our trust in Lao Airlines .......gulp!!!