Stuck in Chiang Mai

After busy Bangkok it was such a pleasant feeling to finally reach Chiang Mai on Oct. 29th – a much more rural ambience in Northern Thailand.

The city has around 120.000 residents, but we believe that at least half of the people who walk around are travelers from all around the world. Chiang Mai is definitely famous for all its markets. If its Wua Lai Saturday Night Market, Sunday Night Market or just everyday’s night market, you will find streetfood and little crafts everywhere. Besides, you also have the chance to explore a little bit of the surrounding nature and some adventure activities.

Pascal and I decided to book a big adventure package for the next day after checking in our Hotel (El Barrio Lanna). First, we visited some elephants and fed them with sugar cane and banana tree which we had cut with a machete beforehand. The Elephants absolutely LOVED it! It was also surprising how smart they are. We were both well equipped with pieces of banana tree and sugar cane in our left hand and fed the elephants piece by piece with our right hands. But the elephants saw the amounts of food we were holding in our left hands, took what we gave them and instead of putting the food in their mouths extended their trunks further towards us clearly indicating that they wanted ALL of what we were holding – not just the ridiculously small amounts. 😃
 
As we didn’t want to get in trouble we handed them what they demanded in one go. With their nimble trunks they shoved everything up in their mouth and started to chew with pleasure.
It was such a great experience to be part of the feeding and we just watched these majestic animals in awe! Afterwards we had a small (mud) bath together with our 42 years old elephant lady of which we took some lovely pictures.
Next stop was wild water rafting on the River Mae Taeng 60 km north of Chiang Mai which we also enjoyed a lot. The river was not too big and crazy but every now and then there were some rapids that were shaking us quite a bit, so we were all soaking wet 😅☀️ Best thing that could happen to us afterwards was some fresh cooked Pad Thai. YUMM!!!
 
Our last station of the tour was a ziplining park with 3 little monkeys (aka tour guides) that helped us through the obstacle course. MY definite highlight was riding a bicycle on a rope with which you had to cross a 15 meter long distance. It looked pretty easy when one of the guides showed us to do it. And it still looked pretty easy when Pascal did it. When it was my turn I realized, IT IS NOT!!! 😅😂 I had a BIG laugh trying to push the pedals… but no movement. 😂 In the end a guide had to climb back and get me. It was hilarious. 😎😂

All in all it was a great day in Chiang Mai with lots of FUN… until the evening. We were refreshing ourselves to visit the Sunday Night market, when I brushed my teeth and when going up…I pinched my sciatica nerve somehow and immediately felt a crazy PAIN in my back. A few minutes later I wasn’t even able to move anymore, and I had to lay down on my back. I was stiff as a board and it didn’t get much better the whole week. Yeay…pretty unnecessary and extremely painful as well…as I learned.
 
Unfortunately, we had just booked flights to go to Chiang Rai (another village in Northern Thailand) where we wanted to stay 3 nights and a connecting flight to Siem Reap in Cambodia where we wanted to visit the temples of Angkor Wat. Now guess what…. We couldn’t travel and of course didn’t pay extra for an insurance. So, we were somehow forced to stay a little longer in Chiang Mai as long as I needed to feel better again. And I was stuck in the hotel room for most of the time with no idea of how long it would take for my back to recover. Luckily, we were able to extend our stay in our hotel by 4 nights having to change rooms twice and afterwards find a new hotel (Villa Lantara) where we stayed another 3 nights. Yep….we wanted to stay 3 nights in the city and ended up staying there for 11 instead out of which I didn’t get to see much to see. What a nightmare!
 
Pascal was the best support I could have wished for, taking care of everything and me. What an angel he is!!!! 😘

While I was in bed, Pascal explored Chiang Mai throughout the day, going on hikes and visiting some more temples and places. As we missed Chiang Rai as a next stop, Pascal did a day tour from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai to see the famous WHITE and BLUE temples. Both stunning monuments that were quite special compared to the other temples that we have seen so far.

Lets see, maybe he’ll post a separate article on his adventures here. 😉Okumaya devam et