We spent five days in Chiang Mai and did so many different things. Our two must dos are definitely a visit to an elephant sanctuary and take a cooking class!
Elephant Jungle Sanctuary
Grand Canyon
Cooking Class at Zabb E Lee Cooking School
We first went to the market and learned about some of the different vegetables and foods we would be cooking with- Thai garlic, sweet basil, lemongrass, pea eggplants and more. Then we chose one city, one soul, one appetizer and one main dish to cook. Will definitely try to replicate this back in Boston for anyone who wants to be an experimenter!
Temples
Eco Trek through Mae Sariang
Seven of us set out on a journey through the Mae Sariang to a hill tribe in the jungle. We didn't quite know what we were getting into, but here's our story.
Day 1 started early in Chiang Mai, followed by a 3 hour van ride to the start of the trek. We had lunch with a beautiful view and then piled into the back of a truck with our water and packs for a night. After a 25 minute truck ride, we began our trek through the farm areas and finally the mosquito filled jungle. Our guide stopped to chop down two bamboo stalks so that we would have coffee cups in the morning. We helped carry the long stalks the rest of the way: up hill and through the flowing stream (I conveniently passed the stalk off right before the river... Sorry Lindsay!)
We arrived at the tribe where we sat after a long trek, played cards as a group and ate dinner with the tribe family. In their culture, the men do all of the cooking :) We slept on the ground under mosquito nets, full of our bug spray, sunscreen and sweat from the day.
Day 2 also began early- our guide reminded us that we needed to eat a lot of breakfast even if we weren't hungry because of the rigor of the trek that day. Three men from the tribe joined us, chopped us walking sticks, helped us cross flowing rivers and cut a path along the trek. They were also on snake duty... We arrived at the first waterfall after about an hour and were able to take a bath. Then it was on to the next spot for lunch where we ate noodles out of our make shift lunch box- leaves- then continued on to the bat cave. When we arrived at the cave, our three tribe recruits lit bamboo sticks for torches as we walked through the water in this dark cave. Our guide said the smoke from the torches would ward off any snakes or other critters in the cave- definitely comforting... We made it through, said good bye to our helpers and started the trek uphill to the end. After about an hour and a half, we were so happy to see the truck that would pick us up and end our uphill trek. 7 people, 30+ mosquito bites each and countless memories. Overall this was a challenging trek mentally and physically. But we made it out of the jungle and I am happy to have had this unique experience with some wonderful people.
Day 1 started early in Chiang Mai, followed by a 3 hour van ride to the start of the trek. We had lunch with a beautiful view and then piled into the back of a truck with our water and packs for a night. After a 25 minute truck ride, we began our trek through the farm areas and finally the mosquito filled jungle. Our guide stopped to chop down two bamboo stalks so that we would have coffee cups in the morning. We helped carry the long stalks the rest of the way: up hill and through the flowing stream (I conveniently passed the stalk off right before the river... Sorry Lindsay!)
We arrived at the tribe where we sat after a long trek, played cards as a group and ate dinner with the tribe family. In their culture, the men do all of the cooking :) We slept on the ground under mosquito nets, full of our bug spray, sunscreen and sweat from the day.
Day 2 also began early- our guide reminded us that we needed to eat a lot of breakfast even if we weren't hungry because of the rigor of the trek that day. Three men from the tribe joined us, chopped us walking sticks, helped us cross flowing rivers and cut a path along the trek. They were also on snake duty... We arrived at the first waterfall after about an hour and were able to take a bath. Then it was on to the next spot for lunch where we ate noodles out of our make shift lunch box- leaves- then continued on to the bat cave. When we arrived at the cave, our three tribe recruits lit bamboo sticks for torches as we walked through the water in this dark cave. Our guide said the smoke from the torches would ward off any snakes or other critters in the cave- definitely comforting... We made it through, said good bye to our helpers and started the trek uphill to the end. After about an hour and a half, we were so happy to see the truck that would pick us up and end our uphill trek. 7 people, 30+ mosquito bites each and countless memories. Overall this was a challenging trek mentally and physically. But we made it out of the jungle and I am happy to have had this unique experience with some wonderful people.