By Living in Malaysia, we are incredibly close to Thailand. We can get to the southern islands in less than an hour, and it’s biggest city, Bangkok, in a little over an hour. Northern Thailand, however, takes a little bit more of an effort to get to, and you won’t find any of those beautiful Thai beaches all the way up here. The city of Chiang Mai, lies within the Chiang Mai province, land-locked in between mountains, with Myanmar, Laos, China, even India, not too far away. You can see all of these influences in the region, especially in their cuisine, and the city of Chiang Mai has a different vibe than anywhere else in the country. We were excited to spend a few days here and explore this gorgeous, new (to us, anyway) part of Thailand.
We arrived on another long weekend (thank you Malaysian public holidays, yet again) and right away started exploring. We decided to stay in Old City Chiang Mai, which is the most historic part of the city. You can even see remnants of the old city walls, back when the it was first established in the early 13th century. There are tons of restaurants, shops, markets and temples in this area, and it was one of the coolest places to walk around and explore. Our hotel, De Naga Hotel, was in a great location, and definitely good value for the price (around $67 USD/night). After checking in to our hotel, the first stop was: FOOD. We headed off to a local market to see what we could find. In particular, we were on the hunt for the spicy pork sausage Chiang Mai is famous for. The market was full of locals, and had a great mix of dishes, so we knew we were in the right place.
We found all kinds of fruits: our favorite the honey lily mango, star fruit, and dragon fruit, all kinds of Thai chilis piled up, fresh vegetables and people making their specialty dishes. We weaved in and out looking at everything. Thai food is intensely regional, and in this region in particular, it is called “Lanna Food”, the food is spicier and the ingredients are quite different than any other region of Thailand. Even the rice is different! Up here they use sticky rice for everything, and if you are eating something without rice, something is wrong. Their livelihood in Northern Thailand revolves around rice, and driving outside of the city, you will see the rice fields everywhere. They also use TONS of pork, which coming from a Muslim country like Malaysia, where pork is harder to find, we were happy to indulge in!
The famous pork sausage was INCREDIBLE! Best I’ve ever had in my life, and that’s saying something coming from a girl who grew up in Texas and married a man whose entire family is from Louisiana. It was the perfect blend of savory (from the ginger), spicy (from the Thai chilis) and sweet/sour (from the lemongrass) on the inside and crispy on the outside. It makes my mouth water just writing about it. We also tried a local steamed wrapped salad in a banana leaf and mango sticky rice. All of it, delicious! Next up, it was time to walk around and find some temples…
Chiang Mai is rich history, and throughout the times, numerous temples have been erected here by kings. There are over 200 temples throughout the area, and each one is unique and beautiful. Just walking around, we seemed to come across another pagoda or temple after every turn.
Our favorite was called Wat Chedi Luang, which is one of the most notable temple complexes in the city. We loved how the old mixed with the new within the temple complex, and seeing the biggest pagoda in the complex, largely damaged from an earthquake, was really a unique sight.
There was also a study center for young monks within this complex, and they even have something called a “monk chat“, where the monks invite you to sit down with them and ask them anything you want. They get a chance to practice their English, share their beliefs on Buddhism and they get to learn too, because they ask you questions. We thought this was a super neat concept, so we sat down for about 20 minutes to ask them questions like “What does your typical day look like?”, “What made you chose to become a monk?” and “What part of the Buddhist religion are you studying?”, and it was all utterly fascinating. We learned a lot! We love getting to know and understand different cultures and religions better.
After temple hopping and monk chatting, it was time for more food! We walked the streets and made friends with this awesome local, who asked us when we walked by his shop, “Have you smiled today?”, and our answer was “Of course!!!”, and that led to us chatting with him, taking selfies and discovering where the good food was. I just LOVE when moments like that happen, actually I LIVE for those travel moments. He pointed us in the direction, and off we went to try some Khao Soi Curry noodles. This dish is a coconut based curry served over soft egg noodles, and topped with crunchy noodles. You can optionally add things in the dish like: meat, cabbage, chili flakes, lime, onions, etc. This is a must-try dish when in Chiang Mai, and completely delicious. There is a pattern with me and Thai food: there’s not really anything I don’t like. LOL!
After all the eating it was time to walk off all that food. Old City was such an easy place to just get “lost” in, and stumble upon shops, foot massages (we got two!), art galleries and interesting places. It was hot, but nothing beats walking around a town you are seeing for the very first time. Plus, cold coconuts are a great way to refresh from the heat!
After a full day of exploring, it was time for a full evening of…cooking! We decided to learn how to make some of the most well known and well loved Thai dishes, and booked a class with Basil Cookery. What made me book with them is the fact that they do small groups, pick you up and drop you off at your hotel, give you all the recipes to take home AND take you to the local market to pick your ingredients and learn about the ingredients. It was an awesome experience! It was just us, and one other couple, who were on their honeymoon. Our teacher, Pim, was hilarious, easy-going and informative. She explained everything so well, and had a great sense of humor, which was made even better by her Thai accent. Wandering through the market, she pointed out different ingredients we would be using, and we learned a lot we didn’t know about Thai cooking.
After the market, it was time to get cooking! We went to the cooking school, and got started on our 7 course (per person!!) Thai meal. That’s right, we each made 7 dishes! It was a lot of work, but it was so much fun. We made homemade spring rolls, papaya salad, spicy prawn soup, chicken pad thai, drunken noodles, green curry, red curry, deep fried bananas with coconut ice cream AND mango sticky rice. It was all SO delicious, and we left SO stuffed! It was well worth the money (less than $40 USD/person for everything), and I highly recommend doing a cooking class anywhere in Thailand. It was a great experience, especially if you love Thai food like we do!
The next day was THE day I had been waiting for, the big reason WHY we came to Chiang Mai, the day we had been DREAMING of: elephant sanctuary day! I did a TON of research on this because I wanted to get it right. It was a big deal to me to support a place that was not mistreating the elephants, not making them do anything un-natural and was not a tourist trap. Through all the research, I found Patara Elephant Farm, and knew they were the right choice. They limit the number of visitors per day, it is 100% Thai-owned, their motto is: rescue, recover, reproduce and re-introduce and they have an experience option that stood out to me: “elephant owner for a day”. This experience is unlike any other in Thailand. You actually get to learn how to take care and handle an elephant, and do what the owner does. This involves feeding them, making sure they are healthy by looking at their poop, observing their moods, brushing and bathing them, and building a relationship with them. It was a truly once-in-a-lifetime, memorable experience. It lasted all day, and we really did all of those things I mentioned above.
It started with us getting picked up at our hotel around 7:30am, and driving about an hour and a half to the elephant sanctuary. Once we arrived, we noticed a few elephants hanging out with baby elephants, and we were able to interact and take photos with them. After that we were split into two groups: each having only 8 people in it. We learned the Do’s and Don’t’s about interacting with elephants and their behaviors, then we were off to meet “our” elephant for the day. We rode up to the most beautiful location in the middle of the mountains. There is no fencing, and the elephants are free to roam around. Luke and I shared an elephant. Her name was Manoi, and she was a 22 year old Mama elephant who was rescued from the circus. She had the sweetest little baby, Nati, who stayed by her side all day with us.
You won’t find any crazy harness or baskets on the backs on the elephants at Patara, but you do still get to ride them, just like their owner would do to bathe them or lead them to another location. Riding on their necks, and the center of their backs is best and MUCH better than some crazy contraption that puts extra weight and pressure on them. When we rode Manoi down to the waterfall, it was actually a lot scarier than I thought it would be! Luke and I both felt like we could fall off at any moment, not to mention Manoi kept tearing off pieces of Bamboo trees that almost smacked us in the face a few times, and she kept turning around unexpectedly to make sure Nati was still with us. It was fun, but it was also wild and crazy!
Once we arrived at the waterfall, it started to rain and we sat by the edge of this gorgeous river, in a tiny hut, watching the elephants play in the water. It was BEYOND words…one of the greatest memories of my life so far: in the middle of a jungle in Thailand, surrounded by elephants playing in a river with a waterfall behind them, listening to rain hit the thatch roof of the hut, enjoying a local lunch. WOW!
The elephants were so happy, and the babies were hilarious to watch play around in the water. Our lunch consisted of local fruits, fried chicken, and sticky rice. Everything was great!
And of course, the setting was unreal…
After lunch, it was time to bathe our elephant. This was SO much fun, and the best part of the day. We jumped in the water, while it was raining and got busy splashing them with water and brushing them. Manoi especially loved when we brushed the top of her butt and back! It’s hard for an elephant to scratch that itch!
After the bath, they had the elephants spray us all over with water from their trunks! Hilarious, and COLD experience!
All in all, I can not say enough good things about Patara Elephant Farm. The people there truly care and love these animals, there are no whips and chains used, no gimmicky tricks like painting or standing on their hind legs, and best of all, the elephants are happy. How can you tell? They were all flapping their ears joyfully, moving their tails back and forth and interacting with each other. You left with a sense of joy and pride knowing how well they were being cared for, and that for me, was important. So do your research, and spend your money at a place that is helping to recover these beautiful animals.
We fell in LOVE with Chiang Mai, and wish we could have stayed longer. We made memories and experiences there that will last a lifetime and we got a true glimpse into the beauty of Northern Thailand. So if planning a trip to Thailand, do not count out Chaing Mai. The beaches can wait, this place is something TRULY UNIQUE.
Happy travels,
Courtney
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