Thursday January 18 / Arrival in Chiang Mai
We arrived in Chiang Mai in late afternoon and settled into Chala Number 6 in the heart of downtown Chiang Mai. Lovely room. Lovely grounds.
Chiang Mai was a walled city. Today there are remains of walls offering a picturesque touch. On a short walk, exploring the neighborhood we discovered at least 5 temples / Wats and, of course, the grounds of the bigger temples include smaller temples.
As we walked our guide messaged us re places we should checkout and possible dining options. We chose one of them, a rooftop restaurant with a nice vantage point of the sunset and we decided to make reservations for another, The House of Ginger.
Below CW: Wat Phan On, a buddha in Wat Phan Tao and, in Wat Chedi Luang, a colorful guardian and a recent temple.
Friday January 19 / Handicraft Villages and Khantoke Dinner
THEN, 31 years ago, we visited a silk factory, the parasol factory and silver jewelers.
NOW we visited Baan Jang Nak, an elephant wood carving museum founded in 1985 by Phet Wiriya. The whole family does exquisite work bringing these majestic creatures to life in all sizes. Quite impressive.
NOW we again visited the Parasol factory. The colors are enchanting. And we were there just as the Annual Parasol Festival was starting.
We visited a silver jeweler. This one was much larger than the one we visited 31 years ago. Pat bought a bracelet that is a band of elephants. She likes it enough that she has already worn it many times.We moved on to a silk factory. Here they demonstrated the process of making silk starting with the silk worm. There was a big showroom with men's and women's clothes, as well as, items for the home. None quite called to us, but nice.
We were off to try the Northern Thai dish, Khao Soi, a bowl of rice noodles in curry broth with crunchy noodles on top. Tasty.
THEN we went to a dinner and dance show at the Old Chiang Mai Cultural Center. THEN the performances were more tribal, ie performed by Hill Tribe people and the food service had more character. NOW, while we visited the same place, the food was served on a Kantoke Tray (ie everything served at once on a wooden pedestal tray) and the food, considered Northern Thai specialities, was quite basic with curry, minced pork, fried pumpkin, etc, And the dance was more elegant and slow moving. Likely dances typically performed for the royals. I suspect the dance style varies by the day of the week.
The diners sit on the floor around the Khantoke, supported by triangular cushions. (Or you can sit at a table if that is more comfortable for you. It was for us.)
THEN, we enjoyed visiting with elephants and hill tribe people. THEN there was a show with the elephants center stage and we rode the elephants into the jungle where the mahouts dropped us off and we had to find our way out…where we discovered our guide waiting for us with a great meal. NOW, this trip, no more riding elephants. It's not only PC but it's the law in Thailand. These days we recognize that the heavy seat is bad on the elephants back! But you get to feed them, bathe them, and take them for a walk.
We had an early pickup to drive to Elephant Dream Valley. This is an ethical elephant sanctuary where the elephants are allowed to roam around freely (under the watchful eye of their mahout) – no baskets, hooks or chains are used at this camp. We were scheduled to have 30 minutes of 1 on 1 time with the gentle giants followed with shared time as the groups arrive. In our case we had a couple hours with them as only one group joined us and they arrived late. First we got to know the elephants, feeding them sugar cane, their treat. (Note: They do tire of sugar cane, preferring to eat more grasses than sweets.) During this time we learned that elephants are hard of hearing, have poor eyesight, and that while in their natural habitat they sleep for only about 4 hours per day, mainly at night, and they eat constantly.
We were given red tops to wear which signifies to the elephants that we are a good source of food (with some animals this would be worrisome, but elephants are vegetarians). We continued feeding them sugar cane until time for their walk. They ate their way slowly uphill dining on the field grasses. Then we joined them in a stream for their bath. Finally we were back to their pen where we observed that the only function of the pen is to keep the visitors at a distance. The elephants have long ago mastered letting themselves in and out of the pen.
THEN we visited a couple Hill Tribe villages, including attending a wake for the Oldest member of the village. THEN we also visited a second village where they were celebrating New Years with members of other tribes joining in. All in celebratory dress. Excellent timing. NOW the villages seem more up to date with easier access to modern amenities. And we only saw traditional garb at the spots set aside for tourists and for making sales to tourists.
THEN the day started at a huge local market that sold everything from CD's ot livestock. We chose this market for its appeal to Jim and Sandra, dairy farmers. They always love to visit something farm related.
NOW we had lunch at a Hill Tribe run restaurant and then explored the modern day village. Pretty down to earth but definitely decades ahead of what we saw before. Previously it was more picturesque but there seem to be more creature comforts today. And I suspect they still have special holidays where they get to enjoy old customs.
Below, CW: A weaver, Veggies for sale, Lunch, Peppers drying on the roof, Milk on the hoof, Drying rice.
On our way back to the hotel after dinner, we stopped for a photo of the Wat Chedi Luang lit up. But as we moved closer for the photo we noticed the complex was open to the public. We wandered in further and found we had the place nearly to ourselves. Delightful!
This 14th century Temple, is famous for its enormous chedi, which is 282' high and 144' feet at the base. "Luang" means "large" in northern dialect. The construction of the original chedi was completed in 1481 and the Emerald Buddha was installed inside shortly thereafter. In 1545, the upper 30 m of the structure collapsed after an earthquake, and, in 1551, the Emerald Buddha was moved to Luang Prabang, to be later moved to Bangkok. The current Chedi Luang "is a restoration" from the early 1990s financed by UNESCO and the Japanese government. (but it's hard to figure out what was restored. I'd say they just built around the original massive chedi.)
Not only is the original chedi huge, so are the grounds. We probably wandered around for upwards of an hour. There were multiple buddhas (of course) and a band of elephant sculptures about halfway up the chedi (see bottom left photo in collage.)
Sunday January 21 / Lanna Folklife Museum, Lanna Cooking Experience
The Lanna Folklife Museum features information about Lanna traditions
ceremonial utensils, handicrafts, ceramics, paintings, lacquerware, woven basketry, traditional musical instruments and dioramas of the Lanna culture. Lanna cuture flourished in the area of modern day Chiang Mai during 14C to 19C.
Women's clothing featured the Pa Sin Tin Jok skirts. The skirt has three components:
1. An upper border made from plain cloth, usually red.
2. A middle section that is the body of the skirt, woven in horizontal stripes of equal size, called "sin ta".
3. The lower border is sown on to the bottom of the skirt. Woven using a technique called "gan jok", the designs are created using a discontinuous supplementary weft ending in a red edge.
A Ta Laew (meaning the eye of a hawk) is often attached to the doors of farms and granaries to avert misfortune. Lanna people believe that the hawk's eye is especially keen, able to see far-away objects clearly. thus penetrating mystery and seeing potential disaster in the distance.
Below: Lanna skirts and an "eye of a hawk".
As part of traditional Lanna partner selection, parents would allow daughters to meet a young man at night. She would sit on a patio of her house doing some activities such as spinning cotton thread, wrapping Miang (tidbits wrapped in leaves), pounding rice. Sometimes a group of 2-3 women got together and to wait for men to visit. A man could visit by himself or go as a small group. They might also sing poems or bring musical instruments to play. As their interest developed, they would get permission to touch each other's hands. Later, the woman's parents would ask the man to come and 'Sai Pbi which was a ritual to worship the woman family's ancestral spirits. After that, they would check for an auspicious time and day for the man to move into her house..
Lanna foods include spicy sausage, pork rind, jackfruit, pork curry, rice or egg noodles, Pho mushrooms, wild betel leaves, malabar nightshade, giant taro, dried red cotton flowers and red ant larvae. Seasonings include pickled fish, fermented soybean and crab paste. They put food on a pedestal tray used as a small dining table and sit in a circle on the floor to enjoy meals together.
Lanna fine art Buddhist artifacts were donated to temples by people wishing to make merit for themselves and relatives (mostly) who have passed away. The artifacts include Buddha images, decorative trees, and worship models made from gold and silver, as well as horses and elephants fashioned from precious stones.
We enjoyed a dinner and cooking experience at Chiang Mai Home Host by Raunkaew-Yanon Family. We visited the home of a Lanna family, who arrived in the area almost 150 years ago. They have continued the traditions for many generations: building their homes of teak wood and maintaining the natural surroundings in a manner now rarely seen in Chiang Mai.
Unlike commercial cooking classes, this provided a real experience and sense of Lanna life, the traditions and buildings, the relationship between their religions and ancestors and the way this works together with nature.
Our friends Amy & Tim (whom we met in San Miguel a couple years ago and whom we last met up with in Porto, Portugal last year) were in Chiang Mai and joined us. The tour started with a visit to the Spirit House, a shrine to the protective spirit of the place. We each made an offering. Then we had a tour of the house and learned about family traditions. One is that the family home is passed down through the women in the family, not the men. Then we toured the orchard with many types of fruit such as banana, mango, coconut and visited the organic garden filled with cooking herbs. Following the tour, we joined in making:
- Dry red curry chicken breast with thai herb
- Minced pork with tomato paste Northen style (Nam prik Ong)
- Hot and sour chicken soup (Tom som Kai)
- Stir fried green egg plant with minced pork (Phad Makauyaw Moo)
- Pad Thai with egg, bean sprouts, shrimp, tofu, garlic, mushrooms
- Banana in coconut milk
- Coconut Pancake
The class was fun and the dishes were all tasty but the combination of ingredients and methods are complicated enough that it is highly unlikely that we will make any of them.
Monday Jan 22 / Doi Inthanon National Park
Doi Inthanon National Park is home to Thailand's highest peak at 8481'. It's not that high considering it isn't that far from the Himalayas, but whatever. The best views across the park are found at the King's and Queen's Chedis. The chedis were gifts from the Royal Thai Air Force for their 60th birthdays. The King's was built in 1987 and is covered with gold. The Queen's built in 1992 is covered in mostly purples and pinks. We don't recall, but apparently the Queen's Chedil opened the year we first visited Thailand. The grounds are well landscaped and a tranquil place to visit.
We hiked along the Angkha nature walk near the peak. Among the unique flora the tree rhododendron looks familiar but instead of being a shrub, they grow to 40' to 60' high. Speaking of height, we documented that we were close to the peak at 8440'.
There are both Karen and Hmong hill tribe villages in the bounds of Doi Inthanon. We ate at a Karen Restaurant and visited the nearby Karen village. We ended our village tour at a coffee shop. The coffee, grown in the village, roasted on site, hand ground and filtered several times was delicious. Great flavor. No acid at all!
As we continued down hill toward Chiang Mai, we stopped to admire the cherry blossoms and then went on to the market. There were fine fruits and veggies and amazing dried fruit. We bought dried strawberries and dried mango. Our last stop of the day was at the Wachiritharn Waterfalls.
Tuesday Jan 23
On our last day in Chiang Mai we took it easy. We wandered out the West wall to check out the nearby Mall where we bought Bill a shirt. Then we wandered over to the East Gate (aka Tha Phae Gate) ending up at THE HOUSE by Ginger where we had a reservation.
The restaurant is elegant and the service very fine. The food was some of the best we had up til that point in the trip.
We started with Thai Style Calamari with Salt and Chilli and Seared Imported Scallops in Coconut-Chilli Dressing, Lychee and Sichuan Pepper. Yep. It was good.
For our shared main, we had THE HOUSE Signature Roasted Pork Simmered in Tamarind Sauce with Stir-fried Morning Glory, Garlic, Chili and Soy Bean Paste, accompanied by a nice French Rose.
We finished off the meal with Banana in syrup served with Coconut Ice Cream.
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