Patara Means Knowledge

I'm so excited to blog about Chiang Mai, because it's been our favorite stop on the trip so far! It's slower-paced than our last two stops (Bangkok & Hanoi) but still bursting with things to do. Every single cafe and bar is unique and full of charm. The food is amazingggg (and we learned how to cook some of it), the people are welcoming and generous, there are beautiful green mountains and gorgeous, ornate temples everywhere you look, and as if all that wasn't enough--the elephants! (I may need a separate post just for those sweet animals.) This city was by far the best way to end our explorations before we head to the beach.

On Thursday afternoon, we met up with our friends Wen-Ai & Bill (the ones we stayed with in Singapore), and our quirky but very friendly Airbnb Host, David, at CNX Airport. David showed us around his comfortable penthouse suite, overlooking the hills of Chiang Mai, and then we were off to get some food. To say we hit the jackpot would be an understatement. We ordered the most delicious assortment of Northern Thai cuisine at Tong, ate until we couldn't eat any more (seriously) and only paid $27 for 4 people! Next we wandered into the gates of the Old City, stopped at a very unique rooftop bar to play a few hands of cards (BS & AA Battery), and rounded out the evening learning how to play pool from a very strong, Thai woman at her bar, "Power". Unfortunately, the tips she gave me didn't help my game, but we had a lot of fun anyway.

Our first peek of Chiang Mai, moments after getting off the plane

The view from our penthouse suite

Dinner at Tong. Before...

...After

Matt riding shotty in our tuk tuk

The wall of Old City 

The coolest, most unique, rooftop bar 

Private pool lessons 

The next morning started out with more delicious food at The Larder Cafe, just about a 10 minute stroll from our Airbnb. Chiang Mai is such a nice city to walk through, because you can be in a quiet neighborhood one minute, a busy street with bars and cafes the next, and a crowded market around another corner. We got to experience a lot of that character on Friday as we explored the city both by foot and by songthaew (pronounced song-tao), a red pickup truck that serves as a communal cab, and pretty much costs 20 Baht a person (58 cents) each ride you take. The 4 of us stopped for some yummy beef noodle soup and a quick game of Battery, and then Matt & I were off to our evening cooking class at Thai Basil Cookery.

Breakfast at Larder Cafe 

Riding in the backseat of a songthaew aka pickup truck 

Wen-Ai trying not to count her chickens before they hatch 

Cute little market

Anonther songthawew ride

Cards, Thai iced tea & noodle soup--serious business

We were both a little nervous about the cooking class, since neither of us are expert chefs to say the least, but any doubts we had were quickly forgotten when we met our sweet instructor, Apple. She took us, along with Stephen & Laura, a fun couple from London and the only other participants in our intimate class, to a local Thai market where we learned about some of the ingredients we'd be using to prepare our meals. We learned that there are many different types of eggplants (in Thai it's pronounced Mak-heūx (Mah-key-oww), that lemon basil trumps all other kinds of basil, and that the Thai pronunciation for pumpkin sounds quite inappropriate! After we picked up our ingredients, we headed to the cookery, put on our aprons and got busy in the kitchen. Our first task was a noodle dish--Laura & I both chose the Drunken Noodles, while Matt & Stephen picked Pad Thai. We each had our own little chopping and frying station, and couldn't believe how easy it was! In no time, we were enjoying our first dish, and loved hearing about Laura & Stephen's 5 month holiday through South America and Southeast Asia.  Apple ran a tight ship, though, and quickly put us back to work. The evening continued like that--cooking a course, and then sitting down to eat our creation. In total, we each prepared seven dishes: pha-nang curry (me), red curry with bamboo shoots (Matt), tom yum soup (me), hot and sour soup with chicken (Matt), stir fried minced pork with holy basil (Matt & me), minced chicken salad (Matt & me), black sticky rice pudding (Matt) and deep fried banana with coconut ice cream (me). We left feeling very full and confident that we could make these dishes when we get back to California (they gave us cookbooks to help)! We met up with Wen-Ai & Bill back at the house, ending the night with some Chang beer and an intense round of Settler's of Catan. #DesertStrategy4Lyfe!

Cooking up a storm!

Minced chicken salad & tom yum soup

Working hard!

Minced pork and pa-nang curry! 

Catan-ing

Guess how Saturday morning started out? With more delicious food, of course :) The 4 of us went on a walking food tour, with our own personal guide named Rain (who, incidentally, used to be a penguin keeper, no big deal), and got to try a variety of Thai dishes specific to Chiang Mai, while checking out many of the local temples. Our first stop was actually the same market where Matt & I began our cooking class the night before, and we ended up running into Apple instructing her morning class! At the local market, we tried minced pork wrapped and grilled in a banana leaf. So. Good. Our next stop was a 70-year old restaurant known for their pork sausage, followed by a stop at another small cafe for some Khao Soi (beef noodle soup) & Thai Iced Tea (Matt's fave). Next we stopped by a food cart for some coconut ice cream, kanom buang, a delicious crepe-like wafer filled with meringue and shredded coconut (yum!) and  then sat down to enjoy 3 differnt Thai dishes: curry, minced pork, and veggies with a chili dip. Our last stop on the tour was Afternoon Tea in a perfectly decorated room on the rooftop terrace of a cute boutique hotel. We had iced green tea, and lots of coconut goodness for dessert! Just as we finished up, there was a bit of a downpour, so we embraced our food coma and took a short nap on the couches. 

Pretty temples on our walking tour

Ready for more food!

Food tour deliciousness

Cute little set up for afternoon tea

Afternoon nap, listening to the rain :)

Back at our place, we squeezed in another round of Settler's and then made our way back out for some (more amazing) food. We ate at a restaurant called Cherng Doi Roast Chicken, just across the street from the Larder Cafe, and had another unbelievable feast. My favorite dish was the crispy papaya salad, aka the smartest creation ever: fried papaya with all of the other ingredients mixed in a dipping sauce. After dinner we strolled through some night markets before ending up at a beer garden that was playing some sweet tunes. Chiang Mai's cafes and nightlife FTW, once again!

More yummy food

More fun night life

Sunday morning we slept in, had breakfast and coffee at another stylish cafe, played some rummy, and got ready for our excursion to Patara Farms, to learn about and care for elephants! After a 45-minute drive up into the lush, green hills of Chiang Mai, we arrived at the sanctuary and were greeted by two adult elephants and their babies, one of them only 15 days old!! We spent several minutes watching in awe as the ate, played and slid around in the mud.

Patara rescues elephants and focuses on education over entertainment. All of their elephants are paired with a trainer who spends at least three months caring for and training them, so that they can one day survive on their own, continuing to grow the ever decreasing elephant population in Thailand. After we learned some basics about the elephants, we each got to meet the elephant (or two!) that we'd be spending the afternoon with. Matt was paired with Champoo, forty years old and pregnant, and I got paired with a mama and her baby: Mabudee (29 and pregnant) and the sweet, rambunctious two-year old, Pairee. We fed them bananas and sugarcanes (whole!) and consequently became friends really quickly! We learned about their habits, which mostly consist of eating vegetation, walking and pooping, we discovered the females gestation period is between 19-24 months (ugh!!!), that flapping ears = a happy elephant, and that some happy elephants even shed a tear or two! We also learned that it's important for elephants to go on long walks to help keep their (giant) toe nails trimmed. Oh and thanks to Bill, who served as the official poop inspector for the four of us, we learned that elephant poo, while quite large, is actually fairly scentless, not too bad to touch and (almost) edible ;)

Similar to humans, communication is key when working with elephants. They are such smart animals, and understand basic commands like eat ("bone" in Thai), come (ma), stop (how) lay down (solong), up (loook) and good girl/boy (deedee). After spending some time getting our elephants to trust and listen to us, we jumped into a giant pool with them to bathe and brush our new friends. It turns out sometimes the elephants try to get dirtier before this, so they get a longer scrub/massage!! At the end of this process, we were all happy and soaked both from the bath and from getting sprayed by a few trunks.

We ended the day by climbing up onto our elephants, using their leg and thick ears, and riding them bareback with our feet tucked into the crooks of their ears, up into the hills. There aren't really words to describe how incredible that ride was. The reciprocal trust we had for one another. The beautiful trail we were on and all of the nature surrounding. The sweet baby elephants running by their mamas' sides, occasionally taking a detour to play in the neighboring fields, behaving just like a small child would. It was incredible, and I think if that was the only thing we had experienced on our entire trip to Asia, we would have felt completely satisfied upon returning home. We said goodbye to our knowledgeable friends, who flapped their ears at us as we walked away, and all felt so grateful that we got to have such an amazing, once in a lifetime experience.

Mama and her baby, only 15 days old!

Ahhhh!!!

Matt feeding Champoo

(Side note: Patara had photographers taking our pictures during our time at the daycare, and gave us a CD with hundreds of pics before we left. Can't wait to see them and share when we get home.)

Later that night, we went to the famous Sunday Night Walking Street market, and did our due diligence taste-testing at just about every single one of the food vendors. The market was deceivingly large, and a great way to see the creativity of the local artisans. Oh, and as if I weren't already in love with Chiang Mai, we got to see legit fireworks at the market!! We bought a few souvenirs, and even though we got home really late, managed to rally for one last game of Catan. 

Chicken Cowboy Lady from Anthony Bourdain

Sunday Night Walking Market

Another fun beer garden

Pork on a stick. Yum!

This morning, we made a quick stop at Ristr8ato cafe, had another great breakfast at Larder's and then were off to the airport. We certainly saved the best for last with Chiang Mai, but our trip's not over just yet--we're on our way to the island of Koh Samui where we have a packed agenda of laying by the pool & beach :)