Chiang Mai - Doi Inthanon

Doi Inthanon is the tallest peak in Thailand, and it takes about two hours to get there from Chiang Mai.  We left Elena and Young at home again, and set off relatively early Monday morning.  I had been hoping that Chiang Mai would be colder than Bangkok, because it's farther north, but so far it had only been cool in the mornings.  I was hoping we would be up high enough on Doi Inthanon to get some actual cool, crisp weather.  I was not disappointed.

First we had to get into the national park though.  I got in line to buy tickets and showed my Thai ID for resident price which was 30 baht.  Unfortunately, tourist price was 300 baht, and we had more tourists than residents, so that got a bit expensive.  As we got higher up the mountain though, the driver rolled down the windows, the cool air came into the van, and it was all worth it.  There are two temples on the peak, and we could see them from the car.

There wasn't any parking in that part of the park though.  Instead, our driver kept going a little ways to the van parking area and pointed out the free songthaews (covered pick up trucks) that would take us back to the temples.  We like songthaews if it's not too far to go, and it let us enjoy the fresh air, so we were happy.

The weather at the top of Thai mountains seems to be perfect for gardens, and Doi Inthanon has a beautiful one.

The views were great too.

Vivian decided that the gardens were Wonderland and she was Alice.  She wandered around completely happy in her own little world while the rest of us took pictures and enjoyed the view.  We stayed up there for quite a while just taking it all in and taking fun photographs.

Finally, we decided we should go and got in line for the songthaew back to the parking.  We got on one that wasn't full, but my sister and cousin really wanted to ride standing up in the back, so they hopped on there.  I took a picture in case it was the last time I saw them, but they were fine.

The park also has lots of waterfalls, some more accessible than others.  On the way back down, we stopped at one that had parking nearby, so it wasn't much of a walk.  It was beautiful.

It was warmer at the bottom of the mountain, as you can see.  No sweatshirt needed.  

There was an open air restaurant there, nothing as nice as the one we'd stop at on the way down from Doi Suthep, but a step up from the plastic tables on the side of the road.  They had pad sew gai, that wasn't fantastic, but it filled us up.  The real treat was a woman selling Chiang Mai strawberries which are small and sweet.  Vivian wiped out a container in minutes, and I got a couple more to take back to the house.

When we got home, Elena was pretty grouchy about being constantly left behind, and she hadn't napped.  Jeff and I decided that Young needed a night off, so we stayed home with the girls and sent her out to dinner and shopping at the night bazaar with my family.  They made another attempt at Huen Phen.  There was still a long wait, but this time they chose to wait and see what all the fuss was about.  They hung out for an hour until a table was ready.  When I asked Young if the food was worth all the fuss, she made a face.  I guess not.  She and my mom left the rest of them at the restaurant and went shopping together, and it sounds like she enjoyed that part.  We definitely enjoyed Chiang Mai, but after four days, we were all ready to go home.

Chiang Mai - Zoo and Sunday Night Market

I felt bad about leaving Elena when we went to Doi Suthep, and I knew we would leave her for our next day's adventure to Doi Inthanon, so I wanted to make sure that we had at least one activity that was kid-friendly.  The obvious choice was the Chiang Mai zoo, which got pretty good reviews and has giant pandas.

Judy is a die-hard Redskins fan, and they had a game that would determine whether or not they made the playoffs.  It was happening on Saturday night in the States, which meant Sunday morning in Thailand.  Ever resourceful, Judy did some research and found an Irish pub in old Chiang Mai that would be showing the game and serving breakfast.  Jeff went with her, and the rest of the family, plus my cousin Anna, went to the zoo.

Our first stop was at the flamingos.

We could explain to Vivian why the flamingos were more white than pink, but whenever we told Elena they were flamingos she looked at us like we were nuts.  The ones in her toy zoo at home are bright pink, so there was no way the white birds could be flamingos.  She did better with the elephant, even though she was a bit afraid to help feed it bananas.  

She did even better with the giraffe.

But the favorite for both girls were the hippos.  It was feeding time, and you could pay 10 baht for a basket of carrots to feed the hippos.

Vivian decided she was a hippo queen . . . or something similar.

Dad was brave and stood near the Emus, even though I told him that at Safari World there's a sign saying not to get too close or they'll peck your eyes out.

The best part of the zoo though was the pandas.  We've seen the pandas at the National Zoo in D.C., but they're far away from the observation area, and they don't tend to move around very much.  In contrast, the panda here was easy to see, and something was itching him because he was walking all around, scratching, and then stopping to eat some bamboo.

After a couple hours of animal fun, we headed back to the house.  We met up with Jeff and Judy who was in celebration mode since the Redskins had won.  We left Young and the girls at the house and went out to lunch to celebrate.

Mom had read about a place called Ugo Bar and Restaurant.  The food was good, but the most important thing was that they had mango smoothies, Mom's favorite thing to drink in Thailand.  They had a yummy coconut one too (my favorite).

After lunch, we dropped the men back off at the house.  Jeff went to find a massage, and Mom, Judy, and I set off with a taxi driver for some shopping.  We hadn't really done much research, so we just asked him to take us wherever he usually took people.  We ended up at jewelry store, where things were much too expensive for us, but we liked the part where we could watch them carve jade.

Across the street from that, we learned about carpets.

The owner had an interesting story.  He was originally from Persia, but he used Thai silk and hired Thai families to make his carpets using Persian designs.  He also showed us how to tell a quality, handmade carpet, from a synthetic, machine made one.  My mom and sister had seen this type of demonstration before, but I hadn't.  First, he held a lighter to the carpet to prove that it was silk.  Synthetic fibers, he explained, would catch on fire.  Next, he took a big pair of metal shears and slashed at the carpet without damaging it.  Handwoven carpets apparently have tighter knots than machine woven ones, so the shears couldn't cut into it.  Finally he took a stool and banged and ground it into the carpet to show that it left no impression.  It was quite an impressive display, and even though we didn't end up buying a carpet, I've stored the lessons learned for future carpet shopping.

It was getting late, and stores were closing, so we went back to the house to meet up with everyone and do MORE shopping.  On Sunday nights, Ratchadmnoen Road, one of the main streets in old Chiang Mai, is closed to traffic from Wat Phra Singh, near where we were staying, all the way to the Tha Phae gate.  This makes a mile long walking street market full of crafts, food, and live music.  I wanted to make sure Young got to experience it too, so we brought the girls along for the first bit.  Elena's stroller actually worked to our advantage, because we could use it to carve some space in the pedestrian cluster.

The girls lasted about 30 minutes, and then they headed home with Young.  Jeff was there to help out with bedtime.  Shopping and being surrounded by a mass of people are two of his least favorite things, so he had opted not to come to the Sunday market with us.

My dad had read in his guidebook about a restaurant called Huen Phen, and he really wanted to try it, but there was a ridiculously long wait, and we were hungry, so we pressed on.  Eventually we stumbled upon a restaurant called Hot Chili with a red tent and flower decor theme that was impossible to pass by.

We only had to wait about five minutes for a table and the food was good, so we were pleased with our find.  It was another good day in Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai - Doi Suthep

For our first full day in Chiang Mai, we had planned a day trip to Doi Suthep.  This is a mountain to the northwest of Chiang Mai.  It has a beautiful wat at the top and great views of Chiang Mai below it.  I had hired us a van for the day to take us there and on any other adventures we wanted to attempt in the afternoon.  We knew the trip would conflict with nap time, and we weren't sure how long the drive would be, so Young and I decided it would make the most sense for her and Elena to stay in town.

Doi Suthep is not that far from Chiang Mai, but there was traffic getting out of town, and the road up the mountain was full of twists and turns, so it took us about an hour to get to the top.  Luckily, no one gets car sick, but we did have to take Vivian off her iPad for a while, since she said she was feeling funny.  She felt fine by the time we got to the top though.  The driver let us off at the bottom of the steps leading up to the wat, and there were tons of food and souvenir stands set up along the road.  Vivian went right for the waffle stand.

We got her a plain one filled with chocolate sauce.  The lady filled it up and folded it over.  Then she put it inside some wax paper.  We all tasted it and decided it was delicious.  Vivian managed to eat it without getting chocolate all over her face which was pretty impressive.  While she was eating, Jeff took pictures of some of the other stands.

There were also lots of fruit stands.  You can eat well in Thailand without ever coming in off the street.

Once we had fueled up, we started our ascent.  There are stairs (over 300) leading up to the wat, but there is also a funicular car.  Mom and Vivi wanted the funicular car.  Jeff, Judy, and Dad wanted the stairs.  I decided to go up with Mom and Vivi and down with the other group.  We took a picture and parted ways.

Jeff took a picture up the steps.  There were a few other people there.

Judy said she had a moment when she was afraid she wouldn't be able to make it, but she kept going and got to the top.

Luckily, it was relatively cool at Doi Suthep, especially in the shade, so we tried to stay in the shade as much as possible.  The main temple complex had plenty of gold, sparkling in the sun, at the center.

Our guidebook said that this was the original home of the Emerald Buddha (actually made from jade), which is now housed in the wat at the Grand Palace in Bangkok.  It also said that the king had sent a replacement green Buddha to Doi Suthep.  I think this might be it, but there were other green Buddha figures around.  Mom really liked this one.

As part of our shade strategy, we walked around the covered arcade where the Buddha figures sit watch over cremated ashes.  It seemed like a good strategy until we rounded a corner and found a meditating monk.  We walked by very slowly and very quietly so as not to disturb him.

As we were getting ready to leave the main temple area, Jeff got a fun picture of the rest of us.

The courtyard around the main temple area was beautiful and much more peaceful than the area inside.

At least, it was peaceful until Vivian discovered the bells.

With typical scientific rigor, she felt the need to test every single bell's sound to determine which one sounded the best.  When she found a bell sound she liked, she rang it repeatedly.  Eventually though, even she got worn out with the bell ringing and found a place to rest in the shade.

We made our way back down to the van and then back down the mountain.  Towards the bottom, we stopped near a small waterfall for lunch.  I'm not sure what the restaurant was called in English, but we took a picture of the entrance with the name in Thai.

It was quite a place, with painted murals and trees growing through the dining area.

The food was good too.  I've learned to just ask for pad see ew gai (chicken), since I know Vivian will eat it, and most restaurants will make it for her even if it's not on the menu.  My parents are a bit more adventurous.  They love to order whole roasted fish.

 

Judy had fun posing Mom's fish remains.

It was definitely a relaxed and leisurely lunch.  The restaurant had lots of walking paths around a small stream and we took turns going with Vivian to explore them.

Eventually, we headed back to town.  Once we get back to the house, the driver took Young, Mom, and Jeff to a supermarket to buy supplies for breakfast and dinner for the girls.  The old town area was great for tourist exploration, but all the regular super markets are driving distance away, so we figured that would be a good use of our driver.

While they were shopping, Judy and I researched dinner options. We knew we wanted to eat on the Mae Ping River, which is to the east of the old part of Chiang Mai.  Lots of the restaurants there have river views and live music, but, as we have learned the hard way, live Thai music varies greatly in quality.  I finally decided on Deck 1, which looked like it had good views and said it had live jazz music, which I hoped would be inoffensive.  It turned out to be a great choice.  They gave us a table right on the water, and the trees were decorated with lights and lanterns.

The music that they played was not jazz, but it wasn't too bad, and when it got dark and the bridge lit up, the whole thing became magical.  The magic may have been helped by the fact that I ordered the Ping cocktail, named after the river.

I've learned that the "signature" options are usually a good choice.  The flourless, chocolate Deck cake for dessert was amazing.  If we go back to Chiang Mai, I'm definitely going back to this restaurant.  It was a great end to a great day.

Chiang Mai Day 1

We had a smooth trip to Chiang Mai.  The girls were both really good.  Elena likes airplanes, and we've been sticking to short, local flights, so that's gone well.  Both girls got a little restless waiting for the baggage to show up, but there was a cool flower display near the baggage claim area, so Judy and I managed to keep them busy.

Since we were such a large group, I decided it made more sense to try and rent a house than to get everyone hotel rooms.  I found a great place called Chiang Mai Villa on Airbnb, and they helped us coordinate airport transfers, so it was really easy to get from the airport to the house.

The house had five bedrooms and three bathrooms which worked out well for us, since we had a group of seven adults and two children.  The house was full of beautiful furniture pieces, but the best part was the little garden in front.

Chiang Mai is a bit cooler than Bangkok, so the garden was perfect for breakfast and playing later in the day.

We knew that some of the excursions we had planned would be a bit too much for Elena, plus she's not great at sitting still during dinners in restaurants, so we asked Young to come with us.  As soon as we all got settled in the house, Young set out to find some good street food dinner for her and Elena.  Elena loves anything with rice, so Young came back with some sticky rice and roasted chicken legs.  We weren't sure how Elena would deal with chicken in this form, but she took to it like a pro.

The house was in the old town part of Chiang Mai, near Wat Phra Singh, so the rest of us left Elena and Young happily eating chicken and wandered off to find some dinner of our own.  We ended up eating in a restaurant a few blocks away.  It had a garden out back and a menu that consisted mostly of burgers and steaks.  We'd been eating a lot of Thai food, so we were okay with a change.  

It was a good thing the restaurant was close to the house, because Vivian started to fade almost as soon as she finished her burger.  Even though it seemed like ages since we had opened Christmas presents in Bangkok, it was still Christmas, and Vivian had been up since at least 3:30.  Jeff walked Vivian back to the house, and sent her off to bed.  Then he came back and hung out some more with the rest of us.  We agreed that it was a nice way to end Christmas and start our adventure in Chiang Mai.