We arrived in Chiang Mai at about 10:30pm, much later than anticipated due to a late running train. When we got to our hotel at 11pm it was all shut up and for a moment we didn't think anyone was going to let us in. Luckily a very bleary eyed young Thai lady appeared after a few rings of the doorbell and showed us to our room. 
 
The next day we were all set to go around the temples in the old city when I had the foresight to remind Hannah that Chiang Mai is where you can go and literally meet some tigers. Not just baby tigers even, full size ones too! So that's what we did. When we got there we decided to go in with the second smallest or third biggest depending on which way you look at it. They were 4-8 months old. It was quite an incredible experience but even at that age they could definitely do some damage to you if they decided they wanted to pounce on you. Luckily for us they were happy just chilling out or playing with their brothers and sisters. The keepers were on hand to make sure they didn't start play fighting with you or getting into mischief. They didn't even mind us lying next to them for photos. I know a lot of people will look at the photos and think the tigers were drugged (which does happen elsewhere) but that definitely wasn't the case here. The tigers are hand reared from a very early age, have human contact everyday and are incredibly well trained and looked after. All of the tigers in the enclosures were all alert, playful and inquisitive. So nice to see after visiting a couple of zoos in India and Nepal where the poor animals just pace back and forth like zombies in the same spot all day. 
 
On the way back to our hotel we went to a crocodile farm which was a bit weird. One guy showed us around and I got given half a chicken on a fishing rod which I used to get a crocodile to jump out of the water for. Then I got to hold a “baby” crocodile for a photo although I wouldn't of considered it a baby as it was pretty big. Then we got to watch a bit of a show for half an hour. Basically a guy putting different parts of his body into a crocs mouth whilst pumping techno music played. Probably not worth the entrance fee but a bit of fun before we went back to the hotel. Hannah didn't like it. The crocs definitely didn't have a nice life here :(.
 
The next day we went on a Thai cooking course. We had both been looking forward to doing this for a while as we both love Thai food and cook quite a lot at home. First off we were taken to the market for a bit of a look around and our teacher told us about a few ingredients that we would be using. The market was the BEST market we've been to. So much on offer it was fascinating. I'll let you look at the photos so you can see what I mean! Then we went up to the farm where we'd be doing the cooking. It was quite out of town but in lovely countryside. Most of the ingredients we'd be using were grown there on the farm and we were shown around before the cooking began. I made red curry, pad thai, tom yam soup, chicken with basil and mango with sticky rice. Hannah made yellow curry, spring rolls, chicken with cashew nuts, vegetable soup and banana in coconut milk. It was a lot of fun and very delicious! We were given a recipe book so will certainly be making lots more when we get back!