Three and a half weeks down, and three and a half more to go! We spent our last few days in Thailand in the beautiful northern city of Chiang Mai.
We stayed in the Old City, which is full of temples and is confined by a canal and brick wall on all four sides. It made for a very nice running path for our 6am runs to beat the heat!
One of the main streets gets blocked off in the evenings and taken over by food stalls for dinner. Our new favourite is sticky rice and coconut milk stuffed inside bamboo, but the fruit shakes are a close second.
We took a cooking class here and made four Thai dishes each, including curry, soup, stir-fry, and spring rolls. The food here is generally very healthy, filled with vegetables and lean protein, but almost everything is cooked in oil.
We visited many temples, each with it's own collection of Buddha statues and gold features. It has started to become more habitual for us to remove our shoes before entering, make sure we are wearing long pants, and respect the monks by keeping our distance. Wat Suthep, a temple situated up the mountain overlooking the city, was definitely a highlight. After making the trip up the mountain in the truck we chartered, we climbed the 308 steps to the top. The King had wanted a temple and a chose an elephant to pick the location. The elephant died at that spot on the mountain, which is why the temple is so far from everything else in the city.
As you may have seen on the news, Thailand is now under martial law. The military and police are everywhere around the city, mostly collecting at significant monuments. They have all been friendly to us, with a crowd of over 100 police officers even inviting us to take pictures with them. The country also has a curfew now of 10pm to 5am, where the roads are all shut down and no one is allowed outside. We are being very cautious though and have always felt safe.
Tomorrow we begin a new part of our adventure as we fly into Laos. Thailand has offered us an amazing cultural experience, as well as lots of fun, and we can't wait to see what Laos brings.