Day 8 to Day 13

So I had survived the 12 hour overnight train and arrived in Chiang Mai, North of Bangkok and according to the guide books the 'gateway to the great outdoors of the northern mountains'. I had therefore expected it to be quieter, but it was a mini Bangkok and in addition to cars and tuks tuks throw in red taxis. These you flag down and if they are going in your direction or want to give you a lift you hop in the back with everyone else they have picked up. Hopefully you get to your destination at some point but you can guarantee it is not a direct route.

I can definitely recommend the street pancakes in Chiang Mai, freshly made in front of you and filled with banana and Nutella for only 94p! And only a 2 minute walk from hotel, this was going to be very dangerous.....
I made my first practical purchase of the holiday, long pants with elephant print (everyone is wearing them here) for a grand total of £2 so I was properly attired to enter the temples. I went to Wat Chiang Mun that had Great Wall illustrations (not overwhelmed by gold Buddhas anymore) and towers held by life size elephant statues and Wat Phant where I decided not to go to the Monk School to have my questions answered. What would have asked??

I went to a Thai Boxing match. Mrs Cooksley this was your doing as you had recommended it so much! It was an experience..... I don't really like watching people being pummelled but there was some art to it (and the cocktails were cheap). We saw teenagers, women and men compete. The round I enjoyed the most was when they blind folded 6 teenagers and put them in the ring together. As you can imagine chaos ensued but it was very entertaining. The chunk lookalike from The Goonies and the referees definitely got the brunt of it. The event of the night was France v.s Thailand and the French guy won. Kat and I then saw him all around Chiang Mai, I think he thought we were his new groupies.

Wanting a day out of the bustle of city I decided to go to the zoo. I do love a good zoo and Chiang Mai was probably the best one I have been to. Flagging down a red taxi I jumped in with a group of other people and eventually got there but I did have a tour of the whole city first.
Not only was my ticket £3 and an extra £2 to see the pandas (they seemed much happier here than in Edinburgh) I got to feed elephants for 19p! The zoo was fantastic for letting you get right up close to all the animals (London zoo take note). I also saw Monkeys, bears, lions, tigers, leopards, penguins, hippos and rhinos (Tracey we might not have seen the big 5 in Kenya but I saw them here!). The zoo was very high up so also got some great views of the city.
In the evening I hit the Night Bazaar. There were 100s of stalls ranging from Mulberrys (the real thing obviously) to traditional gifts. At the fresh fish restaurant I ordered a mild shrimp Tom Yum. It was definitely not what Waitrose would only put one chilli logo on, I think it was more of a 4! Note - the he free napkins here are not up to the job, they are pretty pointless! Our entertainment was watching people having a fishy foot massage. It was Christmas Eve but you would not have known it apart from the Waiters and some of the Lady Boys creating interest for their cabaret show were wearing Santa hats. No Sherry or Mince pies here. It would be a Christmas Eve to remember.

Day 10 My Christmas Day
Merry Christmas!
Today I cooked my own Christmas Lunch, but there was no Turkey or stuffing in sight! Joining the Chiang Mai Best Cookery School ( I hoped there was some truth in this) we went to the market to picked up our ingredients, educated in all the different chillies, noodles and vegetables and then headed out to the farm to cook. It really was a beautiful location with mountain views and picking our herbs from the garden. It was a great set up, all of us had our own cooking stations and we set to work to make our chosen dishes. Mine: Tom Yum, probably a 2 chilli rating (I only used 1 of my 3 chillies), Massaman curry, Morning Glory Stir fry, Phad Thai Omelette, Mango Sticky Rice and Papaya Salad. It was all delicious and eating everything I didn't miss out on a dozy Christmas afternoon, but I did get to spend it around the hotel pool :)
The evening was at a hostels Christmas Party. There were no carols but a disco, Buffett, some fireworks and a free drink, all for a £5!

Other highlights of Chaing Mai were Tiger Kingdom. Reading all the reviews I was happy to go as the animals were not drugged. Obviously they are not in their real habitat but they are well looked after and are not being hunted for sport. Kat and I had picked to see 'small' and 'large' though there was not much different between the 2 they were all massive! We were a bit nervous but the cats were pretty chilled out and liked having their belly stroked. The difference was they did not bite me like Mia so it was actually a bit safer! I was trying not to think that if anything went wrong the only protection we had was the guides small bamboo twig. It was a fantastic experience to be so close to such a fantastic animal.
We also saw 'smallest' tigers and I considered paying to go and play with them but they were just sleeping and there was also a new born but he looked a bit scratchy and bitey.
The place also had white tigers and a lion.

Kat and I also went to Doi Suthep, a temple right on the top of a mountain. It takes about 20 minutes to drive to the top and I was glad we were in a car as the tuk tuks were struggling. The final ascent was climbing about 150 stairs. Though the air was definitely thin, the views from the top were amazing but it was extremely packed and you what to step carefully to avoid being hit by a selfie stick. We visited the temples and rang the bells for good luck.

On our last night Kat and I braved a fish Massage - I wouldn't recommend it where the fish are big it is quite painful as they bite rather than nibble. We also went to the Lady Boy show to see the big wigs and the massive dresses. It was pretty dreadful when the lip syncing went out of time but we did enjoy the rendition of it's raining men.......

I had pretty much done everything that Chiang Mai had to offer which was just as well as it was now time to move onto Laos

** for photos see Chiang Mai album ***