After wolfing down as much food as our ever-expanding waistlines could handle and snapping a quick picture in front of our guesthouse, we set off on a sketchy 10 hour long night bus journey to the Northern Capital and 2nd biggest city in Thailand – Chiang Mai

The bus journey ended with us being dropped off at 6AM on a ghostly quiet street in our new hometown of Chiang Mai.    Excited and not able to sleep, we rented peddle bikes and set off to explore new territory.  Weaving through narrow alleys and chaotic streets buzzing with life, we stumbled upon a few diamonds in the rough.  The first being a small market where the physically and mentally disabled residents sell their crafts and other works of art – That’s where I picked up this hand carved wooden tuk tuk (my prized possession thus far in Thailand – Seen Below)

Oh, I should have mentioned that along the bike ride we made a stop at house that provides post-school programs for the development of handicapped people where we made the first of many donations to their cause thanks to the money we were given at X-mas time by my parents.  We’ll make sure it goes to good use.

All that biking left us with dangerously low energy levels.  The only reasonable thing to do was to replenish our energy levels with beer at the famous “Night Bazaar” in Chiang Mai.

The next morning we hit the cliffs for some rock climbing at “Crazy Horse Buttress” in mountains surrounding Chiang Mai.  This was Megan’s first attempt at climbing so she was understandably hesitant, but in little time she was climbing like a pro. 

The 50 meter cave rapell (seen from below in the first pic) at the end of the day had her looking about as white as Michael Jackson and put her heart into some funky rhythms I’m sure, but she pulled through.  Here are some pics of the day (none of the ones of Meg turned out)……(actually they did but she said they made her bum look funny so I couldn’t post them on the blog)…. (no, she hasn’t proofread this yet)….:

The next day we set off to Baan Chan Elephant Sanctuary where they rescue abused elephants from bad owners and give them a proper home.  They day started off with us feeding the elephants to get them used to us.  Our elephant was named “Madame”.

After all that elephant business, it was time for the Saturday market which meant one thing……. STREET FOOD!

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FINALLY a rest day!

Finally I can slump down on my chair and write a proper blog (that last one was crap wasn’t it?  Be honest).  We’ve been so damn busy the first 4 days we’ve been here that we’ve literally been red-lining our tachometers and had little time for updating the gang back home.

Frick… where to start?! 

Well….. Me and Meg made a commitment that we would try to stay in shape this trip.  Why? – Personally, I suppose I’m sick of my body looking as skinny as an Etheopian who has been run over by steam roller when I get back from my yearly trips.  With this in mind, we set out for Bangkoks famous Lumphini Park (picture below) to get our daily dose of exercise.

What a park it was!  Blew my expectations right out of the water.  Thai people, young and old, dashed around the running track in the latest Thai fashions.  Children zipped around on their scooters screaming.  Old men played board games under the shade of an umbrella.  Massive 3 foot long lizards (more like Commodo Dragons) darted in and out of the water looking for their next meal.  I’m sure these suckers could take down a little kid if they wanted to.

Below:  A young boy rides his scooter past a prowling lizard in Lumphini Park.

Along the running track, Me and Megan stumbled upon a Flintstone-esque outdoor gym.  Where the weights had more rust than paint on them, and shirtless Thai musclemen flexed in the broken, full-length mirrors.  We approached the owner and paid him 30 baht ($1) to use the “facility”.  Surprisingly, we had a hell of a workout.

After the workout, we explored the bees nest that is Chinatown and settled down in the evening for some outstanding Thai Food at what is now our new favourite restaurant “Jok”.  For an idea of how cheap it is to eat at a hole in the wall type restaurant like “Jok”, here is our bill.

2 Crabs (steamed then grilled) = 250 baht

1 Chicken Red Curry dish = 70 baht

1 Vegetable/Fried Rice dish = 40 baht

2 large 640ml bottles of Chang beer = 180 baht

So our grand total for this feast was a wopping 540 baht (or $17.50)

The next day we got up early (yes, we actually get up early here) and set out to see some of the many temples and monuments of Bangkok.  Even though I’m not big on this stuff, it is really incredible how much work they put into their religious monuments.

Below:  Megan though the 200ft tall Buddha was the highlight of her day.

Below:  Wat Arun, near sunset – as seen from the river

This morning we booked a cooking class near our guesthouse and it completely exceeded both of our expectations.  The class starts out with the chef taking us through the local markets and telling us how to select the freshest produce and meats.  Then we head to a kitchen to cook 6 different dishes from Curries to Desserts.  Here are some of the pics.

A Thai sells meat in an secluded, hole in the wall market near Samsen Road.

Below:  Chef Lee preps us on how to pick out the finest tasting shrimp.

Below:  Megan – so proud of her Chicken Phad Thai dish.

Sticky rice with mango dessert.  Before you turn up your nose at it, try it.  Without question, the best dessert I’ve ever tasted.

And finally, us with the chef.  Off to “Jok” again tonight for the 3rd time – Makes for a great fairwell to Bangkok, as we’re moving on to greener pastures via the night bus to Chiang Mai tomorrow night.  We’re both pumped for what’s to come.

Hasta La Vista……

After haggling with the taxi driver over prices, we took the 1:30am ride to our guesthouse: “Sam Sen Sam”.  Our room didn’t exactly look like the pictures on the internet but nonetheless it was clean, had helpful staff, and looked awfully comfortable to two people who had just spent 24 hours on flights.

Excited to explore, we awoke early and went for a walk.  “I think I’m in for an eye opener” was one of the first things out of Megan’s mouth.  She’s probably right.  Our senses were overstimulated as we walked deeper into the city.  Street vendors vying for our business, dogs barking, horns honking, “the smell of old stale water” in Megans words, the proletariat rushing through the streets tending to their work, an old man doing a pelvic thrust workout in the park (No joke – I had to cover Megans eyes).  The WTF factor is as high as it’s ever been in Bangkok.

What better way to introduce Megan to the city than by a river taxi ride down the famous Chao Phraya river.  We piled onto the worn 70 passenger taxi boat like cattle and the exact second the last person steps on the boat, we are headed down river.  As we float down the river, it’s impossible not to notice the staggering contrast between the “Have’s” and “Have Not’s” in Bangkok.  On one side of the river we have a slum.  Filthy, battered, wooden shacks, chicken wired together.  On the other, the immaculate 50 story Hilton Hotel……. literally.  No BS.

Here are some of the sights from the view of the river taxi:

From the river taxi, we hopped on the newly built Bangkok skytrain and arrived at our destination “Rajawongse Clothiers”!  This father-son “hole-in-the-wall” tailor shop is highly regarded as one of the best in the world.  They have a loooooong list of VIP clientel as seen by this picture:

After being measured for my 6 dress shirts and 2 pairs of pants, we hailed a tuk tuk, hopped on, and proceeded to the largest weekend market in the world – Chatuchak.

For those of you not familiar with what a tuk tuk is, allow me to open “Jason’s Dictionary” and tell you:

Tuk-Tuk (pr.tuck tuck)

>Noun

A small, 3 wheeled, golf cart looking contraption, usually sporting a flamboyant paintjob that acts as a taxi.  Get on and hold on for dear life…. 

After slogging around the market in the sweltering heat with Meg (who was surprisingly non-Shopzilla that day), we decided to sit down at a comfortable  riverside restaurant on bean-bag chairs for some great food and cold beers.  Nom nom nom……..  I have a ton of other stuff to post, bu that will have to wait as I’m being drug out of the hostel for another day of exploring!

Oh, and ask Megan if she likes banana pancakes……….