This past weekend, I got another stamp on my passport, as we headed to Chiang Mai, Thailand. After a hectic week in Ho Chi Minh City, I was more than ready for this get away. Chiang Mai is a place that I have had on my bucket list for years, mainly because elephants.
We left early Thursday morning for the airport, and much to my dismay, I had woken up with severe stomach pains and indigestion. This is a common problem when traveling though, especially in a country like Vietnam, and so I decided to ignore the pains, and hope that they would pass. We flew through Bangkok to get to Chiang Mai, and other than a couple of gate changes, we made it without any hiccups. At the airport in Chiang Mai, we caught a cab to our hotel. We had been warned by some friends to make sure that we got a cab from the taxi counter in the airport, because that way we could get the price ahead of time to avoid any issues with the driver on this front. We did this, and it worked out great.
We stayed at the Top Garden Boutique hotel, as per a recommendation from the friends mentioned earlier. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by the owner, Victor, a Montreal native. I immediately loved this hotel. Victor was so helpful, and everything about the large hotel was beautiful, and very thai-themed. We were very hungry and so Victor pointed us in the direction of where he said we could find “the best pad thai in Chiang Mai.” The place wasn’t far, and so we walked over there right away. I ordered shrimp pad thai. It was a lot less flavorful than the pad thai that I have eaten in the US, and I was expecting it to be very spicy or something. Anyway, it was still delicious.
After lunch, we returned to our hotel to rest while some of our group went for some thai massages. I opted to rest as my stomach was still bothering me. I decided to take some of the antibiotics that my travel doctor had sent with me to Asia to see if that helped. The crew wanted curry for dinner, so after resting, we found a restaurant that looked like it had delicious curry, though I just ate white rice because of my stomach (I was very sad about this, as I love thai curry, but we had three more days still, so I wasn’t too disheartened). We then made our way towards the bar area in Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is a very small, walkable city, which gave it a very wonderfully easygoing feel. The most popular bar in Chiang Mai for travelers and backpackers is called Zoe in Yellow. Every single night in Chiang Mai, it seems like this place is packed. It was still on the earlier side when we got to the bars though, and so we went to a place called Roots and Reggae. A Thai reggae band had the stage, and the place was covered in photos and posters of Bob Marley. Just my kind of place. I wasn’t drinking since my stomach was still bothering me, so I sat down to enjoy the music while the rest o our group danced and had some drinks. As time passed, more and more travelers came into the bar, and it got pretty rowdy toward the end. We headed back to the hotel around 10, calling an early night as we had to get up early the next morning.
One thing about Thailand, that is both a blessing and a curse, is that its entire economy is funded by tourism. The country itself is a tourist trap, and there is no way to escape it. In a way, for a few days, it was nice to be surrounded by more foreigners, and to be surrounded by people who spoke mostly the same language, but it also is a little bit sad, seeing as we travel to experience different cultures, and to be immersed in different ways of life. Unlike Vietnam, pretty much everybody spoke English, and we never found ourselves at a loss for what to order at a restaurant. This was a little bit relieving, and also, a little bit sad. It’s exciting to be in a new place where nothing is familiar. It made me very happy that I have Vietnam as my home base.
Friday morning, we woke up bright and early to grab some breakfast before our big elephant tour. My stomach was feeling much better, probably thanks to the antibiotics that I took the night before. This was mainly the reason that we came to Chiang Mai, and so we were all very excited. We ate breakfast across the street from our hotel at The Cat House, which served western style breakfast (something we had all bee craving). Due to Thailand’s heavy tourism, western style breakfast is a lot easier to find than it is in Vietnam.
Our ride to the elephant sanctuary was a large size tuk tuk taxi, which basically is a large truck, with a roof over the bed, and benches built into the sides. We had been warned that the ride would get very bumpy and windy. Most of it was fine, and we were beginning to laugh at the warning, but the last twenty to thirty minutes of the ride ended up being on winding dirt roads up the mountain. It was a beautiful drive though, through the jungle of Thailand. It reminded me a lot of Hawaii. Prior to coming to Chiang Mai, I had had a lot of inner turmoil about doing an elephant tour because of the many stories of places that are harmful to the elephants. Our friends who had previously visited Chiang Mai though, recommended The Elephant Jungle Sanctuary to us because it was very ethical. After spending the day with the elephants there, I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Chiang Mai. It is a no-ride sanctuary where visitors get to feed, bathe, and play with the elephants. The majority of the proceeds also go toward buying more elephants from other unethical organizations, so as to give the elephants a better home. The day was everything I could have hoped for, and more. Getting to be up close and personal with the gentle giants was a marvelous experience that definitely is up there with the time I got to swim with dolphins and sharks in the wild. The elephants just wanted to play in the water and mud, and we even got to play with the baby elephant Bun Bun. The tour also took us to a beautiful waterfall in the jungle, where we were able to swim.
That evening, we celebrated Mo’s birthday with some delicious burgers. Yes, burgers because sometimes you just want western food on your birthday. We then headed back to the bars, and actually enjoyed Zoe in Yellow. We met some fun people, and danced, and drank rice wine, which I highly recommend. It is sickeningly sweet, but it costs less than a dollar, and one bottle will do the trick, while leaving you with little to no hangover the next morning.
Saturday, our plan was to explore the mountains of Chiang Mai and do some hiking. After talking to Victor, he arranged for another large tuk tuk to drive us around for the day. For less than $5 each, we had our own personal driver. Our hiking plans, ended up going a little bit differently than we expected, as our driver kind of just took us to places, without letting us know where we were going, but it ended up being wonderful. Our first stop was Wat Doi Suthep. The temples in Thailand are all called Wats, and they are everywhere. Wat Doi Suthep though, is apparently a big tourist attraction, and though it was huge, and golden, and beautiful, I was a little bit thrown off by the large amount of people selling souvenirs around it. Right by the entrance, there were many little girls dressed in traditional Thai clothing proclaiming “photo money, photo money.” Cute, yet unethical. It would have bothered me a lot more though, had we been there on a weekday when the girls were supposed to be in school. We spent about an hour and a half exploring the temple, before we picked up some pad thai for lunch and headed to our next destination.
We told our driver that we wanted to go to a waterfall, and so he took us to Monthathan Falls Nature reserve. It costed 100B (about $3) to get in, but it was so worth it. There were was one big waterfall, and one small waterfall, the latter of which we were able to go in. The reserve wasn’t crowded, and we truly felt as if we were in the middle of the jungle. A couple of us went farther along the trail, and ended up completing a loop trail, that obviously wasn’t being maintained, and was a bit of an adventure, but you know, I love that sort of thing.
We ended our excursion at a lake where it seemed Thai people went to get some peace and quiet. All around the lake, little huts were set up, where you could sit and eat, and there were also paddle boats in the water. We sat down and had some fried rice, and enjoyed the tranquil scenery.
That night, we got enjoyed some street food, and I finally got to have some curry. We then headed back to the bars, for one last night of tomfoolery. Since we didn’t have to be up early the next morning, a few of us stayed out late enough to make it to the after hours bar. The entire bar was covered in chalk board with messages written on it, and they had life size jenga. I headed back to the hotel around 1am, excited to sleep in the next morning.
Our final day in Chiang Mai was reserved for just exploring the city. It seems that there is a Wat on every block, so we spent the day wandering, and seeing some of them. Some were bigger, and some were smaller, all were beautiful. I also got a Thai massage, which was an experience in itself. I’m not sure if this is true in all of Thailand, but in the women’s correction facilities in Chiang Mai, the inmates learn the art of Thai Massage, and so when they are released, they are able to find work as masseuses. If you go to any Lila Thai Massage parlors in Chiang Mai, you will be getting a massage from an ex-convict. I think that this idea is so cool. Getting a thai massage is basically like being manhandled, but you feel wonderful afterwards. I started laughing during the last part of my massage, and couldn’t stop.
The Sunday Night Market in Chiang Mai is very famous, and so we ate our final dinner there, and did some shopping. There was thai art, and food, and souvenirs everywhere, and though it was a bit overwhelming, I was able to find a couple nice things to commemorate the weekend. Another popular thing to do when traveling to Thailand, is get tattooed. A few people in our group decided to get tattooed, so we ended our night hanging out in a tattoo parlor with some awesome people. I thought about getting one, but ended up deciding against it. You’re welcome Dad.
The next morning, we ate our last western breakfast at The Cat House again, before heading to the airport. All of us were sad to leave Chiang Mai, but upon our return to Ho Chi Minh City, we all were very happy to feel as if we were returning home.
Michaela Rabinov 
Sorry you were ill but what a great trip! Dad will be thrilled about the tattoo/non-tattoo story! Love, Mom
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