Chiang Mai, North Thailand October 29-November 2, 2008 Part 5

From the mountain overlooking Chiang Mai, we returned to town for a great Thai lunch at Heuan Phen (curry noodle soup, jackfruit salad, spicy eggplant and glutinous rice-all for 300 Baht or RM30 for three people). Our last stop of the day (and for me the best) was at an umbrella factory in the town of Bo Sang, about 9 km east of town. It was fascinating to see how these beautifully handcrafted umbrellas began...from the wood of the mulberry tree to the rice paper to the paintings, etc. We bought several small ones for souvenirs as well as a beautiful black and gold fan with dragons on it (which will grace a wall somewhere in our future house) and we ordered two large canvas patio umbrellas which are painted inside, one is white with red hibiscus and the other blue with tropical fish, which we had shipped to Kuantan the following week.





Umbrella
handles are
made with
wood from
this tree


































Making rice
paper













Rice paper
drying













Making
spokes











Putting
it all
together











Umbrella
frames and
handles










Some
finished
product












Factory
workers












The tacky
tourist
again










Mrs. English
pointed out
that Christmas
has only one
"s"!











Painters













Artist
painting
elephant
on Pat's
knapsack
50 Baht

Chiang Mai, North Thailand October 29-November 2, 2008 Part 4

Just down the narrow winding road from Doi Suthep is a small Hmong hill-tribe village. Since our time in the Chiang Mai area did not permit us to travel further north to really get an idea of the various hill-tribes peoples, this was to be our only opportunity, touristy as it was! We walked along the little road from the parking lot through the various handicraft stalls and using our guide, Son's, bargaining skills, I was able to purchase a lovely black cotton jacket with traditional red and black embroidery on it for 700 Baht (RM70). The lady who sold it to me said she had taken only two weeks to do all the embroidery by hand and it was quite lovely. Inbetween the narrow streets and old houses built mostly from rock, we did notice the fancy cars owned by the villagers, the use of mobile phones and IPODs, the selling of bottled water, etc. An entrance fee of 10 Baht (about 30 cents CAD) was charged to enter some pretty gardens with a waterfall and despite the drizzly rain, we enjoyed the flowers below.





Handicraft
stalls

















Homes














Homes
















Public
Gardens



























































































Some local
boys were
jumping
into this
waterhole
as we left
the area!









New lettuce
plants

Chiang Mai, North Thailand October 29-November 2, 2008 Part 3

On our last day in Chiang Mai, we enjoyed a personal tour given by a local guide, Son, on recommendation from an American gentleman we met at dinner at the Osteria Wald Italian Restaurant. Son picked us up in his car at 9 a.m. and took us to the famous temple, Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, overlooking the city, 16 km to the northwest. It was first established in 1383 A.D. under King Keu Naone and is one of the most sacred temples in the north of Thailand. 300 steps (or a tramcar) lead to the wat at the end of a winding road up the mountain at 1676 m.



Partial city
walls and a
moat
surround the
inner city of
Chiang Mai
(c. 1800)







Three Kings
Monument
in front of
the City Art
& Cultural
Centre









Night
Market
downtown











City of
Chiang
Mai from
Doi Suthep
Temple











Doi Suthep













Typical tacky (?)
tourists at the
Temple!












Temple
grounds















Trumpet
flowers















Beautiful
bouganvillea















Temple
Building
















Nail Dance












Another
dance
troupe











Worshippers
with lotus
flowers











Huge bill-
board of
Thailand's
King and
Queen by
entrance
to Wat




Jumpa lagi...

Chiang Mai, North Thailand October 29-November 2, 2008 Part 2

Our second day in Chiang Mai was booked with the Patara Elephant Farm where we signed up for the "elephant trainer for one day". Check out their website at: www.Pataraelephantfarm.com. We were picked up at our hotel early in the morning and with four others (a young couple from Australia and two university professors from the US), headed about 45 km., south-west to the farm, which was really just some open rice paddy fields alongside a rocky bed stream. We wore "mahout" (elephant trainer) woven vests over our tops so the elephants would feel comfortable with us (I needed something more than a vest to make ME feel comfortable with my elephant, Neem, who was just a baby at age seven!) First we hiked through the fields (watching for snakes...) to meet the elephants and feed them a basket of bananas. Did you know that elephants have THREE sets of teeth?!? We were taught basic commands in Thai, most of which I have now forgotten! "Bon" means open mouth (when feeding). We were shown how to mount and descend the elephant and how to sit properly high up on his head (no saddle, mind you!), hanging on with our knees just behind his ears. Then we had to bathe them in the stream before we set out on our 90 minute bare-back ride through the jungle, up some very steep hills and along the road to our lunch spot. We were all glad of the break and a chance to stretch our legs for an hour or so. Lunch consisted of various glutinous rice and fruit dishes with a little spicy meat, set out on banana leaves on the rocks by a pretty waterfall, leftovers went to our elephants! On the way back to the fields, it poured rain, which didn't really matter as it was warm rain and we were already pretty wet and dirty anyway! The return trip was short, mostly along the road, and back in the fields, we fed our elephants more bananas and I won the award from the group for the best sport! Below are some highlights of our day, starting with Pat talking to our guide and one of the Americans. We're glad we had the chance to do this and to see how revered the elephant is in Thailand, however we were pretty sore and stiff for the next couple of days (Jen warned us about this), not to mention the funny red and VERY itchy spots we had in many places on our knees and legs! This continued for several weeks and we finally decided they had to be either fleas or mites from behind the elephants' ears (and we were wearing pants!). An interesting experience, to be sure!

Jumpa lagi...