Author: Kelly Gallo

Food has always been one of the best parts about traveling, and Thailand is certainly a region worth visiting for the cuisine alone (though you’ll stay for everything else!)  Be prepared to eat things you didn’t order/have never heard of (egg/squid mash instead of pineapple curry).  Also work on your spice intake, since they will serve Westerners the blandest food by default and most of the flavor comes at the expense of some extra head.

The last activity of our orientation week was a full Lanna style (northern Thai) dinner with Mike and Paang of XploreAsia at the absolutely delectable Huan Soontaree.  Beyond the stunning lantern-strew decor, the food was such a palatable adventure after accidentally ordering sauce less rice dish after sauce less rice dish for days.

Finally, the best thing I’ve had to date is a simple dish called Khao Soi, a traditional Northern dish and simply the best noodle soup.  A family shop the street from our school, with just enough room for our tiny class to feast together, makes the perfect portion of this delicacy.  Chai Run (this may be the entirely wrong spelling, but is what we were able to piece together with mnemonics about tea sprinting down the street) and his mother are the best of people, serving up their four item menu in front of their home.

And just a few other delights from around town.

Sunday was our first “free” day since arriving in Chiang Mai.  Rather than doing anything productive or relaxing we followed Benze, our Thai language instructor turned tour guide, on a songthaew roam around the North and successfully completed a whole 6 (six!!) activities.  I so thoroughly abused the word “incredible” over the course of the day that it had to be retired by sunset.

1. Doi Inthanon / Highest point in Thailand – Featuring a shrine with the remains of King Ithanon, this is likely the only place in Thailand that can reasonably be described as chilly.  They almost have a frost during the “winter” here!  They have coffee that isn’t Nescafe!  The locals were bundled up in puffed jackets, beanies and scarves which almost felt like home except that it was still 60 degrees.  This national park is part of the Cloud Forest (the name more than speaks for itself).

2. Phra Mahathat Napha Methanidon and Phra Mahathat Naphaphon Bhumisiri Pagodas – Built to honor the current King and Queen, these pagodas are also located on on Doi Ithananon mountain nestled among the clouds.  They contain relics of the Buddha and tell the story of the 4 important sites in the Buddha’s life (birth, enlightenment, first sermon, death).

3. Wachirathan Waterfall – Continuing our decent down the mountain, we stopped by this picturesque waterfall which features what appeared to be a permanent rainbow and took a mist bath on the viewing platforms.

4. Ganesh Himal – A temple dedicated to the Hindu elephant-headed God Ganesh.  The temple traced the history of the adoption of Ganesh by Thai Buddhists, documented his significance, and housed statues and images of all of the major deities of Hinduism.

5. The “Grand Canyon” – Benze described this man-made quarry by the American tourist site of the same name, though this version is not quite as …grand in scale; however it is a particularly beautiful sight at sunset and who can resist climbing all over rocks?

6. Ring Road Walking Market – A most impressive market, but I was too exhausted by this point to capture more photos (except for some food shots which will get their own post some day).  Thank you so much to Benze for taking us on a road less traveled, or at least one that we wouldn’t have traveled on our own!

Thursday of orientation week was highly anticipated and it did everything but disappoint.  We started off by visiting San Kamphaeng Road to receive a tutorial in the art of umbrella painting at Bo Sang Handicraft Center.  One hundred years ago the monk Phra lnthaa brought an umbrella he had received as a merit offering up north to the village of Bo Sang.  Umbrellas were not present in the region and the monk, after observing how useful they were in both rain and sun, set up production which eventually turned into a thriving industry in the village.  Sa paper and oil paints mixed with Mameu oil of different colors are used to produce the brilliant products that we observed in the center.  I was too engrossed in trying (and failing and also thoroughly enjoying myself) to replicate our instructor’s efforts to get any photos beyond this.

Following our morning lesson we headed over to the Thai Elephant Conservation Center to meet some Elephas maximus.  The Center is the only one in Thailand where the elephants are owned by the government/royal family.  Learn more at: http://www.thailandelephant.org/en/.  There are over 50 animals in residence and they are treated majestically (and deservedly so).  We were able to catch a soccer match and see some additional painting demonstrations (which also put me to shame).  The elephants at this camp have their own gallery where you can see self portraits, paintings of the king and some stunning perspective work.  Their compassion, playfulness, intellect and memory make these some of the grandest animals on the planet.  No bias here, really.

After much space and time(zones) travel, arrival in Chiang Mai has been secured.  But first, a pit stop in Bangkok:

The food is incredible (please don’t order cheese) but of course I have only managed to record a doughnut (Thailand is the only place I’ll ever get Krispy Kreme again).

And the views are stellar.

Yesterday was the first of many many temple runs.  First up was a hike up to the golden pagoda at Wat Phra That Doi Suthep.

We then visited the 700 year old temple at Wat Umong for a meditation lesson.

And then we had a Muay Thai lesson, because that’s just how you do.  But I will just leave this silkie and friend here instead.

The first leg of a 5 day journey to Chiang Mai featured a multi-state flight on a miniature aircraft shorter than my (former) commute to work.

This jaunt was followed by 17 hours of empty time. It is fortunately quite simple to grab the air train down to Manhattan (give yourself two hours of padding on either end) and do many a cheap thing in NYC.