Chiang Mai

We have very much enjoyed our 3 days in and around Chiang Mai, based at the delightful Inside House, within the old city walls.

We had planned a lazy first morning, because of the evening arrival the night before, but set off just before noon to visit an elephant sanctuary, of which there are many in the area around Chiang Mai. The elephants used to be working animals, and can’t be returned to the wild, and so tourism to these various sanctuaries provides a means of looking after them. We loved our time with a family of 5 elephants, 4 adult females and 1 male calf. We fed them bananas and watched them eating bamboo, then made up ‘medicine balls’ for them (a combination of sticky rice, tamarind, more bananas, Napier grass and some pro-biotics) and fed those to them as well. Finally, it was into swimsuits to wash them and treat them to a mud bath. All great fun! The rather unflattering poncho-style tops were required wear, presumably to keep everyone’s clothes clean but rather woolly and warm!

On our second day, we have explored old town Chiang Mai. All walkable, unlike Bangkok, where everything involved a boat or a taxi. Some more wonderful temples and the whole of the old town surrounded by a moat. Chiang Mai was capital of the Lanna kingdom which flourished in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries so many of the temples are extremely old, albeit restored.

We spent the latter part of the afternoon by the pool, which is beautiful and little used.

Today, Tuesday, we had booked a day trip to visit the remains of the first Thai capital, Sukhothai, another UNESCO world heritage site. It was a long drive - 4 hours each way - but we were keen to see it. Perhaps because of its inaccessibility, it was pretty much deserted, but well worth the trip. Here’s us at our first temple of the day, Wat Si Chum.

After that, our guide took us to a local roadside restaurant, all very basic and informal, with Diana getting a chance to help in kitchen, preparing fried rice with vegetables, egg and pork - appropriately, pretty much the same as the Siamese Fried Rice which has been a Saunders family staple for around 50 years!

Then into a golf buggy for more temple-hopping within the old moated city, which is about 4 sq km in size.

Back to Chiang Mai about 6.30pm. The final leg of our trip starts tomorrow with a flight to Ko Samui for a few days rest and relaxation by the beach.