Welcome to our travel blog. We are Tabitha and Nic. In 2011 we 'retired' in our early 40s and set off to travel the world. We spent our first year in South America and have been lucky enough to make two trips to Antarctica.

Our blog is a record of our travels, thoughts and experiences. It is not a guide book, but we do include some tips and information, so we hope that you may find it useful if you are planning to visit somewhere we have been. Or you may just find it interesting as a bit of armchair travel.



Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Chiang Mai - elephants, temples, and a taste of bee and ant eggs

Chiang Mun Temple, Chiang Mai
From Siem Reap, we flew to Chiang Mai, in Northern Thailand. We only had a few days here, and unfortunately we came a little unstuck with some of the things we would have liked to have done, because we hadn't booked in advance.

One of the things we had thought we might do was an elephant experience, but we were very particular about making sure that it was a totally 'ethical' one. Anything that involved riding them, or elephants doing tricks etc, was out. And of course we wouldn't go to anywhere that captured wild elephants, so we were only interested in places that got their elephants from rescues.

Chang Lom, Chiang Mun Temple, Chiang Mai

That significantly limited the options available. And when I looked into the ones that seemed OK, I found accounts of the staff using electric shocks or something sharp and pointy to control the elephants, and of them being chained up at night.

The only one that we felt absolutely confident in was one called The Elephant Nature Park. Even here, the elephants are still managed to a degree, in that whilst they graze on the grass, they have 'feeding times' and 'bath times' and the visitors are involved in these.

Given the history of these animals, this kind of pattern may even be comforting for them, and in any case it is hugely better than anywhere else - and of course they have to get an income from somewhere. But the elephants are able to wander around freely and all of the feedback that I have seen is suggests that they are properly cared for, including accounts from volunteers that stay for a week, so really get to see what goes on.

Chiang Mun Temple, Chiang Mai
Sadly, they were fully booked up well in advance, so there was no elephant experience for us this time.

We were also too late for the cooking class that we fancied, Thai Farm Cooking School. When you are as awkward with food as I am, and unable to eat spicy food or fish/seafood, cooking classes are tricky, but this one was flexible, and had great reviews. Maybe another time.

So while we had planned a break from temples after all of those at Angkor, we still ended up seeing a few here after all. But we only popped in to a few.

Vaccuum cleaners, Chiang Mun Temple, Chiang Mai
One was the Chiang Mun Temple from 1296. It has a crystal quartz Buddha, and a marble Buddha, that are around 1,800 and 2,500 years old respectively, and the 700 year old Chang Lom stupa that has elephants around the base.

But it was something else entirely that caught our attention. They were celebrating the 720 year anniversary of the temple, and seemed to be making a collection of offerings to the monks. Nothing particularly unusual there, I know, but it was the nature of the offering that was more surprising. We are used to seeing offerings of money, fruits, flowers, but here they were collecting shiny new vacuum cleaners. I don't know why.

Chiang Mun Temple, Chiang Mai
Aside from some temples, we did quite enjoy strolling around the large walking market, which stretches out through the streets. There is a decent mix of food and goods, much of which is obviously quite touristy, but there are some nice and more original things too.

There was a lady here making and selling temari balls - which if you read our Japan posts, you will know about already - so I bought one to go with my one from Matsumoto. There were also some beautifully carved soaps, which we didn't buy, but we much admired. I'm sure I took a nice photo of them, but appear to have lost it somewhere.

We also tried out some of the local food. I took rather a liking to the sticky rice with mango, but we also tried the rather more adventurous ant egg and bee egg omelettes. Just to clarify, the omelettes are still made with hen's eggs, the ant or bee eggs are just additions. The ant eggs didn't taste that much, they just kind of popped in your mouth, but the bee eggs had a definite honey taste to them.



Chiang Mun Temple, Chiang Mai

Walking Market, Chiang Mai

Bee Egg and Ant Egg omelettes, Walking Market, Chiang Mai
Walking Market, Chiang Mai
 
Temple, Chiang Mai
Wat Phan Tao, Chiang Mai



Wat Phan Tao, Chiang Mai
 
Temple, Chiang Mai


Temple, Chiang Mai

Temple, Chiang Mai


Wat Chedi Luang, Chiang Mai

Wat Chedi Luang, Chiang Mai

Temple, Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai


Tan Pra Maha Kajjana, Chiang Mai



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