Places i visited in Chiang Mai

The walking Street (Sunday Market)
The Night Bazaar (crowded with foreign tourists)
Markets (Where the locals shop. Lots of really cheap snacks and meals)
Temples
The rooftop bar
Warm Up Cafe
The Riverside Bar
The Monkey Club
Chiang Mai Zoo
Chiang Mai Community Church
Baan Thai Cookery School
Rahjabhat University

Places I didn't make it to but will visit next time:

Doi Suthep
Maesa Elephant Camp

Next stop: Chiang Rai

I took a trip up to Chiang Rai intending to do a 3-day trek. I didn't find anyone else around who was going trekking so I could only afford to pay my guide for 1 day of trekking. My guide's name was Lou. He's from the Karen tribe and speaks 6 languages! He took me around to some of the local Lahu and Akkha villages and we walked to a few waterfalls and visited the hilltribe museum. The first village we went to had only been settled in Thailand for about 15 years, the people having come from Myanmar. The only electricity they had came from small solar panels. They were so poor they couldn't afford to send any of their kids to school.
At the end of the day Lou dropped me off at the Akkha hill house which is a guest house located in an Akkha village. From here I was able to trek around by myself. I was surprised to discover that just down the road there was a Chinese village and the older people living there spoke Mandarin. They'd come from Yunnan in Southern China and were growing Oolong tea. I went to visit their village and they invited me to stay for a meal. I really think Chinese people are the nicest and most hospitable people in the world. There was a guy there who'd just come over from Yunnan and was the same age as me. He showed me around the village and the local school.


The Chinese Village



The school

Baan Thai cooking school

My Celta classmate, Jan, and I decided to do a 1-day cooking course in Chiang Mai. It was a good decision. It was a really fun day and the food was delicious. You probably know that I love good food, well I also love cooking. The day started with a visit to the local market, where our instructor, Boom, introduced us to ingredients used in Thai cooking like galangal, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves. Then we started cooking. We made chicken with cashew nuts, red curry, fish cakes, chicken in coconut milk (tom-kaa-gai), and spicy noodle salad.

More of Chiang Mai

Even though the Celta was a very intensive course, I still had time to get out and see a bit of Chiang Mai at the weekends.




Having a foot spa before getting a shoulder and back massage. Thai massage is sometimes good, sometimes painful. This one was good.



Walking at the Sunday market














We did a one day trek which included elephant riding....





























And some bamboo rafting












Our poor trainer, Theresa, fell in and got soaked!

Celta in Chiang Mai

I left Taiwan on the 10th of February 2007 and came to Thailand to do the very intensive 1-month Celta course. The course was held at the Nugent Waterside complex just outside of Chiang Mai city next to a lake. It was a very beautiful place to do the course and the staff there cooked very delicious Thai food for us.













We've finished the course and everyone is smiling. From left to right: Max (USA), Jan (Germany), Simon (England), Theresa (trainer- England/Italy), Adam (England), Ian (Scotland), David (Wales), Tim (trainer - England), me, Elinore (USA), Chris (Australia), Johnny (Northern Ireland).

Looking Back

This is my first blog entry and I'm writing this in Chiang Mai, Thailand where I've been for the past 6 weeks. Tomorrow I fly home to New Zealand. Before I say anything about New Zealand or Thailand, I'm going to backtrack a little and talk about Taiwan. I lived in Taiwan for a little over 3 years and I wish I could say I have a blog about my time there, but unfortunately I've only just started blogging. I left Taiwan on February the 10th 2007. It was a sad goodbye as I have so many good friends there. Here are some photos from my last trip out of the city. We went to Meinung, a little country town in Kaohsiung county.

Hakka food