· Happy New Year!Chiang Mai, Thailand · 3rd Jan 2008 · Posted by Annie
Chiang Mai is an awesome city and I'm really glad we made it up here. It's right up in the north of Thailand and since we'd spent most of our time down in the south at the beaches, we weren't sure we were gonna make it up here. But our friend Bunna and his girlfriend were going to spend New Year's Eve up here so we decided to join them.
We flew up on Air Asia - which by the way is an awesome cheap airline with some brand new planes! - late on the 30th. Stayed at a place called "Buri Gallery House" - where, you won't believe this, we had a COMPUTER WITH INTERNET in our room! How awesome is that?!!? I was in heaven... :P
Anyway, the hotel was right on "Walking Street" which during the day is a normal street but at night turns into a pedestrian only road and a market sets up. Very cool :)
Unfortunately Buri Gallery House didn't have any spare rooms after the 30th so we checked out and went over to Bunna and Liz's hotel on Moon Muang Road. We walked up and down their street until we found a room for 400 baht at the "Bamboo Den" - with hot water shower! Bonus! It gets really busy up here (or well, anywhere in Thailand) over this period so we were quite lucky to find a room.
That afternoon, Bunna drove us to the Chiang Mai zoo in his cool car that has an awesome GPS unit that tells him where to go in a fancy British accent. The zoo was pretty cool - the coolest part was probably seeing a snake NOT in a cage, just snaking it's way into some grass. Creeeeeeepy. Oh and the hippos were cool too :)
Back in town we all got ready and went out for a nice new year's eve dinner at a place called Riverside ... something. There was an enormous line and even though Bunna put our names down, we weren't gonna get a seat till much much later. We killed some time by setting off some fireworks (let's just say Bunna's aim needs some work lol) and releasing some fire lanterns ("khoom loy" in Thai) into the sky by the river. Fire lanterns are traditional Thai hot air lanterns, made from thin tissue paper and bamboo. The hot air is provided by a burning paper wick soaked in lamp oil. They float up into the sky for miles and miles and I guess they burn out and drop somewhere far far away. There were thousands of people letting these off and the sky looked like there were a thousand extra stars glowing, it looked really cool. Not so good when people release the fire lanterns and they get caught in wires and catch on fire. I can't imagine the NZ government ever allowing fire lanterns in NZ!
Eventually we decided that we couldn't wait any longer and found another place to have a steak dinner, mmmm. Then we watched the midnight firework displays around the city. After all that we finally found a bar to have a couple drinks at - the "roof-top bar" and ordered a Sangsom Bucket (lots of Thai Sangsom Rum + Coke + Red Bull + several straws - I think) to share between us all. There was a really cool atmosphere up in the rooftop bar, esp the fact that everyone had to take their shoes off at the bottom then climb a narrow staircase / ladder and then tread all over floor that seemed it was about to give way under us... lol. All good and safe tho :)
The following day, Chris and I didn't get up till 2pm hehe and then just wondered around the city, got a 30 minute foot massage and ate at McDonalds. Chris desperately wanted to try the Double Big Mac we'd seen advertised so we searched and searched until we found what seems to be the only Micky D's in town. We did a quick tour of the Night Bazaar and tasted some random dried fruits and nuts. So many colors!
We decided to do a one day trek and a cooking class - and what a good decision that was! Although Chris and I have both managed to catch a cold (sore throats and super runny noses), the trek we did was good fun. It included a 1 hour trek up to a hill-tribe village, elephant riding, lunch, a trip to a waterfall and finally some bamboo rafting. Bamboo rafting was really cool - except for the fact that your bum gets all wet hehe. We met a kiwi couple and had a really great time.
We thought we'd pamper ourselves to a Traditional Thai Massage after our 1 hour trek (hard work) so we had one last night. 1 hour of twisting and stretching and pummeling. Let's just say I ached all night... but I feel great today!
We did the cooking class today at the Siam Rice Thai Cookery School and that was just absolutely fantastic - we loved every minute of it. They even upload photos that they take during the course onto their website - here are some photos of us! Chris didn't enjoy the fact that his chicken salad had way too much chili in it for him but soon got over that and enjoyed the rest of his meals. All up we each got to choose 6 dishes to cook and eat. Let's just say that 6 dishes spread over a 5 hour period is MUCH TOO MUCH food! But it's sooooo yummy.... mmm.
I made...:
1. Pad Thai (noodles)
2. Tom Yum Gai (sour and spicy tom yum soup with chicken in it)
3. Rice noodle salad (with chicken in it)
4. Green Thai Curry (very hot)
5. Holy Basil Chicken Stir Fry (yummmmmmy)
6. Mango and Sticky Rice (ooooh yeah, best dessert on the planet)
Chris made:
1. Thick rice noodles
2. Tom Ka Gai (spicy coconut milk soup with chicken in it)
3. Chicken Salad (very spicy)
4. Red Thai Curry (hot)
5. Chicken with Cashew Nuts (our FAVOURITE!)
6. Mango and Sticky Rice (as I said before, omg it's so good)
Not only was the food great, but the instructors, Nancy and Pot, were so friendly and really lovely. Their facilities were super nice and the other 3 people on the course were really cool too. Nancy and Pot picked us up in their van and then we stopped off at a local market where Nancy explained all the different types of ingredients, fruits and veges, that we'd be using today. That was a really cool coz we'd walked around these markets before but never had a clue what all the cool looking veges were. We totally recommend doing this course (esp at the Siam Rice Thai Cookery School!) if you're ever up in Chiang Mai!
Anyway, tomorrow we're off back to Bangkok for another couple of days with Bunna and Liz and then we're off to Bangladesh to see Rilla and Pippin! WOOHOOOOO!
We flew up on Air Asia - which by the way is an awesome cheap airline with some brand new planes! - late on the 30th. Stayed at a place called "Buri Gallery House" - where, you won't believe this, we had a COMPUTER WITH INTERNET in our room! How awesome is that?!!? I was in heaven... :P
Anyway, the hotel was right on "Walking Street" which during the day is a normal street but at night turns into a pedestrian only road and a market sets up. Very cool :)
Unfortunately Buri Gallery House didn't have any spare rooms after the 30th so we checked out and went over to Bunna and Liz's hotel on Moon Muang Road. We walked up and down their street until we found a room for 400 baht at the "Bamboo Den" - with hot water shower! Bonus! It gets really busy up here (or well, anywhere in Thailand) over this period so we were quite lucky to find a room.
That afternoon, Bunna drove us to the Chiang Mai zoo in his cool car that has an awesome GPS unit that tells him where to go in a fancy British accent. The zoo was pretty cool - the coolest part was probably seeing a snake NOT in a cage, just snaking it's way into some grass. Creeeeeeepy. Oh and the hippos were cool too :)
Back in town we all got ready and went out for a nice new year's eve dinner at a place called Riverside ... something. There was an enormous line and even though Bunna put our names down, we weren't gonna get a seat till much much later. We killed some time by setting off some fireworks (let's just say Bunna's aim needs some work lol) and releasing some fire lanterns ("khoom loy" in Thai) into the sky by the river. Fire lanterns are traditional Thai hot air lanterns, made from thin tissue paper and bamboo. The hot air is provided by a burning paper wick soaked in lamp oil. They float up into the sky for miles and miles and I guess they burn out and drop somewhere far far away. There were thousands of people letting these off and the sky looked like there were a thousand extra stars glowing, it looked really cool. Not so good when people release the fire lanterns and they get caught in wires and catch on fire. I can't imagine the NZ government ever allowing fire lanterns in NZ!
Eventually we decided that we couldn't wait any longer and found another place to have a steak dinner, mmmm. Then we watched the midnight firework displays around the city. After all that we finally found a bar to have a couple drinks at - the "roof-top bar" and ordered a Sangsom Bucket (lots of Thai Sangsom Rum + Coke + Red Bull + several straws - I think) to share between us all. There was a really cool atmosphere up in the rooftop bar, esp the fact that everyone had to take their shoes off at the bottom then climb a narrow staircase / ladder and then tread all over floor that seemed it was about to give way under us... lol. All good and safe tho :)
The following day, Chris and I didn't get up till 2pm hehe and then just wondered around the city, got a 30 minute foot massage and ate at McDonalds. Chris desperately wanted to try the Double Big Mac we'd seen advertised so we searched and searched until we found what seems to be the only Micky D's in town. We did a quick tour of the Night Bazaar and tasted some random dried fruits and nuts. So many colors!
We decided to do a one day trek and a cooking class - and what a good decision that was! Although Chris and I have both managed to catch a cold (sore throats and super runny noses), the trek we did was good fun. It included a 1 hour trek up to a hill-tribe village, elephant riding, lunch, a trip to a waterfall and finally some bamboo rafting. Bamboo rafting was really cool - except for the fact that your bum gets all wet hehe. We met a kiwi couple and had a really great time.
We thought we'd pamper ourselves to a Traditional Thai Massage after our 1 hour trek (hard work) so we had one last night. 1 hour of twisting and stretching and pummeling. Let's just say I ached all night... but I feel great today!
We did the cooking class today at the Siam Rice Thai Cookery School and that was just absolutely fantastic - we loved every minute of it. They even upload photos that they take during the course onto their website - here are some photos of us! Chris didn't enjoy the fact that his chicken salad had way too much chili in it for him but soon got over that and enjoyed the rest of his meals. All up we each got to choose 6 dishes to cook and eat. Let's just say that 6 dishes spread over a 5 hour period is MUCH TOO MUCH food! But it's sooooo yummy.... mmm.
I made...:
1. Pad Thai (noodles)
2. Tom Yum Gai (sour and spicy tom yum soup with chicken in it)
3. Rice noodle salad (with chicken in it)
4. Green Thai Curry (very hot)
5. Holy Basil Chicken Stir Fry (yummmmmmy)
6. Mango and Sticky Rice (ooooh yeah, best dessert on the planet)
Chris made:
1. Thick rice noodles
2. Tom Ka Gai (spicy coconut milk soup with chicken in it)
3. Chicken Salad (very spicy)
4. Red Thai Curry (hot)
5. Chicken with Cashew Nuts (our FAVOURITE!)
6. Mango and Sticky Rice (as I said before, omg it's so good)
Not only was the food great, but the instructors, Nancy and Pot, were so friendly and really lovely. Their facilities were super nice and the other 3 people on the course were really cool too. Nancy and Pot picked us up in their van and then we stopped off at a local market where Nancy explained all the different types of ingredients, fruits and veges, that we'd be using today. That was a really cool coz we'd walked around these markets before but never had a clue what all the cool looking veges were. We totally recommend doing this course (esp at the Siam Rice Thai Cookery School!) if you're ever up in Chiang Mai!
Anyway, tomorrow we're off back to Bangkok for another couple of days with Bunna and Liz and then we're off to Bangladesh to see Rilla and Pippin! WOOHOOOOO!
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