Thai time: Northern Thailand

Chiang Mai looks nothing at all like we remember it from when we went 10 years ago, but we love it all over again. It is a great city to walk around and discover. We are lucky enough to be there during the buddhist celebration when the monks will start life in the temple for three months. They walk all over town with offerings to the various temples and chant beautiful prayers.

Northern Thai Cuisine is absolutely exquisite and we indulge in the most delicious typical northern curries, pork ribs and salads. On a side note, if you ever head out to Chiang Mai do not miss a meal at Huen Phen, a local restaurant (with very few foreigners) where we have the best meal in Thailand so far. Hard to explain with words how delicious!

Our hotel is located right by the Night Bazar, a fantastic night market with truly beautiful handicrafts and of course delicious food (incredible Indian food too!). By now the kids are master negotiators and can bargain mostly on their own giving them free will to manage the money we have given them. It is really fun to see how empowered they feel with their newly acquired set of skills and independence. It is great to observe how they deal with their cash so differently: Pia is very conscientious, Marcus’ money burns in his hands and Clara is relentless and will patiently wait until she finds exactly what she wants (she hasn’t been spending one penny until she finally finds the one thing she has been looking for since the beginning of the trip in Thailand: a spirit house! Talk about willpower…)

The highlight of our time in Chiang Mai is a day spent at an elephant sanctuary where we get to be elephant caretakers for the day. Unbelievable!!!

The elephants in this sanctuary have been rescued from being overworked, particularly in the logging industry, and not well attended to. In Thailand there is a recent growing concern for the well being of elephants. There is a strong awareness campaign in place to make sure that elephants are not forced to perform tasks that go against their nature (i.e. sitting on a bench, painting…) and that they are treated with respect and appropriate care: good diet, healthy exercise, enough rest…

In this particular sanctuary, every elephant is paired up with one caretaker that builds a strong bond with the animal to the point where the elephant recognizes the caretaker’s singing if they get separated and they even sleep together if the elephant is sick.

We change into our caretaker uniform and walk to meet the elephants in the rainforest. We get to feed them, take them for a walk in the muddy jungle and even bathe them! We are infatuated by how kind, gentle and smart these enormous animals are. What a day! We will never forget this experience…

We also visit a small factory that uses elephant poop to make paper. Sounds horrible but it is actually very cool! Turns out elephant’s poop is extremely clean and high in  fiber given their super healthy diet of grass and their inefficient digestive system (and also not smelly!). We make paper from beginning to end and all with elephant poop!

We decide to hop on a bus to spend a few days in Chiang Rai, even further north, close to the Golden Triangle where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet at the Mekong River.

Chiang Rai is a small town full of fun night markets and friendly people. We meet Kai, a Thai guide from a local village 20 minutes outside of Chiang Rai, that “adopts” us for a couple of days and exposes us to real life in Thailand. We hike for hours through stunning mountains and we learn the tricks of the jungle: how to shoot leaves as if they were arrows, how to make toys with bamboo, how to find edible plants and beetles (which of course Clara munches on nonchalantly! “Not sweet, not salty… just crunchy” she says). We go through remote villages, we try to learn the very difficult art of fishing with a net in a lake (and cook and eat the fish in Kai’s farm hut!), he opens the doors of his home to us and we get to meet his lovely parents, we practice Thai skiing (aka rolling downhill in the slippery mud), we admire oolong tea plantations, learn about stinky rubber trees and rice planting and harvesting, we try not to flip while he paddles us around in his rudimentary boat and by the end of both days we are exhilarated, exhausted and extremely muddy! Thank you so much, Kai. We will see you again, for sure!