Chiang Mai

Next stop Chang Mai, the northern province of Thailand. We first visited the Chai Lai Orchid Elephant Sanctuary, where we would stay one night. Upon arrival we were greeted by the elephants where we could feed the family of three as well enjoy cocktails. We spent the whole night here playing cards, watching the sunset and cooking marshmallows on the bonfire.

We took ourselves off to bed checking into our room around 9pm. Our room was a short ride away in a truck down by the river, in a bamboo made cabin. One night was definitely enough here.

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The following morning, we enjoyed breakfast alongside feeding the elephant brought round to our room. Definitely one of the highlights of our time in Thailand. We checked out around 11 and spent the next 2 hours getting ourselves back to the centre where we would spend the next six nights.

We dropped off our bags and headed out for some lunch as the breakfast wasn’t the best at the orchid. We came back to the room so sophie could nap whilst I headed to the gym. Later that evening, we went out for dinner to try a Thai dish called Khao Soi, a dish that can only really be found in the north of Thailand. It was spot on, but the best was still yet to come!

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Day three in Chang Mai, the sun was shining  we couldn’t ask for a better day to go to the Grand Canyon water park, which was full of laughter, joy, broken nails and sophie getting stuck in between the inflatables. After a long day, we headed back the room got ready and headed out again for some dinner. This time we went to a 7 consecutive year Michelin recommended restaurant, we payed £16 for 7 dishes. Yes we got Khao soi again and yes, it really is that good! 

We’ve been in Thailand for around 4 weeks now and have yet to see a temple. So we dedicated the next day to visiting some temples and 4 was where we maxed out. We ended the evening with some beers and a Khao Soi (this time for £7) before listening to a local band live in a jazz bar, there may have been some take away food back to the hotel after one too many drinks. 

 

The 9AM alarm got snoozed and our Muay Thai class was pushed to 11AM. When we did get there we started by getting our hands wrapped and skipping as a warm up, Harry headed one way and me another as I am right handed and he is wrong handed. We were taught the basic moves; Jab, Punch, Hook, Uppercut, Knee and Kick and then went on to 1 on 1 with the instructors. What we didn’t realise was this was round 1 of 3 so by the time we got to our 3rd round were not practising on the bag on our breaks at all. These were also the only rounds we got footage of so that is why we look like we may explode. The class ended with some ab-workout and a cool down stretch with a promise to come back before we left Chiang Mai… 

 

After refuelling, showering and dolling up we headed to our next activity. A Northern Thai cooking class! We both throughly enjoyed this as our instructor was great and also very funny. We got to learn how to make our favourite Thai dish; Khao Soi as well as a traditional Pad Thai and our choice of soup, finishing off the class with Mango sticky rice we prepared as a group. We left the class with very full bellies and a PDF of all the recipies that were on the menu. A quick game of pool in the sports bar and then off to bed as we had an early morning tomorrow that we couldn’t postpone.

 

Waterfall day - Visiting 2 waterfalls in 1 day. One man made, the other natural. Surprisingly the one you can walk up is natural! There are limestone deposits covering the 130 meter waterfall and ropes in place to help you climb. It’s split into 4 sections so it doesn’t seem too high but the view at the top is beautiful.This was such a fun and amazing experience I would have happily climbed again just to get a few more pictures but we had to head back. Dinner was at a night market with so many different cuisines it was hard to choose! We started with a cheesy jacket potato each that wasn’t as good as our mums but got the job done and then shared a Phanang curry. 

 

Our last day in Chiang Mai was a bit of maintenance, Harry had a haircut and I got my nails infilled. We headed to the non-Irish pub for a Guinness and grabbed some dinner back at our favourite restaurant before heading to bed as this was also our last full day in Thailand!

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See more pictures in our Thailand Gallery.