15 - 22 Jan 2013
So instead of having a big night on the 13th and recovering the 14th, we ended up having a big night on the 14th and were then hungover on our journey to Chiang Mai. It was hell. I was worse then Sam by miles. He never seems to get real hangovers like I do. It's not fair! Especially as I had purposely switched to water early on in the night and had eaten a substantial dinner at Mcdonalds.
I hadn't packed of course so I'm frantically running around the room half asleep and with the hangover from hell jamming all my belongings in my bag with no sense of order what so ever. Sam stayed in bed because apparently he had packed when we got back at 4am - I must've passed out because I never saw this!
We tried to check out and pay our bill but we found the night shifter passed out at the front desk with an almost empty bottle of vodka - real professional!
The mini van to the airport was excruciatingly long and uncomfortable. I had my head down trying not to vomit the entire way. We both had to keep running to the toilets at the airport, I thought I was going to vomit but ended up going the other way which I soon found out was not actually part of the hangover but some bug I had picked up somewhere along the way. I was very sick in the stomach for the next 3days straight.
Thai Airways is extremely comfortable with excellent service. I could not believe how much space you have just in economy - I have never flown with such a spacious airline before. It felt like luxury. I just wish I wasn't so ill and could enjoy it. I had my head down for the entire flight trying not to vomit.
We arrived in Chiang Mai about 1pm and headed straight to the Gap House - a guesthouse recommended in the Lonely Planet. It was amazing. We arrived to this incredible lush, green jungle Thai style accommodation. Everything was made out of wood and it felt like you really were in the jungle. They had a room available for the same price as our tiny, no window and smelly Phuket room and it was AMAZING!! It was a little wooden cabin with trees all around keeping it in a cool shade all day. Our room was huge and very Thai style with wooden furniture, walls,floorboards... it was the cutest room ever. The bed was extremely big and comfortable with 2 pillows each - it felt like we were at a 5star hotel and we were only paying $20 a night!
Our room with little patio!
The lonely planet said this place was famous for it's cooking school, so we signed up straight away for the next day. I then jumped into bed and tried to make sleep my awful hangover away. Little did I know that I was indeed sick and would go through another 2days of feeling like this. I did manage to get my butt out of bed and go out for dinner which was Chicken Cashew Stir Fry and was probably the most amazing chicken cashew I have ever eaten. The flavour was so different up here in Chiang Mai - the food is delicious!
The next day we got up about 9am for our cooking course. They first took us to a local fresh food market to show us different vegetables and ingredients used in Thai cooking so we could see what certain items looked like. It was quite amusing as our two guides were hilarious! They were trying to make every moment a funny one and cracking the strangest jokes.
After the market we arrived at the cooking school and despite my stomach grief I somehow managed to get through the day and made some delicious Thai food! We made about 5 courses before midday alone and then got to eat them all for lunch. I barely got through half of mine because I was so ill, but the chicken cashew I made was just as good as the one I had eaten the night before! So I know how to make amazing chicken cashew now :)
All the meals we made - and just before lunch!
Cooking the best chicken cashew ever!
After lunch no one was in the mood to keep cooking as we were all so full and lazy, but we still made spring rolls and pad Thai to take home with a coconut desert for dinner that night! We got free apron's and a cook book to take home.All in all I was very impressed with the school. The best part of all was we didn't even have to do any of the hard work like chopping the ingredients or cleaning!
The next day was spent in bed feeling sorry for myself as I was still annoyingly ill. We did wander out for lunch and a fruit shake. We fell in love with the fruit shakes in Chiang Mai. They were always so amazing and way better then any we discovered South of Thailand. Plus everything was way cheaper!
After 3 nights in our $20 cabin, we decided to hunt for something cheaper as after all, this is the place we were hoping to save some money. We tried every place on the main street and they were either fully booked or looked like shit. Finally we found a place down a hidden alley, at first we went to walk away because there was a 'No Vacancy' sign out the front but the guy who owned the place saw us and came running after us saying there was one room available for 2 nights only. Such a shame as we needed it for 4. We didn't realize that Chiang Mai was going to be so busy - we thought we'd escape that after leaving the South. The room was only 300 baht ($9.70) so it was our cheapest room yet in Thailand.
We booked in straight away for a fishing tour the next day. Sam had been desperate to go fishing for awhile and Chiang Mai had a lot of good options. It was a little pricey but it was a full day with guarantee of catching massive catfish and also lunch included. I'd never fished before other then once camping when I was a child so I was excited to give it a go. I was desperate to do a one day elephant mahout training at this famous camp where you look after one elephant all day, learning how to communicate with it, bathe with it, feed it, ride it bare back etc. It's suppose to be very gentle on the elephants and an amazing experience. Chiang Mai was famous for it. Stupid me decided to wait til after the fishing day to book as we weren't sure what day to do it yet.
We had to get up bright and early the next day as we were picked up before 8am and driven only half an hr to the fishing lake. Our driver also ended up being our guide and it was only Sam and I booked in, meanwhile he had 10 the day before apparently!
The day was awesome! It was so relaxing chilling by the side of the lake, drinking very cheap cold beer - they even provided eskis and ice! We just had to buy the beer. Our guide did all the tedious work of baiting up, casting out etc and then as soon as there was a bite Sam and I would take in turns to reel it in. Now that was the hard part. I could not believe how I was meant to pull in 18kg fish! I soon learned that there is a skill to fishing and it's all in your hips and back. I had to wear a belt to put the rod in and then just used my body weight to reel it in.My first few times I used my hands too much and they were hurting so bad I soon learned the correct way. My first fish was huge and I couldn't hold the bugger as he kept wiggling and he was so slimy and it was just so weird I kept dropping the poor guy. Our guide helped me hold my first one but I held the 18kg one I reeled in later all on my own!
We were fishing right up til the sun went down as our guide just didn't want to stop. He wanted us to catch 20 fish - and we were fucking close! We were also very wasted by the end of the day and Sam went into a horrible Changover - what you call a hangover when you drink Chang. I wisely had switched to Leo beer earlier in the day so I was feeling really good. I had also been smart and kept my water intake up. See I know how to drink sensibly people :)
Sam pretty much crashed out when we got back and as it was Saturday night I wandered off on my own in search of the famous Walking Street markets. I thought I found them when I came across stalls and stalls of food and drunkenly enjoyed the feast. When I got back Sam was passed out cold. Poor boy.
Sunday was a lazy day. We were told our room was now available for our last two nights in Chiang Mai so we were super happy about that. We liked it there. I went down to ask about elephant mahout training and found out it was fully booked out for our last two days :( I was super depressed for awhile as it was something I massively wanted to do. Sam comforted me and promised we could always come back after full moon and do it then.
Sunday night we went off in search of the walking street markets and this time succeeded in finding them! The complete opposite direction to the ones I was walking through the night before... strange. We decided to start off on the right side and once we reached the end we would circle back and do the left side. Well we did never reach the end... The street just kept going and going and going. When we finally did come to an intersection the markets split off in all directions. I don't understand why it's called walking street markets when it's more like a massive block of streets! It was the most insane markets I have ever seen in my life. Sam bought stuff for his family and I barely bought anything. Weird I know. Considering we spent about 3hrs just walking that one side of the street!
Our last day came very quickly and we found ourselves having beers with one of Sam's animal refuge friends he met in Bolivia. He had just arrived that day and we were leaving on overnight bus that night so we only got a few hours of catch up in. They tried to convince us to stay but we had to leave, I was meeting my sister in Bangkok in the morning and then we were off to Koh Phangan for the full moon party. We really had no room to budge. Sam got more drunk then I did, mucking around with his friend so I had to be the responsible one and keep an eye on the time. Even with that it was hard to drag him away and we found ourselves rushing to the bus with no food in our bellies. Luckily you can always count on a 7 eleven in Thailand so Sam got us some microwaved Thai food. It did the trick!
So we were off to Bangkok, sadly leaving the amazing Chiang Mai already... But with an awesome adventure ahead of us!
So instead of having a big night on the 13th and recovering the 14th, we ended up having a big night on the 14th and were then hungover on our journey to Chiang Mai. It was hell. I was worse then Sam by miles. He never seems to get real hangovers like I do. It's not fair! Especially as I had purposely switched to water early on in the night and had eaten a substantial dinner at Mcdonalds.
I hadn't packed of course so I'm frantically running around the room half asleep and with the hangover from hell jamming all my belongings in my bag with no sense of order what so ever. Sam stayed in bed because apparently he had packed when we got back at 4am - I must've passed out because I never saw this!
We tried to check out and pay our bill but we found the night shifter passed out at the front desk with an almost empty bottle of vodka - real professional!
The mini van to the airport was excruciatingly long and uncomfortable. I had my head down trying not to vomit the entire way. We both had to keep running to the toilets at the airport, I thought I was going to vomit but ended up going the other way which I soon found out was not actually part of the hangover but some bug I had picked up somewhere along the way. I was very sick in the stomach for the next 3days straight.
Thai Airways is extremely comfortable with excellent service. I could not believe how much space you have just in economy - I have never flown with such a spacious airline before. It felt like luxury. I just wish I wasn't so ill and could enjoy it. I had my head down for the entire flight trying not to vomit.
We arrived in Chiang Mai about 1pm and headed straight to the Gap House - a guesthouse recommended in the Lonely Planet. It was amazing. We arrived to this incredible lush, green jungle Thai style accommodation. Everything was made out of wood and it felt like you really were in the jungle. They had a room available for the same price as our tiny, no window and smelly Phuket room and it was AMAZING!! It was a little wooden cabin with trees all around keeping it in a cool shade all day. Our room was huge and very Thai style with wooden furniture, walls,floorboards... it was the cutest room ever. The bed was extremely big and comfortable with 2 pillows each - it felt like we were at a 5star hotel and we were only paying $20 a night!
The lonely planet said this place was famous for it's cooking school, so we signed up straight away for the next day. I then jumped into bed and tried to make sleep my awful hangover away. Little did I know that I was indeed sick and would go through another 2days of feeling like this. I did manage to get my butt out of bed and go out for dinner which was Chicken Cashew Stir Fry and was probably the most amazing chicken cashew I have ever eaten. The flavour was so different up here in Chiang Mai - the food is delicious!
The next day we got up about 9am for our cooking course. They first took us to a local fresh food market to show us different vegetables and ingredients used in Thai cooking so we could see what certain items looked like. It was quite amusing as our two guides were hilarious! They were trying to make every moment a funny one and cracking the strangest jokes.
After the market we arrived at the cooking school and despite my stomach grief I somehow managed to get through the day and made some delicious Thai food! We made about 5 courses before midday alone and then got to eat them all for lunch. I barely got through half of mine because I was so ill, but the chicken cashew I made was just as good as the one I had eaten the night before! So I know how to make amazing chicken cashew now :)
After lunch no one was in the mood to keep cooking as we were all so full and lazy, but we still made spring rolls and pad Thai to take home with a coconut desert for dinner that night! We got free apron's and a cook book to take home.All in all I was very impressed with the school. The best part of all was we didn't even have to do any of the hard work like chopping the ingredients or cleaning!
The next day was spent in bed feeling sorry for myself as I was still annoyingly ill. We did wander out for lunch and a fruit shake. We fell in love with the fruit shakes in Chiang Mai. They were always so amazing and way better then any we discovered South of Thailand. Plus everything was way cheaper!
After 3 nights in our $20 cabin, we decided to hunt for something cheaper as after all, this is the place we were hoping to save some money. We tried every place on the main street and they were either fully booked or looked like shit. Finally we found a place down a hidden alley, at first we went to walk away because there was a 'No Vacancy' sign out the front but the guy who owned the place saw us and came running after us saying there was one room available for 2 nights only. Such a shame as we needed it for 4. We didn't realize that Chiang Mai was going to be so busy - we thought we'd escape that after leaving the South. The room was only 300 baht ($9.70) so it was our cheapest room yet in Thailand.
We booked in straight away for a fishing tour the next day. Sam had been desperate to go fishing for awhile and Chiang Mai had a lot of good options. It was a little pricey but it was a full day with guarantee of catching massive catfish and also lunch included. I'd never fished before other then once camping when I was a child so I was excited to give it a go. I was desperate to do a one day elephant mahout training at this famous camp where you look after one elephant all day, learning how to communicate with it, bathe with it, feed it, ride it bare back etc. It's suppose to be very gentle on the elephants and an amazing experience. Chiang Mai was famous for it. Stupid me decided to wait til after the fishing day to book as we weren't sure what day to do it yet.
We had to get up bright and early the next day as we were picked up before 8am and driven only half an hr to the fishing lake. Our driver also ended up being our guide and it was only Sam and I booked in, meanwhile he had 10 the day before apparently!
The day was awesome! It was so relaxing chilling by the side of the lake, drinking very cheap cold beer - they even provided eskis and ice! We just had to buy the beer. Our guide did all the tedious work of baiting up, casting out etc and then as soon as there was a bite Sam and I would take in turns to reel it in. Now that was the hard part. I could not believe how I was meant to pull in 18kg fish! I soon learned that there is a skill to fishing and it's all in your hips and back. I had to wear a belt to put the rod in and then just used my body weight to reel it in.My first few times I used my hands too much and they were hurting so bad I soon learned the correct way. My first fish was huge and I couldn't hold the bugger as he kept wiggling and he was so slimy and it was just so weird I kept dropping the poor guy. Our guide helped me hold my first one but I held the 18kg one I reeled in later all on my own!
We were fishing right up til the sun went down as our guide just didn't want to stop. He wanted us to catch 20 fish - and we were fucking close! We were also very wasted by the end of the day and Sam went into a horrible Changover - what you call a hangover when you drink Chang. I wisely had switched to Leo beer earlier in the day so I was feeling really good. I had also been smart and kept my water intake up. See I know how to drink sensibly people :)
Sam pretty much crashed out when we got back and as it was Saturday night I wandered off on my own in search of the famous Walking Street markets. I thought I found them when I came across stalls and stalls of food and drunkenly enjoyed the feast. When I got back Sam was passed out cold. Poor boy.
Sunday was a lazy day. We were told our room was now available for our last two nights in Chiang Mai so we were super happy about that. We liked it there. I went down to ask about elephant mahout training and found out it was fully booked out for our last two days :( I was super depressed for awhile as it was something I massively wanted to do. Sam comforted me and promised we could always come back after full moon and do it then.
Sunday night we went off in search of the walking street markets and this time succeeded in finding them! The complete opposite direction to the ones I was walking through the night before... strange. We decided to start off on the right side and once we reached the end we would circle back and do the left side. Well we did never reach the end... The street just kept going and going and going. When we finally did come to an intersection the markets split off in all directions. I don't understand why it's called walking street markets when it's more like a massive block of streets! It was the most insane markets I have ever seen in my life. Sam bought stuff for his family and I barely bought anything. Weird I know. Considering we spent about 3hrs just walking that one side of the street!
Our last day came very quickly and we found ourselves having beers with one of Sam's animal refuge friends he met in Bolivia. He had just arrived that day and we were leaving on overnight bus that night so we only got a few hours of catch up in. They tried to convince us to stay but we had to leave, I was meeting my sister in Bangkok in the morning and then we were off to Koh Phangan for the full moon party. We really had no room to budge. Sam got more drunk then I did, mucking around with his friend so I had to be the responsible one and keep an eye on the time. Even with that it was hard to drag him away and we found ourselves rushing to the bus with no food in our bellies. Luckily you can always count on a 7 eleven in Thailand so Sam got us some microwaved Thai food. It did the trick!
So we were off to Bangkok, sadly leaving the amazing Chiang Mai already... But with an awesome adventure ahead of us!
too funny that guy passed out!!!
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