Chiang Mai, Thailand

Chiang Mai was a place that Siwan and I were both really excited to visit as we had booked to go and see the elephants at a sanctuary with her sister and her sister’s boyfriend, Alaw and Shaun. It was a really busy but enjoyable few days.

The hotel we stayed at is called Chana Place which is located in the Old Town, a short cab ride from Chiang Mai’s popular Night Bazaar. The hotel was nice and cheap and the staff were friendly :)

In the afternoon, we met up with Alaw and Shaun. We hung around at the hotel for a while before going to check out the delights of the Night Bazaar.

The bazaar was much like what we had seen in the other places we had visited but on a larger scale. On sale was the usual mix of touristy ‘crap’ (as Siwan puts it) and vendors selling things that might or might not be edible... The food court, on the other hand, was selling a large array of delicious smelling treats to have for dinner. 

There was a such a lovely variety of things to eat, so of course Siwan opted for a baked potato with cheese (to be fair, it was huuuuuge and rather delicious).

Afterwards, we knocked back a few drinks at a bar down one of the side streets and then headed back to the hotel for the night.

Elephant Jungle Sanctuary

1700 TBH (around £40) each; however, some people in our group said they got it cheaper.

We were up for a 6:30am pickup the next morning. Lovely.

The sanctuary was in the jungle somewhere about an hour and a half away. When we got there, we were introduced to Lulu, our group leader. 

He was a funny guy and spoke really good English. He started the day with a talk about what the sanctuary does to help protect elephants in Thailand and how the money they raise from groups like ours is put into ensuring they receive the best care.

The elephants were brought out one by one and Lulu gave us a little bit of information about each one. Some had been rescued from logging work; some had been rescued from circuses. One was really young and had been bought by the sanctuary to save it from exploitation.

We were allowed to go over and feed the elephants. It was an amazing experience to be so up close with these incredible animals.

After feeding, it was bath time. Mud bath time. We changed to swimming gear and followed the elephants into the mud pit. The mud helps them to keep cool as well as protecting their skin from UV rays. I loved, quite literally, getting stuck in.
To finish the morning off, the elephants went for a splash around in the river. We jumped in too to clean off some of the excess mud and to help give the elephants a wash.

I was genuinely gutted when it was all over because it had been such a fantastic morning and an experience I will never forget.

Cabaret

350 TBH (around £8) each.
In the evening, we went to see a cabaret show. It was entertaining, even with the waiting staff being quite pushy for tips. The show consisted of dances, lip syncing and the odd bit of audience participation. The entire cast were made up of talented transgender performers, some imitating famous musicians: Tina Turner, Rihanna, Jessie J, Ariana Grande, etc.

At one point, some guy in the audience was pulled up on stage, had his shirt removed and was blindfolded while the dancer thrusted all over him. Also, earlier in the show, a girl and I were pounced on and groped by a dancer while we sat innocently in the audience (I hope that was part of the show). The dancer left us to continue the performance, but not before forcing my head in between her breasts. Fab.
All in all, a pretty funny night!

Siam Rice Thai Cookery School

700 TBH (around £16) each.

Learning to cook was on the agenda for the next morning. This time we were picked up at a much more agreeable 9:00am. 

We were whisked off to the market so that our instructor, Yam, could show us some of the ingredients that appeared in a lot of Thai cooking. Shortly after, we headed off to the cookery school.
We were all given a choice of a few dishes we could make. I chose hot and creamy soup, drunken noodles, jungle curry and sticky rice with mango.

Our instructor was a good laugh; she made a lot of drug references and seemed fond of trying to prank us. She did this by slipping false instructions into her teaching, for example,

“What’s your lucky number? That’s how many chillis you put in”

And

“Now chop your egg (raw and still in shell) in half with your knife.”

One French guy in our group almost slammed his meat cleaver right down onto the egg before Yam exclaimed, “kidding, kidding!”

Anyways, it was a really fun experience. Definitely worth a go if you ever find yourself in Chiang Mai!

Bonus

Shout out to the birthday girl, Gemma Boxell! Much love from Thailand <3