Chiang Mai was one of my favourite places in SE Asia, and is therefore a must-see. We ended up staying in Chiang Mai for five full days to give ourselves some time to relax and have a break from all the buses. We had breakfast almost every day at Northlands Guesthouse, where tea, orange juice, eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, and beans cost only 60 baht! We went to three night markets; the Saturday night market, Sunday night market, and the night market that is on every night. The Saturday night was my favourite market in the whole of SE Asia; lots of beautiful locally-made handicrafts and tons of delicious food!

Saturday night market

We rented a motorbike from our guesthouse for a couple of days. On the first day we drove up to Doi Sutep, which is beautiful and well worth the short drive. There are  market stalls before the temple, and a wonderfully carved dragon leads up the steps to Doi Sutep. After the temple we continued driving to Doi Pui, which is a little mountain town with its own handicraft stalls and a few cheap restaurants. We had a tasty lunch here for 40 baht! We then drove back down the mountain to a waterfall and Chiang Mai zoo (which only cost 100 baht).

Doi Sutep

On our second day with the motorbike we drove to Mae Sa waterfall. The drive is on a main highway, and I was extremely nervous about it! We obviously survived, but it was quite a nerve wracking trip. The waterfall is beautiful and is made up of ten tiers. There are food  stalls around the parking lot and you can buy food to make up a little picnic and they give you a mat to sit on, which is kind of fun! We spent most of the day at the falls, swimming and eating chiang mai sausage!

Our favourite day in Chiang Mai, and our second favourite activity of the entire trip, was our visit to Baanchang Elephant Park. We were picked up from our hotel at 8:45 and driven to the park, which was 45 minutes away. Once at the park we changed into a very sexy Mahout outfit, grabbed a huge basket of sugar cane and bananas, and began feeding the elephants. It was absolutely amazing, and as you can tell by the pictures, I couldn’t stop grinning!

Feeding time

Elephant kiss!

After feeding the elephants our guide, Puza, gave us some important information about the elephants. He told us that each elephants costs about 1 million baht to buy (300,000 USD), they eat at least 150 kg of corn grass a day, and the bull hook is necessary for the safety of the Mahout as it is the tool that the elephants have been taught (over many generations) to respect. We then practiced getting on and off the elephants, and I was quite scared! You have to jump up and grab their ears and swing your leg over as fast as you can before the elephant stands up. After lunch we learnt how to give basic commands: non long = lie down, pie = go, how = stop, kwey = turn, and then it was time to ride! Adrian and I shared one elephant, with my sitting on her back and Adrian sitting behind the ears and steering. We could switch half way round but I chose to stay in the same spot! Our elephants name was Tong Mee, and she was the best elephant! She listened really well and wasn’t a major fatty like a few of the other elephants.

Riding Tong Mee

After our ride we got to bath the elephants, and this was the best part of the day! The Mahouts took the elephants into the pool as we grabbed a bucket and scrub brush, and headed to the pool to join them. The elephants seemed to love it, and apparently it’s really good for their skin. I sat on Tong Mee and scrubbed her back as she frolicked in the water! When it was time to get out, Tong Mee’s Mahout gave her the signal to stand up while I was still on her back, and she rose out of the water with me still on her! It was fantastic.

Baanchang elephant park was a wonderful experience, and I think it is a very moral and well run elephant sanctuary!