Cindy was headed off to another workshop in Chang Mai, so I decided to tag along for a couple of days beforehand to see Chang Mai as I'd never seen it before. Yes I know I'm lucky to live close enough to 'hop over' for the weekend. We flew in Friday, so basically I had Sat/Sun to see the city and surrounds. Then flew home Monday.
Saturday morning we started out at the Rachamankha Flora House where we stayed. It is a nice guesthouse in the old city. We left at 6 am, to get food at the market for the monks were were going to feed. Then we drove about 15 minutes up the hill past the University to give the food to the monks, before we had local breakfast at a local eatery.
From there we toured the city, visiting the market and a couple of temples in town. I didn't get to the big temple on the hill. I guess I'll have to go back another time. We met a friend for a glass of wine, and then proceeded to the opening of an exhibit along with an informal get together for the workshop Cindy was in. Some more photos from the first day.
Our guide bought a snack, yes crickets. This lady had crickets, roaches, silkworms and other crawlies for sale.
Cindy tried a cricket, and actually liked it. After the market, we came back to our hotel, had some snacks, and then wandered around the center of town a bit. We saw the cultural center which used to be the old government offices built by the British when they were here pre WWII. Some of the exhibits weren't much to speak of, but others were interesting. After this we walked back through town to see a couple of more temples, and then we took a rest for a while before the evening events to give Cindy's sore ankle a rest.
The second day, I decided that I wanted to go see one of the local elephant camps. So off we went. It was supposed to be a group activity, but we were the only ones on the 'tour'. We were picked up by a nice guy in a worn out old pickup--just like the ones they use for the group taxis around town, but well used shall we say. His 9 year old daughter was with us as it was sunday and she had no school that day. She was truly enamored of the elephants, but didn't want to get close to them. While we waited for the elephant to come for our mahout training, and ride, we heard stories from this man about local shaman who were in effect elephant whisperers. They could calm down an unhappy elephant, something I wouldn't want to experience, by whispering on a banana and feeding it to the elephant. We heard other stories also, couples reunited in love, and how to make someone in pain for revenge.
Our elephant eventually showed up and the mahout taught us how to mount. There are three ways, one make it lie down and climb on standing on the legs and sort of hopping on. The second is to climb onto the standing elephant when it picks up its foreleg and lifts you part way, you pull yourself up by the elephant's ear. The third, it kneels down and you climb up the forehead.
Cindy did the first method, with some help from the guide to get up. She was sitting on the elephant's back. They then turned her towards a tree with a bench around it, and I climbed on her head, and scooted back to her neck. 
Then we had to learn to drive, so to speak. We had been given a little book with the commands for left, right, stop, go... but didn't learn them very well beforehand. She was hungry and always asking for bananas which we had in those striped bags.
Here you can see her asking me for another banana.
At the end of it all, we got to wash her in the river, while the guide's daughter watched from a distance.
And then she went home, and we went back to the city.
After this, we had a quick lunch, and then Cindy had to go off for various activities for her workshop. I went to the walking market and collected some more photos.
There was a dogshow, collecting money for shelters who treat street dogs. There were some many musicians, like these blind guys playing in the middle of the street.
And other performers as well, like this young girl collecting 'scholarship money'.
I met several people handing out flyers for kickboxing, here's one of them.
People at the temple making donations and pouring wax into large candle molds.
Saturday morning we started out at the Rachamankha Flora House where we stayed. It is a nice guesthouse in the old city. We left at 6 am, to get food at the market for the monks were were going to feed. Then we drove about 15 minutes up the hill past the University to give the food to the monks, before we had local breakfast at a local eatery.
From there we toured the city, visiting the market and a couple of temples in town. I didn't get to the big temple on the hill. I guess I'll have to go back another time. We met a friend for a glass of wine, and then proceeded to the opening of an exhibit along with an informal get together for the workshop Cindy was in. Some more photos from the first day.Our guide bought a snack, yes crickets. This lady had crickets, roaches, silkworms and other crawlies for sale.
Cindy tried a cricket, and actually liked it. After the market, we came back to our hotel, had some snacks, and then wandered around the center of town a bit. We saw the cultural center which used to be the old government offices built by the British when they were here pre WWII. Some of the exhibits weren't much to speak of, but others were interesting. After this we walked back through town to see a couple of more temples, and then we took a rest for a while before the evening events to give Cindy's sore ankle a rest.The second day, I decided that I wanted to go see one of the local elephant camps. So off we went. It was supposed to be a group activity, but we were the only ones on the 'tour'. We were picked up by a nice guy in a worn out old pickup--just like the ones they use for the group taxis around town, but well used shall we say. His 9 year old daughter was with us as it was sunday and she had no school that day. She was truly enamored of the elephants, but didn't want to get close to them. While we waited for the elephant to come for our mahout training, and ride, we heard stories from this man about local shaman who were in effect elephant whisperers. They could calm down an unhappy elephant, something I wouldn't want to experience, by whispering on a banana and feeding it to the elephant. We heard other stories also, couples reunited in love, and how to make someone in pain for revenge.
Our elephant eventually showed up and the mahout taught us how to mount. There are three ways, one make it lie down and climb on standing on the legs and sort of hopping on. The second is to climb onto the standing elephant when it picks up its foreleg and lifts you part way, you pull yourself up by the elephant's ear. The third, it kneels down and you climb up the forehead. Cindy did the first method, with some help from the guide to get up. She was sitting on the elephant's back. They then turned her towards a tree with a bench around it, and I climbed on her head, and scooted back to her neck. Then we had to learn to drive, so to speak. We had been given a little book with the commands for left, right, stop, go... but didn't learn them very well beforehand. She was hungry and always asking for bananas which we had in those striped bags.
Here you can see her asking me for another banana.
At the end of it all, we got to wash her in the river, while the guide's daughter watched from a distance.
And then she went home, and we went back to the city.
After this, we had a quick lunch, and then Cindy had to go off for various activities for her workshop. I went to the walking market and collected some more photos.
There was a dogshow, collecting money for shelters who treat street dogs. There were some many musicians, like these blind guys playing in the middle of the street.
And other performers as well, like this young girl collecting 'scholarship money'.
I met several people handing out flyers for kickboxing, here's one of them.
People at the temple making donations and pouring wax into large candle molds.
And many people getting foot massages.
I was sorry to leave, but maybe I'll get back some day. As always more photos here.
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