Chiang Mai, dragon dancing and exploding kiddies

January 25th, 2023

Well, our last night bus of the trip is OVER. Thank goodness. The bus was a double decker, and initially eight of us were on the lower level where the bathroom was. The bathroom smelled absolutely horrific, and four people immediately requested to be moved upstairs. We remained downstairs and it sucked, but they stopped for food and by the time we got back on the bus, someone had cleaned the whole bathroom and it smelled totally fine. So we ended up with two seats each between the four of us, and we all managed to catch some zzzs!

When we arrived in Chiang Mai around 6am, we dropped off our bags at the hotel and then went exploring. We headed for the old town and got breakfast at a vegan place run by a Frenchman. It was very good food. We then wandered over to a temple with one building dedicated to thai massages for super cheap ($6!). We signed up and got an hour of super good massages for all our knots. Then we visited two other temples, and had lunch at a Michelin rated restaurant that served fishball noodles - it was super, super good food.

By 2pm, we figured our room was ready and went to have a nap. Definitely a good decision.

We woke up before dinner and headed out to the market, and to the river. We walked up the river to a restaurant with a great little patio on the river, and had a delicious spicy pork dip platter. Then we walked back toward Chinatown for the last day of the lunar new year celebrations. There was a “Chiang Mai’s next top chef” competition happening, and a beauty pageant, and we saw dragon dancing! There were maybe a dozen people and they were dragon dancing as well as lifting this small boy up five people high or on top of a bamboo pole to do his dragon dance. It looked quite dangerous - just when we thought they were letting him down from the pole they actually just tied some firecrackers to the pole and sent him right back up to go swaying around with explosions shooting off near his feet. Overall, crazy to see.

We grabbed some street food and headed to a muai thai fight! The announcer seemed to be eastern European and had the most intense announcing voice. The night started with some tai chi demonstrations which were quite beautiful. There were ten fights, mostly Chinese fighters versus Thai fighters, but two ended early due to injury and we left before the last one. It’s quite an intense sport to watch - there are four referees and five rounds for each fight. Each round lasts about 2.5 minutes. The referees seem to choose who they think won based on “vibe”. The scoring was very confusing. And the coaches rubbed the fighters down with ice water in between rounds to try and keep them in top condition. They do a sort of ritual dance at the beginning to honour various things (teachers, crowd, etc) which reminded me of power poses.

We headed home around midnight, and had to wake up earlyish to grab breakfast and coffee before whitewater rafting! The coffee place we went to had amazing coffee - Max got a special type of bean that was super delicious and smooth. Then we were picked up and driven up the Mae Taeng River about 10 km. The driver dropped us off and we were given lunch, then headed down for the safety talk. We were in a boat with the head guide and two Austrian guys. There are up to class 4+ rapids on the river, but since it’s dry season the water levels were quite low. Even still, there were some pretty serious holes and drops, and our guide made the day very hectic. He always had a big shit eating grin on his face as he directed us to narrow sections that our boat could barely squeeze through and made us all leap around the boat trying to wiggle along, or straight into a rock which almost made us capsize. He made us paddle upriver below the largest rapids, and then he suddenly swung the boat around and threw his weight to the side which knocked one of the Austrian guys overboard because he wasn’t expecting it and therefore wasn’t holding on. It was really fun and funny. We got to cliff jump, and swim for a section. Max always seemed to be responsible for dragging us back into the boat when we got out. The guide liked him and we all got to try steering but Max went up twice.

At the end, we got pineapple and oreos and some photos from the day, then loaded back into the van to head home.

In the evening, we tried to go for some Irish savory pies, but the restaurant was closed. Disappointed, we happened across a pop up food stall market, and got to try Khao San noodles which are a Chiang Mai specialty and super good. We also got another banana chocolate crepe for dessert. We finished the night at a reggae bar which had incredible live music! One of the bands had a lead singer named Croissant, who is apparently one of the best musicians in Chiang Mai, and his trumpet player was our favourite. He was just grooving.

We woke up late today, and I had a bad headache. We managed to go out and find a coffee and I got a smoothie bowl to revive myself. I think I am addicted to them. Max had the big goose breakfast which was waffles and eggs and bacon. We rented a motorcycle and headed up Doi Pui mountain. It was a beautiful ride but along a steep, winding road. I think we were a bit relieved we didn’t try to ride our bicycles.

First we did a nature walk around Mon Tha Than waterfall, then we visited a big temple which is a pilgrimage for many Thai people, then we did a hike up to the summit of the mountain. We saw a monkey and a snake, and learned a lot about the different plants in the jungle. Best of all, we saw no leeches. It was a really fun day considering the rough start!

We finished the day by heading to a restaurant called “little istanbul” which had delicious middle eastern food. Then, back to our hotel to read our books and relax. We have an early start tomorrow to go to an elephant sanctuary!