Elephant Sanctuary

Another big day at the Elephant Sanctuary where we fed the Elephants and even walked to the river with them and gave them a bath. The weather is hot and steamy as per usual - hoping you are all enjoying our photos!!

THE BEST DAY EVER!!!

Ok - Its official - today has been THE BEST DAY EVER!! We organised a taxi driver for a day (a good decision) and headed to the Tiger Kingdom. Fiona & I decided on the Deluxe Package - entering the domain of smallest, small, medium & large tigers plus 2 CDs full of photos!!! Words cannot describe the feeling of a 120kg tiger walking towards you and being happy enough to give you a tiger greeting which essentially is a big cat purr - JUST AWESOME!!! After 2hrs of bliss with the tigers we headed to an Orchid & Butterfly Farm. The orchids are so vivid and diverse in colour however the butterflies were few and far between. Then we headed to the best temple in Chiang Mai - Doi Suthep where everything is gold and Fiona was blessed by a Monk! A quick trip to a Jade Carving Factory and then a much needed Oil Massage - we are doing it tough :). We will keep you posted with our up coming adventures. An early night is required so as to recgarge our batteries.

Cooking up a Storm!

Another fantastic day learning how to cook authentic Thai! I am in my element and loving every minute. I will post the recipes on my blog Dinnerforcheryl.blogspot.com.au when I get back home.

We had a great cooking class with the other aspiring chefs from the Netherlands, France and Germany and our cooking teacher Arm (that is his name) was an absolute delight.  I would highly recommend this cooking class to everyone travelling to Chiang Mai. Fiona unfortunately suffered from a touch of heat stroke during the day, however she recovered enough to make dessert (anyone who knows Fiona would know that she would never miss out on dessert). Before we arrived at the cooking school we had a qick stop over at the local food market with some interesting items for sale. I think the following photos speak for themselves.

Photos from best day ever

Here fishy fishy fishy...

A girl is born to shop

After such a late night and big day from traveling almost 8000kms, a sleep in should have been on the cards... But instead we are both awake and ready to go at 4am (7am Aussie time). With no chance on going back to sleep and full of excitement (although both still very tired) we get ready and head down to breakfast (thank god breakfast starts at 5.30am). Such a variety of foods!!! The highlight of the buffet would have to be the plate of raw onion, baked peanuts (a spin on baked beans and the pigs blood floating in.... Something. Luckily Alicia got her Congee and I had my mix of cereals (substitute for fact no weatbix!) After breakfast we headed out for a very early walk around to familiarize ourselves with the location before too many people are about. First thing that hits me is the smell coming from the gaps in the pavements and the mess of black cables hanging between the power poles beside the streets. A few stray dogs lie lazily on the footpath. We wandered for a while to fill in time until Thai's start their day and open their shops at 10am on a Sunday. With the shops open, we grab some cooling powder and tick an item off our bucket list... Fish and foot therapy. The title itself conjures up all sorts of crazy thoughts and to be honest, it's one thing I NEVER saw myself trying in a million years. After having our feet washed, we place our feet in a fish tank on the floor and have little fish come suck and nibble and the skin cells on our feet and legs. Pretty crazy sensation likened to the feeling of bubbles. After our 'Fishy experience' we headed out of the city to have a look at a gem factory, lacquerware factory, cotton shop and silk shop. We made a couple 'small' purchases and headed back. After lunch we experienced our first ever Tuk Tuk ride out to 'The Plaza' where Alicia continued on her handbag frenzy (she is even out doing me and that's saying something). We then headed back to start our wander through the Sunday night markets. A few more purchases we decide on the ultimate luxury of a foot massage at the ridiculous price of 80 baht (not even $3!!!) by this stage we are both more than ready to head back to sleep and with a glance at the watch... It's 11pm. 

Cheers