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Day 14: Chiang Mai to Bangkok

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  I woke up raring to go, knowing that we only had about 24 hours of vacation left. What a poignant moment in a trip: it’s not quite over yet so the sadness hasn’t set in, but it’s on the horizon. We got up early and made the most of it. Our first stop was Bird’s Nest, a laid back coffee joint where we learned that adding lemongrass to a potato hash with eggs actually works out surprisingly well. Reading the advertisements on the community wall for yoga teacher trainings and women’s empowerment groups, I felt like I could live there, but might get jaded pretty quickly. This coffee shop made it feel like there’s a clear western expat presence here. We then meandered through some neighborhoods towards the northern wall of the Old City, and happened upon a Japanese cake shop where we grabbed a mini cheesecake and marveled at the clean, bright space and bubbly cartoon characters on the walls. Though I know sadly little about Japan, this place felt quintessentially Japanese in it’
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Day 13: Elephants!

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After an early breakfast of muesli, fruit and granola, we boarded a 1.5 hour minibus to the Elephant Nature Park, in the mountains north of Chiang Mai. Driving through the suburbs and outskirts of CM, it struck me how modern this city looks and feels compared with the other places we’ve been in Thailand. Eventually, the residential areas gave way to hills covered in jungle, and we wound our way into the park after passing several other elephant-related spots on the way. Top, our guide, led us past the dog and cat sanctuaries, as well as the overnight volunteer dorms, and to a table on the deck at the visitors center, looking out over acres of land with big, grey creatures lumbering about: both Asian elephants and giant oxen (?) After orienting us on the important stuff: restrooms, mosquito spray area, lunch details - we walked out to our 2 first elephants, one of whom had a broken ankle :( We fed them a laundry basket full of bananas, watermelons, pineapples and pumpkin squash, a
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Day 12: Chiang Mai

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After breakfast at Good Morning Chiang Mai, we decided to brave the rain with a borrowed umbrella. We stopped at a great coffee shop just a few blocks from where we were staying, ‘Coffee Lovers’. Rob got an Americano and I drank a delicious white mocha while we watched the rain pour. Having booked an afternoon vegetarian Thai cooking class, we cut our time short a little but for our coffee walk: this city is known for good coffee grown in the hills surrounding it. Mazing through the city, kicking up muddy puddle remnants on the backs of our legs with flip flops, we meandered our way to Reform Kafe at the Green Tiger Inn, a Internet recommended vegetarian spot. And we were SO glad we did. This was hands down one of the best meals we’d had in Thailand: a spicy minced mushroom appetizer, Khao Soi (northern Thai noodle soup with wheat noodles and veggies), and Tom Kha. We wolfed down every last morsel and made a decision to stay at Green Tiger if we ever come to Chiang Mai again :)
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Day 11: Ao Nang to Chiang Mai

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After arranging a late check out and grabbing breakfast at the hotel, we hopped in a minivan with one other tourist (Jessika, from Amsterdam), and headed to the Tiger Caves, where Wat Tam Sua sits high on a mountain overlooking the Krabi valley. Arriving at the base, we saw a few shops, and lots of elaborately decorated shrines, plus monks wandering around, floating through the gates in their orange robes. After renting a wrap around sarong to “dress respectfully”, we set out on the hike, which is more of a slog up some 1200 odd stairs, amazingly engineered to cling to the side of the mountain. We sweated our way up the knee high stairs, gripping the rusted out railings for dear life and keeping our eyes peeled for monkeys all the while. Our long legged Dutch friend setting the pace, we actually made great time: not that it was a race :) The views from the top were stunning, both of the gigantic golden Buddha and stupa, and other relics, at the top, and of the 360 degree valley vie
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