Arrived at the station and waited for the train. The train was pretty dirty and could be kept in a much better state. Sangeet the hardened traveller just got on with it, she sat down and was looking forward to the journey.
On the train they serve you drinks and meal (already included in the ticket price) unfortunately it was chicken. To be honest I was scared of using the toilet so did not eat!
The views were pretty Impressive you pass through small villages and the beautiful countryside. (Sangeet told me this, as was busy watching Sherlock Holmes!!)
At Bangkok train station
We arrived in Bangkok and took a taxi to the Hilton hotel
The Indian visas should be ready today, as I was not able to check the website (it was down) we decided to go to the office.
I went to the Gurdwara to ask the Gianiji if he knew the best place to hire a scooter. He said no, but offered to give me a lift to the scooter rental. We found one not that far from the hotel the cost was 200 Thai baht, they usually take your passport but as I did not have mine they took 5,000 Thai baht deposit.
It is amazing how confident we have become on the scooter!
We went to the Indian consulate to pick up the visas, she asked us to take a seat. 15 minutes had passed when we got up to ask why is it taking so long. The receptionist said the day we handed in our applications the price had gone up and we had to pay an extra 2250 Thai baht! I was furious, Sangeet told me to keep calm but it was impossible for me to do so! In my view Indians are just people who want to make extra money by hook or crook…….we had already booked our flights so would have been more costly to change, also I wanted to see my good friend Kapil Seth, the only Indian I trust.
I was tempted to say you can take my visa and put it where the sun does not shine! As you can see I was a bit angry!
Sangeet kept me calm and said it is no use we will have to pay the money. We paid and sat back down. I was still fuming. It took a further thirty minutes for her to pick up our passports from her tray which was in arms length to her and pass them to us!
Afterwards we ate at Taiwan restaurant. Then headed to Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep is a Theravada Buddhist temple in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand. The temple is often referred to as “Doi Suthep” although this is actually the name of the mountain it is located on. The temple is located 15 km from the city of Chiang Mai and is a sacred site to many Thai people. From the temple, impressive views of Chiang Mai can be seen and it remains a popular destination for tourists.
Orange material around the tree means it would be sacrilegious to cut down
Taking the cable car to the temple
The original founding of the temple remains a legend and there are a few varied versions. The temple is said to have been founded in 1383 when the first chedi was built. Over time, the temple has expanded, and been made to look more extravagant with many more holy shrines added. A road to the temple was first built in 1935.
We came back, popped into the railway station to buy one way travel to Bangkok. The journey takes 13 hours and costs around 600 Thai baht per person. A very straight forward procedure here are two windows one is information and the other where you can buy the tickets. The staff are very helpful. The train only has second class seats…not looking forward to this!
On the way back we gave the scooter to the hire company and wandered to GIVA for drinks and food.
We had a hot chocolate at U Chiang Mae hotel, which was vey tasty.
U Chiang Mai
70 Ratchadamnoen Road, Sri-Poom
Muang District,
Chiang Mai 50200
Thailand
T: +66 53 327 000
F: +66 53 327 096
We had arranged to spend the day at the Elephant Nature Park, the coach picked us up from our hotel at 830am. The drive to the park takes an hour. It is quite far from the city, in a rural area north west of Chiang Mai, near Chang Mae Ping Village.
Elephant Nature Park is an Asian elephant rescue and rehabilitation center in Northern Thailand where you can volunteer and visit to help. They have been involved in dozens of rescues to create their thriving elephant herd. They use a philosophy of positive reinforcement and elephants are never punished. The park provides a natural environment for abused, injured and retired working elephants and other animals (they have 350 dogs wandering about the park!) under their care. Volunteers and visitors contribute to the healing while learning about their lives past and present. The park was set up by a lady called Lek who is well known because of the amazing work she has done in this field and she has won many awards.
On the way
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaygoat/8399665913/
This is an amazing experience and one should not miss. This park does not let you ride the elephants, it does not train them to do tricks. Which in our opinion is great and is one of the reasons we chose this park over others. We want to see elephants in their natural state. They actually let the elephants roam free and the visitors are only allowed in designated areas.
Elephant Nature Park
City Office
1 Ratmakka Road, Muang district
Chiang Mai 50100
Thailand
W: www.elephantnaturepark.org
We fed a number of the elephants and bathed them. The centre provides you with an amazing vegetarian buffet (a couple of the items contain egg). Our group of ten ate together. There was a couple from Nottingham, one from Germany, another couple from Quebec and one from Amsterdam, a nice group. We all chatted over lunch and got to know each other.
We also saw a 10 week old baby elephant and a naughty teenager, Hope, who keeps everyone at the Park on their toes. he was born at the park. We had fun watching him bath in the river.
The park also shows you a documentary about Elephants and their mistreatment in South East Asia including details of the pajaan, a cruel ceremony used to break the spirit if wild elephants. As we were watching this rather serious documentary, one of the park dogs came in and jumped at the screen as it seemed to recognise one of the dogs in the documentary. We were all in stitches! Apparently, the dog does this every day at exactly the same time, maybe he thinks one of these days it will actually work and he will get in to the screen!! The days ends around 16:30 you are then coached back to your hotels.
Every time the dog in the picture see a dog on the screen is jumps at it!
On a Sunday at 11:0 am the Gurdwara has children’s punjabi classes. The Gianiji has done a fantastic job at setting these up. Whilst Sangeet was helping the teachers, I was sat with the Gianiji and having tea. The class is a mixture of Sikh, Namdhari and Hindu students. The focus is on conversational basic Punjabi (few children in Chiang Mai speak Punjabi or English, their main language is Thai due to schooling) and also Sikhi including reciting Gurbani.
Afterwards we popped to
Taiwan Restaurant
3/2-1 Sri Phum Road (at /btwn Ratchaphakhinai Rd and Muang Mong Rd)
Chiang Mai
Thailand
T: +66 801317718
A vegan restaurant which does good food and at great prices. There was a Thai wedding happening over the road from the restaurant.
Stall making pancakes
Afterwards, Sangeet went to see the buddhist temples of the old city whilst I went back to the hotel and relaxed.
This is a waxwork
Later as I had a wander down Charoenrat Road I bumped into Sangeet as she was returning to the hotel. We decided to pop into
The Meeting Room Art Cafe
89 Charoen Raj Rd
Wat Kate,
Chiang Mai 50000,
Thailand
T:+ 66 8-0627-9219
where we both had strawberry smoothies and tried to avoid looking at some rather erotic art! Then on to the Sunday Night Walking Street Market where I had Durian Ice Cream! Then a final stop at
U Chiang Mai
70 Ratchadamnoen Road, Sri-Poom
Muang District,
Chiang Mai 50200
Thailand
T: +66 53 327 000
F: +66 53 327 096
for hot chocolate which was rather more expensive than the prices we are now used to paying though very tasty.
Here in Chiang Mae, they have the Gurdwara programme at 7:30am until 8:30am on a Saturday morning. Giani Charanjit Singh did Asa Di Vaar then kirtan, then Anand Sahib , Ardas and Guru ji’s hukam. Guru Ka Lungar consisted of Kadi with pakoras, Bhoga (spicy vegetables!), rice, mithay chawl and gulab jamun. Sangeet had so been yearning for some good Indian food, for me some of it was very chilli, I should have stuck to the non spicy dishes of which there were plenty! The president approached me and said there are some good Indian restaurants here, perhaps the Gianiji can take you! I was expecting him to say you should come over for dinner! Apart from the Gianiji the Sikhs here have not been very friendly.
We stayed back after langar and chatted to Giani ji for a while, he spoke quite frankly about his feelings re living in Chiang Mai, his passion for kirtan and how he got to be where he is. Gianiji then met up wth a friend, Sangeet and I had a walk down Charoenrat Road in search of an ATM. After picking up some cash and a few snacks we returned to Baan Chonpakorn where Sangeet relaxed for a while and I popped out for another walk and to see if I could find a laundry. Later, we both had a wander to see if we could find any of these highly rated vegan / veggie restaurants of Chiang Mai!
As we left, the Hotel owners girlfriend who manages this place asked us what we can eat…she has been so helpful.
We looked for a vegan restaurant called GIVA but instead ended up at a fantastic cafe and art gallery called Khampang Muang with a great vibe and choice of music. The cafe is next to a vegan cafe, TianZi Tea House and Garden which was closed. At the cafe I had a coffee and Sangeet had a watermelon juice. I even got the owner who was chilling out there to check out my blog:
Khampang Muang Cafe and Art Gallery
119 Khampangdin Road
Changklam
Chiang Mai
We Skyped mum and dad and chatted for a while. Later, we then popped back next door to see if TiaZi was now open but it was still closed, apparently it has closed down. We decided to walk down to Chiang Mai Gate where there is supposed to be a vegan restaurant. After a twenty minute walk we found the place but they cooked with eggs. Very cheap at 25 baht (about 50p) a dish but not for us. The mock meats there looked very real – A bit too real! We left with some Mango and Sticky Rice from another stall nearby and then dashed back towards the hotel as the laundry was due to close at 8pm. We passed GIVA, the raw and vegan cafe we were looking for earlier:
GIVA
Tha Pae Soi 1, Loi khor Rd
Chiang Mai
Thailand 50100
T: +66 85-6248769
I suggested I meet Sangeet back there in a few minutes as the laundry was not far. While waiting, Sangeet chatted to the owner. When I returned, Sangeet was noting down recipes from the owner and then ordered an Aloe Super Mousse and an Eggplant lasagne. The owner who is also the chef puts a lot of time into preparing the dishes and happily shared the recipes. He was very pleased with the positive feedback. GIVA is a tiny place, but immaculate and very well managed. I decided not to eat as my stomach was playing up. It’s at times like this that I think I should have the surgery…….
After GIVA we wandered through the Night Bazaar which looked completely different to the other day. It looked like a different section, there was some very good quality merchandise. Afterwards I was almost tempted by Pizza Hut, then we made our way back to Baan Chonpakorn where we sat outside and watched crazy motorbikers rocket down Charoenrat Road, then some blogging before bed.
This country is AMAZING. The people are genuinely friendly, the stall holders will say hello even when you are just passing. This is a genuine hello and not hello…..expecting you to stop and buy something.
The country is just raw. Nothing is commercialised, it is sad because you just know the big companies will be coming here…..
We loved visiting the school with Big Brother Mouse and seeing the children’s faces light up when they received a book……what we take for granted……some of the children have never seen a book or do not know how to handle it. The Big Brother Mouse taught the children to respect and handle the book with care.
I really want to come back to Lao, but am saddened to think that when we do return it will be totally commercialised and full of tourist…..tourist who want to visit the big chains!
Hi, thanks for visiting my blog, feel free and have a look around.Here is a bit about me, as you may or may not have guessed my name is Mandeep,I work to travel as opposed to work to pay bills and die!Every trip for me is an adventure, I have been very fortunate to stumble across amazing places and meet awesome people along the way.
Why gaygoat? When I first started this blog I was a vegetarian, so gaygoat – happy goat! Also you have to admit it is catchy and a URL you will not forget!
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