Driving Miss Karen

A blog about our travel

Chiang Mai Thailand: Our New Asian Favorite

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We loved Japan but Chiang Mai is our new favorite place in Asia. It doesn’t have the most beautiful scenery (but the mountains are beautiful) or the best attractions (though the elephant sanctuary was amazing) but the people are even nicer than in Bangkok and the food is even better. Everything just works and is comfortable.

Our favorite in Chiang Mai was Elephant Rescue Park. The elephants are treated so well and the clothing is not geeky at all 🙂
We were a little templed out after Bangkok and Cambodia but this one was close to the market so…
We skipped the big temples but we like the small ones better in most cases
Night market in Chiang Mai. Old city walls in the background.
Met a nice young man on the flight to Chiang Mai. He and his brother showed me around. More about that later
The temples can vary in color and ornamentation. This one had black domes and weird animal statuary. The common theme is Buddha, like this reclining one
Rice fields drained and ready for harvest
We visited the White Karen people. My Karen felt at home
It was much cooler here with lots of waterfalls
We took a day tour to see Doi Inthanon, the highest point in Thailand (about 2500 meters or 8200 feet). We visited a local village, saw the rice crop being harvested and saw some waterfalls. We had a nice lunch and home grown coffee at the village and then headed to the nearby Royal Twin Pagodas dedicated to the King and Queen of Thailand
The royal twin pagodas
The Queen’s pagoda with its beautiful gardens
The Kings Pagoda with its Instagram waterfall
Rocking our outfits. Carrying bananas to the feeding area
Getting an elephant squeeze after feeding
So cool to see them roam around. You don’t realize how big they really are until they come up behind you on the trail
The coolest activity by far was visiting the elephant rescue park and feeding, walking with, and eventually bathing the elephants. A really good day
Karen in her happy elephant place
The whole gang
Final rinse cycle
Elephant wash. The highlight of the day and one of the highlights of the whole trip. Yes I did it too. We had our own elephant then I snuck out to take some pictures
The other highlight of the trip was Anek Suping. He was so welcoming and insisted on showing me around. He and his brother “Joe” took me to the market, and showed me around the school where he works as a teacher, then drove me to his hometown and arranged a boat ride and lunch on one of the local lakes. I had to work really hard to be allowed to buy lunch. It was a really special experience. Thai hospitality is no exaggeration and I hope he can come visit the United States on day.
With elephant encounters an incredibly friendly people, Chiang Mai was our favorite place we visited in Asia

Jose

AKA Alfred

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