Chiang Mai - Temples, Rafting and Cooking

steps to Doi Suthep

Friday Buddha

After 13 hour train ride we arrived in Chiang Mai about 8am.  We loaded up our 2 vans and headed to town for breakfast and a walk through the local central market.  Then we headed to  Doi Suthep, one of northern Thailand's most sacred temples.  Legend has it that the king/emperor rode a white elephant and said when the elephant stops that is where I will build a temple.  So the elephant walked and walked and walked.  He walked up this hill, turned around 3 times and laid down and died.  So we climbed the 300 steps to the temple; tried to walk around the temple 3 times as that was good luck, poured oil in the lamps to help something?, saw our personal Buddha which corresponded with the day we were born (I was born on a Friday); and walked around the area with the locals and other tourists.

bamboo rafting

off to market we go

Then we grabbed something to nibble on, loaded up the vans and drove 2 hours to go bamboo rafting.  We had not gone to our hotel at this point and we were all a little irritable.  However, once the rafting started our wearies were diminished as we tested our balance and skill of steering the rafts.  Hopefully more photos will come as only one person had a waterproof camera.


10 out of 12 of us decided to go to the Thai cooking class (the others went for a bike ride).  What a fabulous day we had.  We first chose the meals we wanted to cook - there were 4 categories: stir-fry, appetizers, soups and curries; and there were 3 choices per category.  Then we were all given baskets and we walked to the local market to gather our ingredients.  Our leader/teacher showed and explained the differences between peppers, mushrooms, noodles and other ingredients.  Then we headed back.  There were 2 other groups also at the school and so when it was time to chop and cook our recipes everyone went to the kitchen and so we were all mixed up.  But it was so organized.  We all had our ingredients ready (to make one serving each), an individual wood block and knife to chop and then an individual wok to cook it.  So I made Fried Noodles thai Style (aka Pad thai); spring rolls; chicken in coconut soup; and Chaingmai Noodle (aka Kao-Soy).  So not only did we make these dishes we then ate them right afterwards too.  I was stuffed! We also got a great recipe book, so there is definitely potential for me to make these again.  And now I have a new outlook to my wok! The place was called BannThai - www.baanthaicookery.com  I highly recommend it if you are in the area!

Esther, me, Esther - Chiangmai Noodles

Now if we didn't eat enough in one day, we then in the evening went to a traditional khan toke dinner and watched traditional dancers and entertainers.  The day/evening ended with the group letting off 2 lanterns into the dark sky.  We made wishes and sent them on their way!

lanterns