Chiang Mai

We’ve got four nights in the second largest city in Thailand. I love it here. It’s the comfiest bed I’ve slept in for ages and my back has been sighing with relief!

We are staying right next to the square old quarter surrounded by a canal. There’s a night market right next to us with so many tasty snacks. I love the soup from Suki but there’s also doughnuts, mango sticky rice, satay sticks, radish cake and coconut juice. 

We’ve looked round the old centre. Wat Chedi Luang was lovely and peaceful to look round. 

Wat Chiang Mai with its 700 year old elephant flanked temple was impressive. 

There were lots of other impressive temples that we could wander round, including Wat Phan Tao. 

We took a boat trip down Ping river which was a nice way to stay cool. 

Then it was onto a 12 hour overnight sleeper train to Bangkok….

Homestay

After a lot of work, we managed to organise a homestay in a village called Ban Sob Sa, about 25km south of Pai. Tong and Huang looked after us so nicely. They were so welcoming and did not hesitate to get us involved in cooking and taking us on their mopeds to nearby places to avoid the scorching sun. 

We walked up to see a relic as the sun was setting on our first evening. 

We wandered round the tiny village. It only has 100 families living there. We saw so few people and when we did their incredulous faces tickled us. I’m amazed no one crashed their moped as they craned their necks round to look at us! The stray dogs also looked equally shocked!

They grow a lot of garlic here and you could see loads drying in the streets. 

We looked round the temple in the village as well. 

The night time wasn’t at all quiet, but it was an orchestra of different insects making all there noises.

Unfortunately the fish I had on the last night made me sick but we still had a great stay. 

Thai massage!

We have a few weeks in Thailand. We have come up north hoping to escape some of the heat and it has been a bit cooler, but still sizzling.

Pai is a tourist trap four hours out of Chiang Mai. They tarmacced the road to Pai about a decade ago. Most of the tourists seem to be in their twenties and the smell of weed swirls round the streets as it is legal here. Not really our scene with young kids!

Pai is surrounded by beautiful hills and we have taken the opportunity to go visit some lovely sights.

First off we went to nearby Wat Mae Yen temple with its big Buddha and nice views. Walking up the slope and steps killed the back of my legs for days!

We also did a tour taking in a Chinese Santichon Village with all sorts for the kids - archery, shooting, feeding fish and a crazy Ferris wheel. 

Taking a dip in a waterfall. 

Walking along a cool Bamboo bridge with some amazing views. 

And watching the sunset at Pai Canyon. 

We also went for a cool down in a hot springs to remind us of New Zealand!

The foods not been quite as good as we had hoped, but we have been spoilt in Vietnam and we had very high expectations for Thailand. We have had some tasty snacks on walking street. The mango sticky rice and roti canai style crepes were our favourites, washed down with an ice cold Leo beer. I need a five star Thai Green Curry before I leave Thailand!

Olive really liked Rabbit cafe - it does exactly what it says on the tin!

Old Town

Our 30 day visa didn’t get processed in time for Vietnam as they had public holidays just before we arrived, so we came in on the free 15 day visa. The plan is to leave after this and spend some time in Thailand before heading back to Vietnam and have a second stint here. 

We spent the rest of our time in Vietnam staying near the Old Town in a homestay that wasn’t at all a homestay, more a hotel. 

We spent some time looking round touristy Old town, taking in the Tran Family Chapel, Quang trieu assembly hall, Tan Ky house, folklore museum and watching a “cultural” performance. All good fun. 

We spent a day over by An Banh beach, a much more chilled out space.

Olive did some yoga and singing classes at Uhub, a lovely community place with all sorts for kids. 

Olive enjoyed trying out some pottery making at the Pottery village. Boo and Olive also did some painting.

We had all sorts of tasty Vietnamese food - cao lau, mi quang noodles, banh mi sandwich, rice pancakes, spring rolls, herbal tea, coconut ice coffee and the slightly dubious smoke ice cream and EGG coffee.

Next stop, Thailand…