After a 14 hours train trip we arrived in Chiang Mai, a major tourist hub in the North of Thailand. In Chiang May and elsewhere in Thailand there are not only the usual suspects like Swiss, Germans, French, Dutch and Americans, but also many young people from Eastern Europe and other Asian countries traveling on their own.
Among others Chiang Mai is known for its excellent Thai food. Nevertheless, thanks to the many foreigners you also find restaurants from all over the world. We too could not resist and treated ourselves to a Schnitzel and a nice salami and ham breakfast. Boosted with crispy bread we joined later a Thai cooking class. Nowadays in most cooking classes every participant can choose several dishes he or she wants to learn, which is pretty cool. We passed the class with stuffed stomachs and got a nice certificate and cookbook. Our fried rice will never stick again, come and try it
Like most Asian countries, Thailand is full of motorcycles. To get closer to the Asian way of life we skipped a planned climbing trip and rented some bikes. It would have been really nice but 36C is just too hot for climbing. The road up to the Doi Suthep hill is in a good condition and with nearly no traffic. It is just you, the wind, some taxis and your motorbike. Thanks to automatic bikes you do not even have to worry about gearing. Michi really got hooked up and started to race up the mountain, impressing some other tourists with his skills. On top of the hill is a temple and further up a royal residence. It was a great trip and cool to go somewhere by your own.
After a great mahout training (next blog) we moved up to Chiang Khong next to the Laotian boarder. We booked seats in a minivan and experienced the art of economizing; 12 tourists and their big backpacks in one minivan that drives with an average speed of 100 km/h. The faster it goes the longer the break for the driver before bringing a new load of tourists down to Chiang Mai. Well, we survived.
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