Chang Mai

we had planned on getting to Chag Mai by train but it seems every attempt was thwarted.  I had assumed you could travel by train to Chang Mai from Pattaya but apparently this is not the case, so we flew  Royal Thai Airlines after catching a private taxi up from Pattaya, again with Mr T I slept the entire way apparently and it seemed we were back in Bangkok in 15 mins, instead of the 1hr 45, door to door.   You can't beat that after being screwed around with bus services dropping us in the middle of no where !  Then an hour on Royal Thai airlines, sweeeeetttt, after hours on a bus on previous journeys and Royal Thai where an eye opener after the dreadful experience on Jetstar getting to Thailand !  We grabbed a cab (B200) to the hotel Toni had organised, Na Thaphae, in the middle of Chang Mai, near the wonderful Sunday night markets, these are on every Sunday and are HUGE, definitely well worth attending.

Tha Phae Gate, dividng the old city from the new

Next day we chilled out a little, then spent time organising a few trips, including a trip to Tiger Kingdom,

Playing with Tigers
This was to be a treat for me especially, to see the largest land predator on the Planet up so close you can touch them.  Tiger Kingdom was recommended by one of the local travel agents here in Chang Mai (of which there seem to be 100's), who's to say if it's because it pays her the best commission or is the best tiger attraction as she claimed.

Listening to him breathe

Regardless, it is quite the surreal experience to be in with an animal that could kill you if it wanted to.  None of the Tigers are from the wild, they are all grown there on the farm itself, reared from birth with human contact, so this kind of lessens the experience, none the less, you do kind of catch yourself when they open the door for the first time.  Seeing those massive beasts laying there, they are so well fed they laze around like all cats do, sleeping away most of the day digesting their food.  When they do look around and look you in the eye, it's truly a magical experience,

Magnificent to be so close !

feeling the great cats flank rise and fall under your hand, magical..

Walking with Elephants
Toni is entranced with these wondrous beasts and is off today on a one day Mahout course, to be more in contact with them, wash them, ride them with no saddle, lead them into the forest to find food etc, I will let her tell that story at a latter date,

Food
On the whole the food in Chang Mai has been superb, one caveat to that is they seem to do western food badly, very badly.  Toni has tried a couple times for something a little different, pizza on two occasions and pasta on another.  The pasta experience was diabolical, a slice of processed cheese on top of some boiled pasta, the pizza's where underdone, nearly no toppings and those they had were bad.  They see to have little or no experience with fresh milk based products.  The local cuisine on the other hand, superb !

Cycling Around Chang Mai
We decided to hire a couple mountain bikes for the day, brave the heat, pollution and traffic

Braving the traffic !

and head off to explore some of the City of Chang Mai on bikes.

Urban MTB ridin' in Chang Mai !

While we enjoyed cycling, the bikes themselves left a little to be desired.  My bottom bracket was on it;s last legs as was the front derailleur and the front form moved about 1" of it;s supposed 4"s of travel.  None the less, a great time.  We even managed to find one of Toni's favourite coffee shops while cycling around and dropped in for a beverage !

Toni loved the short blacks !

How to wear your helmet !  Instructions at the bike shop

one of the other reasons to come to Chang Mai was to meet with another NGO that helps with English language skills to Burmese refugees.  Our friend Catherine and organised with a cohort of hers, Gretchen, to meet with Toni and let her know what they were doing and how Toni could help put.  Toni just has to figure out now how she wants to help out and what works best for her and then which organisations she can help out with the most.

and now for something completely different
While out having dinner last night, we went through an Earthquake !  A novel experience for both of us, one I would rather not do again, especially coming on the wake of the disaster in Japan, not sure if this was related as the epicentre was in Burma, north of us

This earthquake was felt in its neighbouring countries such as in northern Thailand, particularly in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, parts of China, Laos and even in Hanoi, Vietnam.