The North of Thailand - Chiang Mai

After getting a good night's sleep, we made our way to the old town to check into our new guesthouse (Jonaddas Guesthouse). Then we went on our first city tour. Like all other cities in Thailand, Chiang Rai also has about 500 temples. The most beautiful/important temples were:

-Wat Sri Suphan (the first silver temple, unfortunately women are not allowed inside),

-Wat Suan Dok (mostly made of wood with colorful ribbons hanging from the trees),

-Wat Chedi Luang (with a beautiful old pagoda behind it),

-Wat Phra Singh (the most famous temple in Chiang Mai),

-Wat Fon Soi (romantic bamboo bridge with small umbrellas),

-Wat Chiang Mun (beautiful elephants at the pagoda), and

-Wat Lok Molee (completely made of wood with beautiful carvings and an ancient pagoda).

We started the next day with a delicious breakfast at our guesthouse. We rented a scooter again (this time of better quality) to drive to Doi Suthep National Park. We took a beautiful, curvy motorcycle route to reach the mountain temple Wat Doi Suthep. It was very crowded, but the view over Chiang Mai was stunning! The temple itself was not particularly special in our opinion (or maybe we had seen enough temples by then).

Our next destination were the Bua Tong Waterfalls or Sticky Waterfalls. After a good 1.5 hours, we arrived there and spent the rest of the day climbing up and down the waterfalls. The special rock formation makes the ground completely non-slippery, allowing you to walk on it without any difficulties. This hidden gem is not very well-known and we were happy to find hardly any other people there. A real recommendation and a refreshing experience! In the surrounding national park, there is also a very clear spring, from which the water for the waterfalls originates.

Back in Chiang Mai, we ate a typical spicy Thai Tom Yum soup at the street food market at the North Gate, "Chang Phuak Gate". It will really make you sweat... Everywhere, they cooked with great fresh ingredients that were presented on large ice mountains.

Early in the morning at 6:30 am, we were picked up from the hostel by a pick-up truck to spend half a day at the "Elephant Jungle Sanctuary". In the truck, we met a couple from Canada with whom we had a nice conversation and exchange. On the way, we picked up more people until the car was full with 10 people. Then the driver took a breakfast break, which we all didn't really need after an hour of driving, and suddenly two more fully occupied cars arrived... it could be interesting with 30 people... then we turned into the jungle. The jeep bumped over logs and rocks until we reached Camp No. 9. There, we first received instructions from our guide, "No. 1". To be recognized by the elephants as mahouts (caregivers of the elephants), we were given traditional clothing of the Karen tribe. And then they came running, the big elephants and the little ones too. We were also lucky to be in one of the two elephant camps that have a baby elephant! Nana is only 3 months old and still very playful. Her herd also includes elephants of approximately 60, 40, 30, 13, and 1 years old. Two other elephants were still in the forest on their "honeymoon" ;) When choosing the elephant camp, it was particularly important to us that the animals are kept in an appropriate way and not used for work, riding, or other tricks. And this was absolutely given here!

With the command "Bon-bon", we could feed the elephants for the first time with a huge pile of bananas. Their tongue and trunk feel really funny, and they accept the bananas very gently, which is hard to imagine with such large animals. Then we could get closer to the elephants while they enjoyed large bamboo or rush leaves. After the elephants were fed and everyone had taken their selfies with them (fortunately, the 30 participants spread out a bit on the premises), it was time for a short water break and then bathing. Not only the elephants, but also we got quite wet...

From there, we moved on to the next bath. This time, however, in the mud... Not only the elephants got the "perfect mud". It was especially delightful to watch the baby elephant wallow in the mud. The mud crust is supposed to serve as sun protection and defense against insects for the elephants. After that, we really needed a shower! All clean and dry again, we enjoyed a delicious lunch next to the elephants. Then it was time to say goodbye... Among all the large elephants, we unfortunately didn't hear our little Emil in our backpack, so we couldn't introduce him to his fellow elephants. But don't worry, we showed him the pictures...

Back in Chiang Mai, we still had half a day to replace Tina's broken sneakers. We finally found some in a large shopping center.

In the evening, while playing billiards, we had the opportunity to chat with other travelers who have planned a similar itinerary, before we fell tired into bed after an eventful day.

Next, we will take the bus to Chiang Rai, our last stop in Thailand before continuing to Laos!