Day 8- Learning how to cook

G and I woke up in Chiang Mai ready to start our explorations. We had reservations with a cooking school at noon. We didn't want to do the full day class because we wanted to explore on our own that morning. We started with breakfast in the courtyard of our boutique hotel. Even though tables were set for other people, we always had breakfast alone and enjoyed each other's company and reflecting on the previous day's amazingness.

 

I had fried rice with a fried egg on top, miso soup, and mango. nom nom nom. Seriously awesome and worth every calorie that it contained. We were in Chaing Mai March 29-April 1 which means that we got to witness all of the mayhem before the Songkran, Thailand New Year Celebration, which is April 13-15. Here is a tower of sorts that they make all across the city to be able to shoot fireworks as it is made of bamboo and filled with sand. We got most of our information from locals who stopped us on the street to make sure we were finding everything that we needed. At first we were skeptical of all of the unsolicited help, but we realized quickly how genuine Thais are in Chaing Mai.

 They were holding elections while we were there and these are the only election signs that you would see. Much better than what we see for elections here in the States.

We came to LOVE tuk-tuks. They were quick, cheap, you got fresh air while getting to see all of the sites. I also loved it because Chaing Mai is the most difficult city that I have ever navigated. I had read in multiple places that we needed to get a Nancy Chandler map to be able to get our bearings. We went to a couple of 'bookstores' and I finally found the much needed map. We didn't go anywhere without this map and I would highly recommend spending the 300 baht. We went back for G's second fitting for his suit. My pants were ready as well as his shirts. We loved they way his shirts fit him so much that we got them to make 3 more for us to pick up with the final suit product. 

After exploring all morning, we were ready for our cooking class. G was a only being accommodating to his wife when we agreed to the cooking class, but I think he ended up having more fun than me! We chose the Siam Rice Cooking class based on a recommendation from The Seattle Smiths. It was absolutely awesome! I will leave it to these pictures and videos to show you how much freakin fun we had. *And we learned a little something! We have purchased a wok and have made some amazing Pad Thai and G has surprised me with some tasty stir fry!                                                  

 

 

We earned our certificates!!

After cooking class we walked around the Old City shopping and looking at temples. G and I stopped in at the Writer's Wine Bar where we met Cat, a 72 year old from Oregon. She moved to Thailand 5 years ago for the healthcare. She was very interesting to talk to as she has traveled around literally the entire world. G and I love meeting new people!                                       

 

G thought he was real, but I quickly knew that it was a wax figure. Kind of creepy.....

We got ready for dinner and took a tuk-tuk to The Riverside which is a restaurant located on the Ping River on the other side of town. We sat outside and enjoyed fish (yes, the whole fish. Eyes and all) and fresh veggies. The Riverside was also known for their live music and we enjoyed dancing and hanging out with the locals. The music was all American and we knew almost every song. Naturally, I didn't want to leave. 

 

Today was my most favorite day. G and I had so much fun exploring Chiang Mai and spending time with each other. The best thing about ending this day was knowing that we were going to ride the elephants in less than 12 hours!?!?!?!?

Day 7- Onto our next adventure

As much as we loved Koh Samui, G and I were ready to get up and see/experience Thailand. When we started talking about where we wanted to go on our honeymoon, we both agreed that it had to be a place that both of us had never been and offer both relaxation and some exploration. Thailand was just that. Koh Samui was a great place to relax, but we were ready to explore! Chiang Mai, here we come!! As mentioned before, the Koh Samui airport was completely outdoors and actually very pretty.

We flew Bangkok Airways again and had a layover in Bangkok where we enjoyed some noodles and fried rice. By this time, we fit right in.

We finally arrived in Chiang Mai. We prepaid for a metro (taxi) and when we got to where our metro was parked, there was a car parked behind it. G and I were confused/amazed that out of nowhere, 3 guys pop out and moved that car by pushing it. Apparently this is really normal. Our metro had a little trouble finding our hotel in the Old City, but we finally arrived at Baan Klang Wiang! I can't even began to describe how cute it was. It was a little boutique hotel with 10 rooms that all open to a central area with a plunge pool that is open to the outdoors.

We walked through the markets in the Old City area. G grabbed a beer (30 Baht=$1) for the walk and I decided on a red bull (10 baht=$0.33)

 
There were temples (Wat) literally everywhere inside the Old City and outside the moat that surrounds the Old City. We knew that we wanted to have a suit custom-made for G. We decided on Chiang Mai since we were going to be there for 4 full days and they would have plenty of time to make it. We took a tuk-tuk to a highly recommended tailor. After a little consultation, they talked me into making me a custom pair of pants. Day 1 of suit making: measurements, pick out fabric, cut fabric.

I had done a lot of reading in my tourist books about Chiang Mai and was aware of the night bazaare, but I clearly was not prepared for what we stumbled upon. Streets after streets with vendors, people, music, food, massages, you name it-they have it! We were planning on going to dinner later, but I was starving (per usual) so we took a quick seat to people watch and for me to scarf down my 4th plate of fried rice in less than 24 hours. *True Story*

They serve ice with their beer. Just found interesting. Yes, it's that hot over there! G and I strolled upon a booth with handmade ornaments so we did very little negotiating and scored Christmas ornaments for all of our families. The night bazaare offered literally everything including feet cleaning. G found this so repulsive. I actually thought about it thinking about all the dead skin those fish could eat off, but figured I would be too tickilish. I bought a lot of little trinket stuff at the bazaare and then had to buy a large 'North Face' bookbag to carry it all home in. G and I are now ready to go backpacking!

I loved these laterns! They were a great price. Wish I could have boxed them all up to bring home!

 

Then it was time for our foot massage. There was still a lot that I wanted to see so I didn't want the 1 hour foot massage for 150 baht ($5 folks), so G and I negotiated and each got a 30 minute foot massage for 160 baht ($2.70 for a 30 minute foot massage). Ah..Heaven!

We ended our evening at The Whole Earth restaurant. It was so delish and authentic with beautiful teak porches. We had to take our shoes off before entering (like a lot of places in Thailand) and I actually took a liking to eating barefoot. And yes, I ordered fried rice AGAIN! This time inside a pineapple.          Nom Nom Nom

One of the smartest things that hotels in Thailand do is hand out a card to each of it's guests upon check in that is mostly in Thai and any red truck or tuk-tuk could read it and know exactly where to take you. This was very helpful as G and I never could figure out exactly how to get back to our cute little off-the-beaten-track hotel. A ride back home from the about as far away as you could get in a tuk-tuk would at MOST be 100 baht (about $3.30). We had such a wonderful day and have fallen in love with Chiang Mai. Tomorrow starts our real adventures...

Day 4 and 5 - Total Relaxation

I can’t think of a better feeling than waking up sans alarm clock, next to your husband, in Thailand, with a view of the ocean, at 9:30am. I was officially in ‘honeymoon mode’ and was ecstatic about my day in which the only thing on my agenda was laying by the pool with my iPad and ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ waiting on happy hour to start at 1:30. Yes, 1:30. Our package included breakfast so we made our way down to the ocean-side outdoor dining area and buckled down for what would be the most eclectic breakfast buffet you could imagine. There’s nothing like binging on breakfast food and then getting into your bathing suit. Yikes. But delicious.

The hotel offered yoga at 4:00pm so we decided that we would actually put that on our schedule. Well that was until we found the upstairs outdoor lounge area that served champagne. Yep, champagne trumped afternoon yoga. Imagine that.

G and I took a leisurely stroll down the beach. And by leisurely, I mean, it was quite the work-out to trudge through that sand. I frequent SC beaches. This is not a SC beach. It was deep and gave with every step. Within yards we were exhausted. So what do the Gillespie’s do next? Ah yes, stop for a beach cocktail at the Calm Beach Bar. We met some other honeymooners from New Castle, England and enjoyed trading stories.

 On our walk back, we strolled upon a local woman who is on the beach, toting her little charcoal poor-excuse for a grill selling spring rolls and grilled corn. A grilled piece of corn is one of my favorites. How did she know? Yall. It was amazing. If someone is looking for a new profession, please move to The Isle of Palms and start a grilled corn business on the beach. Please.

We headed to dinner in Fisherman’s Village. We stopped by and enjoyed a cocktail as the sun was going down. We found some fun swings at the bar closest to our hotel. We decided to buy a ‘balloon’ to light and send off. It was quite the process to get it good and ready and then finally let it go. We watched it for well over 10 minutes. It was pretty cool. We saw lots and lots of them being sold and sent afloat. They actually were very pretty. We had dinner at Starfish (recommendation from the hotel). We both got fish and were served the entire Red Snapper. Absolutely delish.

We went to bed and did a repeat of the day previous. Groundhog Day, if you will. I bought some fun earrings in the gift shop for me and mom. We decided after the previous day’s hard work that we deserved a beach couples massage. But this is not just any massage. It was a Thai Massage. First of all it was 250 baht per person for 1 hour. That is less than $8.50. Yes, thank you.  And we got beat up...in the best way possible. They use their hands, elbows, knees, anything that will dig deep into the tissue. They also pop every possible joint. The weirdest part was when she sat me up, told me to put my hands behind my head and then she used her entire body to whip me around in some awkward contorted positions. It was amazing. It really was. We woke up the next morning and could barely move. Rebecca, meet Thai massage (not to be confused with a ‘normal’ massage). I enjoyed corn again today, but made G get his own because it was so good that I didn’t want to share. We retreated to our wonderful beachfront porch and watched an amazing storm come through. It truly was beautiful. It didn’t last long, but it was aggressive.

We headed to Chewang Beach for dinner. A friend had recommended The Tree Tops at Anantara Lawana hotel. We took a cab over there about an hour before our reservation and had a glass of champagne at their beachfront bar. This hotel was absolutely beautiful and the view was marvelous. We walked over to the restaurant still not knowing what we were getting into. We climbed up this little walkway until we got to our private tree top table. I honestly think that they have used this experience on The Bachelor. And if they haven’t, they should. It was amazing. It was not only romantic, but the food was to-die-for. They did a salt presentation and we got to pick the different salts that we wanted to use. These were salts from all over the world. Who knew? We did a salt taste-testing and you really could tell a difference. This concept was completely new to me. And I loved it. The food reminded me of the food at Nobu. Small portions of the most delicious food you put in your mouth. We enjoyed multiple courses over a lovely bottle of wine. THE MOST PERFECT NIGHT!