No update yesterday because I was sick last night. I decided to try the famous Cowboy Hat Lady’s pork dish at a night food market. I tend to have a sensitive stomach, but talking to others gave me enough confidence to think that I would be okay. Tbh I didn’t really like it, so didn’t eat much. I barely made it back to my hotel by tuk tuk. Ugh. What a stupid mistake. I feel better this morning, thank goodness. Being sick on a solo trip is one of my biggest worries and I have learned a lesson from this — don’t take risks with my health.
Yesterday I had a driver / guide pick me up from the hotel to go to an “elephant sanctuary”. I did not enjoy this at all. First of all, he left me in a parking lot to board a tram to the “park” and the tram driver did not speak English, nor did the other 2 passengers. We arrived in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere and were told to get off. In this area there were several Asian elephants chained by the leg eating while waiting for a “show” to begin. I was very angry with myself for supporting this with my admission and left immediately. This was the antithesis of what I wanted to experience. I had asked to visit the Friends of the Asian Animal Hospital, which luckily wasn’t too far away. This hospital treats elephants who have stepped on land mines, assists with live births, cares for sick and injured animals and provides a loving home for the duration of their lives if they aren’t well enough to survive on their own (they have 2 elephants that stepped on land mines that will live there for the remainder of their days). There seems to be a broad range of what people here consider ethical, but most of the excursions I have seen advertised make me sad for the elephants.
Next up we went to the Lanna Temple, which is a very holy site. There were several tour buses and dozens of school children. It was quite pretty. On the way back to Chiang Mai we stopped at a roadside pottery market, which was interesting. I purchased 2 small flower pots (I only have carry-on), one a cat and the other an elephant. Super cute! Then we went to another temple which was nice, but at this point I realized I have seen enough temples. On our way back we stopped at a local roadside market and ugh, omg it was disgusting. My guide came through me to point out what items were for sale. Remember my previous comment that I have a sensitive stomach? I felt nauseous. Definitely could have done without this stop. Luckily I was smart enough to pack a cheese sandwich from my breakfast spread because I think this was our lunch stop
. By this point I wanted to be back in Chiang Mai, so we made a quick stop on the ‘silver street’ on our way back (nothing appealing to me). We arrived back 90 minutes early.
Before my ill-fated trip to the night food market I wandered around Old Town and had a foot massage at a shop that has trained former female prisoners to help them with gainful employment when they are released. This was my third foot massage since arriving in Chiang Mai!
No plans for today. I am going to read by the pool for a while hoping that my breakfast of plain toast stays down. If all is okay then I will head to the Nimman area and wander around Old Town this afternoon. I’m going to stick with hotel food for the remainder of today, as plain as possible.
Tomorrow I’m off to Koh Samui for a 5 night stay at the Cape Fahn. The Cape Fahn is a SLH and I booked using Hyatt points (20k / night — I think it has gone up since I booked). Stay includes breakfast and mini bar. I will have my own private villa with pool overlooking the ocean which looks lovely. I had also booked the Conrad using HH points, but ultimately decided to stick with the Cape Fahn.
Sorry so few pictures, upload speed is very slow. If the WiFi is better at the Cape Fahn I will load more pictures.
Lanna Temple
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Booonme, who stepped on a land mine when she was 7 (she’s 20 now). She will live the remainder of years at the elephant hospital
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