Chiang Mai (round one)

This will be a sadly short and not as descriptive as I'd like blog post because I'm busy finishing up my capstone (due in three days) and about to leave to visit Chiang Mai for a second time tomorrow morning! Why am I going twice you ask?  Let me just tell you.

A pretty large group of us headed to Chiang Mai last week, our main motivation the Loy Krathong and Lantern Festival. I'm sure many of you have seen pictures of it on Pinterest, etc.  Our amazing TA (Tom) went along with us to show us the ropes, and we met a few of his friends along the way who were overwhelmingly helpful.  My experience would not have been the same without them.  So, here we go.

11/27/2012--

We took (the nicest) night bus there, arriving a quick 10ish hours later.  Our first day we spent mainly exploring temples around our guest house, and meeting Tom's friend who lives in Chiang Mai- Nam Tan, or "Sugar."  She effortlessly guided us to some awesome temples and Tom translated her brief tour guide to us.

Our first temple, Wat Phra Sing, was a small complex of temples and even had a dormitory-style building next to it where we watched monks have a lantern contest.  I even saw a monk playing on an iPad.

Our next temple was Wat Chedi Luang, a ruin-like temple that reminded me of Cambodia.  You can see in the picture below that they paved over the steep steps with concrete so it is now a slope.  There were other newer temples built around it where we saw monks walked to and from.  We also saw a female monk, which is somewhat rare.  

We stopped for lunch and headed back for a quick nap sesh and then set out for dinner.  Sugar took us to an amazing noodle place for lunch that served "khao soy," rice-noodles with a curry-like broth.  Very different from the food served in Central Thailand where I live.  For dinner we went to a Thai-style buffet, meaning you cook it yourself.
After dinner we bought some sparklers and fireworks and had fun!  Much different than the firework situation in NC (obviously).

We ended the night by buying supplies for our "krathongs."  Krathongs are these little boat-like things made solely from banana trees and flowers.  You float them down the river on the night of Loy Krathong to ask the river goddess for forgiveness of your use/abuse of water.  Pretty cool dudes!  But we decided instead of buying them we wanted to make our own. Way cooler. 

11/28/2012--

We got to an early start heading to Doi Suthep temple, which is a temple on the side of a mountain in Chiang Mai.  We walked up the main entrance to see thousands of stairs to climb to reach the top.  I'm not sure if I've posted this or not but the ridiculous stairs at temples in Southeast Asia are because attaining a high level of "holiness" (or whatever you'd like to call it) is supposed to be difficult. 

We walked through the entrance and were blinded, by both the clouds that we were seemingly in at the top, and the light reflecting off all the gold in the temple. 

Our next stop of the day was Bhubing Palace, which is apparently where the royal family vacations during the winter.  It is basically a few buildings surrounded by beautiful gardens, I saw flowers I had never seen before!  

Our last stop of the day before night activities was a cool temple where we made our krathongs.  It was exactly what I pictured as a temple before come to Thailand. Surrounded by waterfalls, rocks, and plenty of room for exploring, it was gorgeous. 

Everyone's finished product!

View of the city

We headed back to clean up and eat a quick dinner before started the festivities of the evening, tonight was the main Loy Krathong night!  We went downtown to watch a parade which was super crowded with "farang" (Western tourists) and left to set of our krathongs and lanterns.  Even just walking around the street was a struggle as it was packed and there were 10 of us to keep track of!  We finally found a spot along the river and began lighting our candles, incense, and sparklers on our krathongs and sent them on their way with the rest.

And at last, we went to set off our lanterns!  We wrote "good luck" on each of them (in various languages) and our e-mails in case someone finds them they can e-mail us and tell us where it landed!

11/29/2012--

Today we set off for the Doi Inthanon National Park, where the highest point in Thailand is located! It was about an hour van ride (I fell asleep) and a 50 m walk up some stairs!  But that's not the exciting part.  When we stepped out of the van, after being in 75-100 degree weather for 5 months, it was FREEZING!  We thought it had been cooler in the city, but this was the first time I have been cold in 5 months!  It was 58 degrees F. 

Next we went to the Mae Klang waterfall, which was actually a cool series of waterfalls and a stream.  You weren't allowed to go swimming in it, but you could still walk around on the rocks below.

We ended the day with a dinner at Khum Kantoke, where you eat traditional northern Thai food and watch traditional Thai dances! The food was delicious and the dances and outfits were different than anything I've seen before. 

12/1/2012--

Our last day in Chiang Mai we spent at a couple different markets and the Chiang Mai Zoo!  First, we met Sugar and went to one street where people from the surrounding hill tribes come and sell products they make.  A lot of bright colors and patterns, which are all adorable. 

Taking a break for lunch, we got delicious northern style noodles and headed to another market.  This one mainly selling food! 

a Chiang Mai dessert- think gelatinous 

teaaaa!

Our last stop in Chiang Mai?  The zoo! If you guys don't know, my favorite animals are elephants.  And the first animal we saw....was a mom and baby elephant!!! I was beyond excited.  We also saw some adorable pandas-they have three!

There! Done! I however will be heading BACK to Chiang Mai...tomorrow morning. :)