Chiang Mai

Elephants are common in Thailand - esp in the north

1st day in Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand.  No beaches, oh no!  So we went to see a 700 year old buddhist temple

Which had a few surprises of its own

We went looking at some temples, Chiang Mai is full of them, a lady approached Paul and asked if he wanted good luck.  The tray she is holding has little cages with small birds trapped inside and if you pay her, she'll release them.  How mean.

Here's another temple, you quickly get bored of them

Hey look, another temple!

Chiang Mai was the vision of 3 kings who built it defensively with canals and walls.  Most of the wall has fallen down but in the 80's there was an effort made to protect what was left and restore a small amount

They have fountains and such, to aerate the water which stops it going stagnant and disease starting.  It's source from from the Ping River which is on the east side of the city

We had our feet nibbled, was very strange.  Felt like bubbles running over your feet.  They eat the dead skin and leave it softer.

We met a German guy, Kai, again who we'd originally met in Ton Sai.  We were at the Sunday Night Market, which Paul loved, though got a bit carried away and started to haggle with the market traders on things he didn't even want

Chiang Mai is like Amsterdam, in that it has canals for defensive reasons.  In their case, to protect against the marauding Bermese.  It has as many temples as Bangkok, but is much smaller.  There's no record of the founding of this, until the 14th century when the local king invited Burmese monks to the area to bring in Buddhism.  They stayed here.