Walking around Chiang Mai

The morning before we left Chiang Mai another girl and I headed out to explore the old part of town.

Along the way we saw some minions. 

And a giant nutcracker

We passed by a well decorated school

And many temples

One had to cross a moat to get to the old part of town

The area was filled with tiny little streets to wander and get lost

Random shot of a monk walking across temple grounds

We then returned to the hotel to prepare to leave Chiang Mai.

Waiting.

Our next stop was the Thailand-Lao border, which we would cross the following day.

Chiang Mai: Fish pedicure

One of the biggest things one hears about Chiang Mai after elephants is their night market. I was pretty excited to check it out. Someone even told me that Sunday was the best evening to go.

I don't know if it was the rainy weather, or the amazing, huge market I went to in Bangkok, but I was not super impressed. The streets were sparsely laid out. We found a larger area inside that had more, but even so, there was a lot of repetition of items, and not much that excited me. I had been planning to do all of my souvenir shopping here but I guess that shall have to wait.

Instead, I got a fish pedicure. If you've never heard, this is where you stick your bare feet into a tank of garra rufa (aka doctor) fish and they nibble away your gross, dry skin and leave you with soft, smooth feet.

OMG did it tickle! I had 15 minutes of time in the tank and spent the first 4 trying not to pull my feet out, the next 4 trying to hold still and not giggle, the next 4 trying to relax and the last 3 finally not freaking out.

My feet did feel soft afterwards. It was an interesting experience, but it's not something I need to run to the front of the line to try again.

Chiang Mai: Riding elephants and bamboo rafts

One of the big things to do in Chiang Mai is go to an elephant preserve to feed, ride and swim with the elephants.

It was a rainy day as we set off in an open backed truck lined with benches. At least there was a roof.

The tour company only works with a certain elephant organization because of the way the animals are treated.  These are ridden without saddles.

On the way we stopped to pick up bananas. Elephants really like bananas!

One elephant snuck up and grabbed a bunch out of one girl's hand! There were about six large elephants and two babies.

In order to ride the elephants, one climbed into a tall structure which brought you to their height and got on.

People mostly rode two to an elephant, though only the back person had a rope to hold on to.

Once everyone was on their elephants, we began walking down to the river.

We took two little elephants with us. They were super cute, and just wanted to explore and play with everything.

The area we were in wasn't awful to look at, either.

The walk took us down a street, which I found amusing.

As we approached the riverbank, the two babies jumped into a pile of dirt and started rolling around.

The adults slowly walked into the river but the little ones ran right in and started playing around.

Finally the babies joined the group and all the people and elephants splashed and played around. They had brushes to groom the elephants.

A photographer was on the bank, so they had everyone stand on the elephants and pose for photos.

Then it was time to get back on (easier when in the water) and head back.

The babies plunged right back into the dirt pile, so much for their bath!

After saying goodbye to our elephant friends, we drove a few minutes down the road to a rafting spot, where we all got on bamboo rafts for a ride down the river. There were just enough rapids to make it exciting, and somehow we managed not to capsize.