The Lizza Blog: Chiang Mai

We flew into Chiang Mai last night on a jet that sat 146 passengers, but there were only about 30 on board. Peter, the owner of Secret Garden, picked us up a few minutes after we landed and we were on our way to the hotel in his 2-door red BMW. Secret Garden is a beautiful place a little ways out from the hustle and bustle of the city. The grounds consist of 6 guest bungalows and the family's home, a community dining area, open-air kitchen/bar, and swimming pool. It's run by Peter (a German ex-pat), his wife Pai (born and raised in Chiang Mai), and their 16 year-old daughter, Isabel. The family is so nice and gracious, and extremely accommodating to their guests. They have community breakfasts and dinners here (similar to a bed & breakfast), so Jeremy and I joined in on the dinner last night. We had my favorite Thai meal - coconut soup and green curry, with crepes for dessert! The coconut soup was *really* spicy and had the back of my throat burning, but it was delicious, as was the rest of the meal. Peter had American blues music playing and later put on a BB King DVD for everyone. We were pretty tired and went back to our room around 9:30 to conk out. We woke up before sunrise this morning, rested a little longer, then ate Peter's homemade breakfast with the group.

Photos of Secret Garden:

The community dining area:

The kitchen in our bungalow:

A fountain in the garden:

Some very vocal birds in a cage beside the pond:

After breakfast, we went to the front of the property to wait for the people from the elephant rescue park to pick us up. Jeremy was really concerned that they wouldn't be able to find Secret Garden and as we waited, I thought he looked a bit like a kid waiting for the schoolbus:

We waited for about 30 minutes before it occured to Jeremy that maybe we didn't have the reservations until tomorrow... and he was right. So we turned around and headed back to figure out a new plan for the day. After talking to an Australian couple who has been here for a few days, we decided to venture into the city of Chiang Mai. Peter drove us to the "bus" stop and explained how to go the rest of the way. We hopped on the "bus", which was actually a pick-up truck with bench-style seats in the back, and rode into the city. We walked around the markets, temples, restaurants, and stores for about 5 hours in some pretty brutal heat, and talked to a few more natives (we came to the conclusion that they just want to speak English with someone). We had a really tasty lunch at a Thai restaurant for about $7 total - we each had a giant beer, I had the chicken coconut curry, and Jeremy had the chicken in a basil sauce. It was delicious! We saw lots of neat things to buy today but didn't manage to make any purchases. Maybe another day.

Here are some photos of things we saw today:

Proof that I'm in Thailand: