Chiang Mai: The Rose of the North

The temple-filled and gated old city of Chiang Mai is a beautiful spot in northern Thailand, nicknamed the Rose of the North because it offers a considerably cooler climate compared to Bangkok and the south (though still quite warm now!) We enjoyed a leisurely first day partaking in the foot massage, body scrub and oil massage offerings from one of the many spas around town. Then it was time to prep for the St Paddy's festivities at the only Irish Pub in town, the UN Irish Pub. The live music was fabulous, the green beer flowing and we had the odd pleasure of befriending a hilarious elderly Italian man who was watching the rugby match next to us. He kept buying us beers and after he fell of his barstool, we kept buying him waters. Very entertaining night!

As Chiang Mai has a large expat community, we also found listings for many yoga studios and tried out Wild Rose's 2 hour class on Sunday morning hosted by the exotically tattooed and incredibly bendy Casey Gramaglia who founded what he calls Thai Hermit Yoga. It was a very interesting class and with his assist, I did my first headstand!

Our yogi:

Afterwards, we strolled around the many many temples (still called wats here too) which date as far back as the 1200's.

Lunch of curry in a pineapple and fresh smoothies was delightful (how are Thais not obese?! Their food is amazing!).

Speaking of amazing grub, we decided we needed to hone our Thai cooking skills at the Smart Cook Cooking School where we had a fun evening with our tutor May. She first took us to the market to discuss different noodles, veggies and pastes. I'm certainly going to have to get to know my local Asian market upon return!

Then we got to work grinding, slicing, mixing and woking up our amazing creations of green and red chicken curry, chicken coconut milk soup and pad Thai!

It was a lovely meal and most certainly one I will attempt again once home! Then we braved the crowds for the popular Sunday night market which is a whole mile long! All set up and taken down in one day. Brilliant day!