S I G H T S E E I N G, C H I A N G M A I

After a boatride from Koa Tao to Chumphon, a long bustrip from Chumphon to Bangkok, a taxi to the airport and a flight to Chiang Mai, and from there a tuk tuk to the centre - we were finally at Julies Guesthouse, our home for one night. 

We went to Chiang Mai mainly to do a three day jungletrip, but since the jungletrip starts early in the morning and you have to sign up in advanced, we had to spend one day in Chiang Mai first. Chiang Mai is the largest and most culturally significant city in the northern Thailand, and its voted as one of the "25 Best Destinations in the World" in 2012 by TripAdvisor. So we did not mind. Chaing Mai is such a charming city, lots to see and do, and we would easily stay for a couple more days.

We started the day by checking in at Julies Guesthouse which is a great place to stay! We booked the jungletrip through them, and also an evning Thai cooking class. They helped us with everything, and were even cheaper than most of the other booking agencies. 

They also gave us a city map, circled what we definitly should see in a short amount of time, and told us where to hired bikes. And we were of, biking our way through the city (and we realized how much we missed our bikes at home).

Chiang Mai has over 300 Buddhist temples, and we visited a few of them on our trip.

Huge golden Buddah

Beautiful temple

Cooking course with Thai Kitchen Cookery Centre
After some sightseeing, we we´re ready for our evning cooking course. We had no expectations at all, but had the best time! We would definitly recommend everyone going on a cooking course!
First we got a tour on one of the local markets, learning a bit about the different herbs, spices and vegetables, which to use and not to use, and how to use them.

Our guide showing us ginger, and some other roots

Thereafter we went to the kitchen, where we each got our own small kitchen. We felt like competitors of a master chef episode, so much fun! We could choose which dishes we would like to learn - for the evning course we could choose three different dishes, and one currypaste. Since our all time favourit dinner in Asia is fried rice, this was a easy pick, as well the currypaste - massaman.

Making fried rice

The group at the cooking course

Where to stay:
Julia´s Guesthouse.
As already mentiones, Julias guesthouse is a great place to stay. Nice rooms, great atmosphere, supercosy garden/cafe and a nice terrace on the 3rd floor.
The receptionist are superfriendly and helpful, and help you book everything you want, for a low price. Apparently we got a cheaper jungle trip, than the rest of the people in our group.

Supernice cafe

Cecilie having a break on the terrace