Bananas in the Trunk, Soup

Here's Jillian right after boarding our elephant:

It was a two-seater and as the elephant lumbered along we pretty much had to hang on with both hands. Occasionally the animal would stop, usually to extend her trunk back in hopes of getting a banana from the bunch on our laps. We would place the banana right on her snout and she'd curl around it (peel and all), pull it into her mouth, and come right back for more.

We were on the outskirts of the jungle at one of the many elephant camps near the city of Chiang Mai. Our biggest fear was that we'd witness cruelty towards the elephants, but there was nothing like that. Each animal had a caretaker who sat on the elephant's head as we went along, steering and singing to it. We spent an hour on the elephant, basically hanging out with it during its mid-morning exercise and feeding.

Matt Kearney as Hannibal

This was the beginning of a busy day that also saw us hike to a waterfall for lunch and spend the afternoon whitewater rafting. The rafting, in particular, was just awesome. By Matt's estimation (he has some experience in this stuff), the river barely reached class 3, but there were enough rapids to keep us on our toes. And since there were so many other rafts on the river, whenever we found ourselves in the calm, a waterfight would inevitably break out with another raft. This was usually instigated by the guides.

The old city of Chiang Mai, surrounded on all sides by a moat, was a great stop after super-busy Bangkok. Chiang Mai is a laid-back kind of place full of interesting restaurants and markets. Oh, the things we could buy were we not at the front end of our trip. We did, though, indulge ourselves in a foot massage. Along with traditional Thai massage ("something a bit like torture," as Jillian described it), foot massages are offered pretty much everywhere, sort of like slot machines in Nevada. You came to buy snacks? Why not a foot rub, too?

Outside Wat Chedi Luang in Chiang Mai

We wrapped up our stay in the city with something recommended by seemingly everyone who's ever even heard of Chiang Mai: a cooking class. At the Siam Rice Thai Cookery we joined six other young travelers for a day of learn, cook, eat, repeat. The staff was really friendly and fun and as group we prepared around 18 different dishes. Stir fries, curries, spring rolls. Things got off to an inauspicious start when, standing over an incredibly hot wok, I tried to quickly add an egg to my Spicy Big Noodle before the whole dish burned through. Instead, the yoke exploded backwards in my hands like some civil war musket and landed on me.

Best dish of the day: Jillian's warm mix of bananas and coconut cream in a sort of delectable dessert soup. You know it's good when after a full day of cooking and eating, we still found room to finish the whole bowl.

As always, more pictures can be found by clicking on "Our Photos" on the right sidebar.

Cooking, Thai-style