Chiang Mai, Thailand

After lounging at the Millennium Hilton for a day (best buffet breakfast on the planet), we hopped a Thai Airways flight to Chiang Mai (Shelley and I morphed into business consultant mode and insisted on usage of the Star Alliance lounge -- the major perk turned out to be the all-you-can eat free Asian dumplings... of which Ken ate ten).  

Chiang Mai, the largest city in northern Thailand, was easily navigable with its walled quarter and laid back attitude.  We were more than thrilled to find a nice hotel room for $10 / night (hot water, A/C, and everything!) on a windy alleyway within the old walled city.  The bar across the street was owned by a guy from San Diego - and he happened to make strong cocktails and juicy hamburgers (a deadly combination).





We signed up for a day-long cooking class, where we learned to make traditional Thai dishes (curry, coconut soup, cashew chicken, spring rolls, pad thai noodles, papaya salad and mango sticky rice).  First the group stopped at the local market for ingredients.  Our chef toured us through the nuances of Thai ingredients like rice, coconut milk, peppers, oils, and yes we even sampled fried insects (tasted like sunflower seeds).








After arriving to the farm about 30 minutes outside Chiang Mai, they donned us with red aprons and ridiculous hats -- we strolled through garden rows as our chef described each plant.  Twelve of us assembled into a large open air room, each with our own cooking station.  Our chef was about 4’8” in height - a striking contrast as she stood next to Ken.


Thai cooking went something like this:

Chop up a bunch of fresh vegetables and meat

Put them in a boiling pot

Add some coconut milk and spice

Voila!  Perfect meal and perfect day!  

After our Day 1 of bliss in our new city we decided to make day two even more exciting.  We signed up for a beginner rock climb course.  We thought we’d spend the morning on a fake climbing wall in the indoor gym, but no, they took us directly to Crazy Horse Buttress (one of Thailand’s best developed crags) just outside Chiang Mai.  Suited in ass-binding harness, toe-binding shoes, and ugly helmet (not an attractive look) we each climbed two to four times up a vertical wall 80 feet in height. 

If you look at the speck on the top you will see Ken

No man-made handholds were to be had on the slope, only juts of rock slab to grip.  Balancing on one toe, reaching the other leg up to the waist, grasping with one free hand, and sweating sunscreen into our eyes - it was a huge feat for us beginners to reach the top (we concluded more mental than physical strength was required).  Ken reached the summit the most (three out of four times).  We each experienced our moments of failure (aka falling backwards off the mountain) before we realized the person on belay wouldn’t allow us to fall (too far)... we had a blast aggressively climbing once we registered this safety.

In the afternoon we climbed to the mountain top and then descended 400 feet into a dark cave while belaying ourselves (so if we fell to our death, we had only ourselves to blame)... very Indian Jones meets window washer.  Shelley showed her leadership by volunteering to go first into the black abyss as Ken and I frightfully peaked over the edge.  Ken had such an awesome day that he might go for intermediate training!