Finding places to eat in Chiang Mai is not difficult. Buying skewers of barbeque pork and a strawberry lime smoothie at Chiang Mai gate are always high on my foodie list. So good. So cheap. The chicken biryani at the gate is
You've made the first step, you've decided to say no to riding elephants, and yes to visiting or volunteering with elephants in a sanctuary that promote health, freedom, and natural behaviour, now what? What should you know about being a volunteer? If you're visiting for a day, how should you dress or behave? What are the unspoken rules for interacting with elephants in a sanctuary like Elephant Nature Park?
As I sit in a wooden chair on the platform, surrounded by fighting dogs and cats that could care less about what is happening around them, I look towards the grounds of the park as the sky turns into soft oranges, yellows, and pinks; In the distance I hear the deep roar of an elephant, followed by a sharp trumpet from another.
My fingers are sticky and wet, and I can feel juice slowly trickling from the corner of my mouth to my chin; looking around I notice I'm not the only person who decided to eat with my hands, and I feel a sense of relief; I tend to worry about displaying bad manners when eating in a foreign country.
Thailand is cheap. It’s one of the reasons (there are several, which would warrant a separate post) why foreigners flock to this country every year. You can spend very little money in Thailand, and still live a comfortable life. It’s a dream come true, especially in today’s economy.
In the past week, I’ve had a few conversations with travellers about cost of living in Chiang Mai - as my current plan has me living in the city until the end of June. It’s a key part of travel research, and since guidebooks are generally published almost a year after the information is gathered, it can be hard to find up-to-date costs.