12:00pm – 1:30pm – Lunch fit for kings and queens! Enjoy a delicious and healthy Thai buffet including all the classic curries, noodles, soups and sautéed veggies (lunch is incorporated in the cost of the tour).
1:45pm – 5:00pm – Take a long walk throughout the preserve following the gentle giants in their natural habitat. You’ll have a chance to encounter a variety of other animals including buffalos, dogs and cats that were rescued due to similar misfortunes. My favorite part of the day included hiking to the river and giving them a bath! What a privilege it was to feed, walk and help bathe these beauties in a safe and healthy environment. What a dream come true!
7:00pm – 9:30pm – Dinnertime at Cooking Love Restaurant. We discovered Trip Advisor to be an excellent source of information when narrowing down a selection of restaurants for dinner. We were famished and Cooking Love stole the show with its signature and exotic mango infused curries and pineapple-fried rice. What a feast for the eyes and stomach!
10pm - 12am – Explore the Night Bazaar. This fashionista, artisan jewelry and fabric lover couldn’t get enough. It's the best market to buy beautiful Thai clothes, rugs, colorful jewelry, bags, spices and much more! I did the majority of my souvenir and personal shopping here. It stretches until the eye can see and also proved to be an excellent location to people watch.
Chiang Mai, Day 3 Itinerary: Agenda: Attend the Chiang Mai Thai Farm Cooking School and check out a Lady Boy Cabaret Show
7:30am – rise and shine, it’s cooking class time!
8:00am - 9:00am – Enjoy a Thai breakfast and get picked up at your hotel/hostel to drive to the Chiang Mai Thai Farm Cooking School.
For those that know me well, they understand my love affair with Thai cuisine and exotic flavor combinations. My enthusiasm to learn classic Thai dishes had been on my bucket list for years and having the opportunity to learn in Thailand was thrilling.