Gather no moss: adventures of P and P: Chiang Mai, a little bit of everything

Chiang Mai is a very laid back urban city with lots of traditional culture which makes it well rounded for all types of travelers. I can see why it's Thailand's 2nd most visited city and why tons of expats flock here.

The first night here we made an extra effort to stay up late and watch The Martian at one of Chiang Mai's super modern malls. We were a little hesitant to stay up so late because we had an all day cooking class the next day which meant we would be getting 6 hours of sleep instead of our 8-9 hours (the sacrifices we have to make). The movie was totally worth it as was our dinner served to us by robots!

We chose to do a Thai cooking class with Thai Farm Cooking School. Their organic farm is located outside of the city which is full of things we've never heard of, like galangal and bitter eggplant. We made 5 courses and ate them all. I think we under-flavored them because we were too scared but nonetheless they were all very good and edible. Peter said I was sandbagging because I already knew how to make rice.

Third day consisted of more temples!! Wat Chedi Luang is a huge (60 meters, at one point it was 80 meters) impressive temple ruin that housed the sacred Emerald Buddha for several years. All four sides are guarded by giant elephants and each side has colossal stairways with the most detailed stone nagas we've seen yet at the base.

The best part was the monk chat. You get to sit down with a monk and ask as many questions as you like about Buddhism, monks, life, tattoos, anything really. We spent about 2 hours chatting with Sidharth, a Buddhist monk originally from Mumbai, India. He gave us a new perspective on Mumbai and its craziness. Best quote of the day, "understand means to 'stand under'." 2nd best quote, "Buddha was born 2,500 years ago. He has no opinion on technology."

Wat Phra Singh is an important Buddhist temple complex which houses the Phra Singh Buddha, hence the name. It is also a prime example of Lanna art and architecture with its steep and multi-tiered roofs and stark white columns. The temples also have these monk statues portrayed after real monks that look eerily real, so real it makes one behave even more respectably.

We were recommended to see Baan Phor Liang Meun terracotta gardens by fellow travelers, so we did! It's a picturesque open café with moss covered terracotta sculptures and reliefs. Nice place for a cold tea in Thailand's humidity. On the opposite side of the road is the showroom with really nice terracotta sculptures, so nice that we didn't even try and look at the price tag.