Zoos, Bloody Fingers, and Green Curry

Hello All!

This week was really a good bit of fun, and it was the perfect way to finish off our time here in Chiang Mai. It started out with a trip to the Chiang Mai zoo, and Shaina and I both agree that this is one of the coolest zoos that we have ever visited.

The huge gaping maw of a bull hippo.

The bull hippo seen above was in a pool about a foot and a half below where we were standing! We were literally able to reach out and touch this big fella. We have always been told that hippos are the most dangerous creature in Africa so we were a bit timid when approaching the family of hippos, but we quickly realized that we could toss them a few carrots or sweet potatoes and become their new best friends.

The schnoz of an elephant jonesing for his next hunk of sugar cane.

Next, we moseyed on over to an elephant who was chopping at the bit to get its nose around cucumbers and chunks of sugar cane. We've both seen elephants before, but this was the first time that we were able to get this close one. They are huge and powerful, but this one was surprisingly gentle for such a behemoth!

In addition to the hippos and elephants, the zoo also contained tigers, koalas, jaguars, deer, tortoises, giraffes, lions, orangoutangs, gibbons, penguins, flamingos, emus, pandas, black bears, and a huge bird sanctuary.

Here is a 360 pano of the bird sanctuary.

Here is a link to more zoo photos.


On Sunday, Shaina and I decided to indulge in a Thai cooking class. Cooking classes are pretty much a dime a dozen here in Thailand, so we scrutinized the options pretty thoroughly. In the end, we decided to go with an outfit called Sammy's Organic Farm, and we could not have been happier with our choice. Sammy, as it turns out, is a gregarious 40-something father and husband who owns a modest four acre farm ten minutes from town. He is so much fun to be around because he exudes energy and you can feel his passion for cooking and farming.

With the aid of his wife, he helped us make the following: red and green curry (from scratch of course), chicken and coconut milk soup, hot and sour soup, two chicken stir fry dishes, fried chicken wrapped in pandanus leaves, spicy papaya salad, mango with sticky rice, and pumpkin custard! It was a veritable feast, and by the end of it we were all sitting fat and happy.

Sammy squeezing coconut cream from shredded fresh coconut.


Fried chicken in pandanus leaves.


Shaina and me sitting down to heaps of food!


360 Pano of Sammy's Organic Farm.


Per usual, while Shaina was keeping herself busy at the hospital I made my way to Crazy Horse for a bit of climbing. I met up with a German girl named Franziska at the climbing gym on Sunday night and made plans to climb on Monday and Thursday. It was totally serendipitous meeting each other and it really worked out well since we are both climbing at more or less the same level. I made some of my biggest climbing gains this week; I'm feeling confident now to where I can cleanly lead most 6a+ / 5.10b. If you'll remember, I had never lead out doors before this trip so I feel really really good going into Laos where there will be even more climbing for us.

Franziska after she flashed her way to the top of a 6a in the Furnace.


The sorry state of my fingers after two days at Crazy Horse.


A very smokey view from the top of Crazy Horse Buttress.

The next highlight of the week was our trip to the Muay Thai Arena for some Thai kickboxing! Here is some good info on Muay Thai. The quality of the fights and the fighters were not the most awe inspiring, but it was still a lot of fun since we sat with a lively group of people that really got into it.

Here is about a minute of our Muay Thai experience.


Lastly, today was Shaina's last day of medical school!!! I am so proud of her. She has done an amazing job balancing the crazy workload of med school and keeping things fun in our personal lives. In celebration of this momentous occasion we are going to start our tour of South East Asia in ernest by striking north to the small and laid back town of Chiang Rai. Then on to Laos! Talk to you soon!

Cheers!

Maxell

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Location:Chiang Mai, Thailand