Subject: Re: Chiang Mai, Thailand
Hi!

I went to Chiang Mai 4 years ago & had a great time. We found the weather more pleasant than further south (cooler & less humid). The food was quite good, too, with more curry & Burmese influence than further south.

One popular activity is to attend a very reasonably-priced Thai cooking school. We went to a day-long class at the Thai Kitchen which we signed up for upon arrival in C.M. It included transportation to & from the school & we ate all the food we prepared. It started out with a walk to a huge fresh food market & we learned the substitutions which we could make for Thai ingredients in our own countries since the students all came from other Western countries.

We took a private car (it actually cost almost the same for two of us to hire a car & driver than the tours we found) to an orchid farm & the famous elephant camp. The elephant camp was especially fun.

We also enjoyed the night market which had some pretty good deals.

Have fun! Valerie in the San Francisco Bay Area