We've spent the last nine days exploring Chiang Mai,
and it's my favorite area in Thailand so far.
[ ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Chiang Mai International Airport ]
[ outside temperature is around 32 degrees Celsius ]
The taxi stand is 150 Baht to get to town.
We're gonna try to get a tuk-tuk and see if we can get a better deal.
A tuk-tuk is the same price as a cab. I'd rather have the air conditioning
so we're taking the cab.
Oh man, we got a van.
I want one of these.
It's a nice van.
- You can convert this into a camper. - Uh-huh.
The first order of business is we need to find Joe some good coffee.
My first time having Thai coffee and it's absolutely delicious.
That's good.
So we've been going through this night market and they have just about everything.
Crafts, clothing, food. You name it, they probably got it.
We're gonna go see elephants today.
They're coming to pick us up at our hotel and then we're going to the sanctuary.
Well, the elephants aren't picking us up.
- The tour operators are picking us up. - Thank you for clarifying.
Oh man, I gotta stretch out after that.
It's a bit of a rough ride.
Hour and a half in that thing going up and down bumpy roads.
Hopefully, the guy that takes us home has better suspension.
We have to wear these so the elephants know that we're friends.
There you go. All set.
- Bon (up). - Louder please.
- More. - Bon.
We're starting off with some treats for the elephants, which is about 10% of their diet.
According to our guide, these are like chocolates for them.
Bon.
Learning how to check for healthy elephant poo.
- You want a hug? - No, I'm good.
Cheers!
So "Chang" means elephant,
and as our guide told us, this is made from 10% elephant pee.
I'm pretty sure he was joking.
Got our swimsuits on. Time to bathe the elephants.
- Apparently, mud is a very good mosquito repellent, so... - I'm gonna need it. I got bit 11 times this morning.
Apparently, we also signed up for a bath for ourselves,
but I am gonna opt out of the mud bath.
What about you?
- I guess I gotta go in. If you're not going, I gotta go. - Okay.
- What's that? Curry? - Massaman Curry.
- Smells delicious. - Enjoy.
That was a good time.
Got done just in time before the rain.
First tuk-tuk ride. Super comfortable.
Yep.
And really convenient way to get around town, especially when it's super hot and you're just sweating.
So we're in what I think is called a Songthaew.
It's basically a pickup truck with bench seats in the back
and it's 30 Baht a person. You have to show them where you're going to make sure they wanna go there,
but it's essentially a ride-sharing taxi. They'll pick up other people along the way,
take you where you need to go, and when it's hot out,
these things are a lifesaver.
This is our third massage in Thailand.
- Where to? - I don't know. Let's walk around.
Feeling nice and relaxed now.
While the elephant sanctuary was definitely high on our list,
I think the thing for us is the food, because you can't get Thai food like this in the United States.
Even though the dishes are "the same",
they taste nothing like what you can get here and it's been absolutely fantastic.
We stumbled upon this food stall that seems to be super popular.
There's a huge queue so we're in line.
We're gonna check it out. Hopefully, it's as a good as it looks.
- You ready for island living in Thailand? - That I am.