This panda was busy stuffing bamboo sticks into his mouth. 

I posted many videos of us feeding the animals at the Chiang Mai Zoo on the Meet You in the Morning Travel FaceBook page.

It was a very hot day in Chiang Mai, too hot for anything more than just lazing.

The hippos were soundly sleeping with their heads submerged, but the keeper started hollering at them to awake them so we could feed them. One obligingly opened its humongous mouth so some potatoes could be tossed in, even scrounging underwater for the ones that missed the target!

The day after our Wednesday visit to Chiang Mai Zoo we read that one of their mahouts had been killed by an elephant Tuesday – the day before our visit.

“To Thais the elephant has profound spiritual significance derived from both Hindu and Buddhist mythologies. Carvings and statues of Ganesh, the Hindu god with an elephant’s head…” Rough Guide to Thailand

This elephant’s tusks are wrapped in rubber for protection. We fed these elephants bananas and sugar cane. The Asian elephant is considered an endangered species and Thailand’s wild elephant population is estimated to be less than 2000.

This map clearly shows the Old City – it is the square in the center of the map. The yellow stars mark where our accommodations were located outside the city. The first month we stayed south of the airport at North Condo Serene Lake (star on left) and the second month we stayed East of the city at My Hip Condo (right star and blue dot) in one of the hippest and newest areas of Chiang Mai. The red star marks the eastern Thae Pae gate to the Old City.

A corner of the wall and moat surrounding the Old City

East of the city is the Ping River.

Murals painted on the wall surrounding the U.S. Consulate in Chiang Mai.

It’s easy to get “templed out” and they generally start to look all alike, but this Wat Buppharam is ornate and beautiful.

A close up showing the carved details.

This monk came to close the door while I was photographing and we shared a little smile with each other.

A Teak buddha inside. Notice the elephants in the relief behind the buddha on the wall (lower right.)

The chedi.

Welcome to My Hip Condo 2 (left). Some spirit houses and an elephant shrine are on the corner outside the sales office. Note the new construction in the background.

There are 4 buildings in the My Hip Condo 2 development.

Within a block or two are many coffee shops and eateries.

Wawee Coffee became our favorite place and we visited these girls for our coffee every morning. They always asked, “Same, same?” “Yes, 2 Wawee coffees” I would reply. The coffee has been consistently great, in a large cup with hot milk on the side. With our Wawee Loyalty Card we get 1 free with the purchase of 10.

There are many new buildings with lots of new businesses going in and still many vacancies. We have been repeat customers to several eateries. Views around the area include girls in school uniforms and street vendors.

I can’t get enough of these curries. There are so many different varieties (clockwise from upper left): Thai-Burmese Curry (Gaeng Hung Ley) with pork, fresh ginger and Burmese Massala powder in red curry paste, Pork Jungle Curry (Gaeng Pa Moo) doesn’t have coconut milk, Pumpkin Curry and Thai Crab Curry but made with mixed seafood instead of the too expensive crab (Pu Pad Pong Karee).

Many times I don’t know what I’m ordering! A variety of different noodle entrees.

I try to sample different drinks too. I dismissed the Cashew Chicken (lower right) as being too Chinese, but discovered it to be a favorite especially when not wanting too much spice and once I sampled the Roti, a dessert (lower left), I was addicted.