I take complaints seriously ... and yesterday I was accused of posting too many gratuitous photographs of gorgeous, sweet, delightful, dreamy and beautiful elephants ... so today I have - sadly - dispensed with any elephants photos and have instead moved on to ... water buffalo!
Here at the Four Seasons Chiang Mai (opened in 1995 and set of 32 acres of land) there are rice paddy fields ... and two resident water buffalo - Tone and Tong ...
Now, you cannot "mount" (thank you Charles) a water buffalo but cuddling is allowed ... and I did get to cuddle both my old friends.
The property has just 98 guestrooms, suites and residences ... spa, swimming pools, gym ... cooking school ... and of course restaurants. I learnt how to prepare two tasty authentic Thai dishes with the Executive Chef Rewat Srilachi ... one fishy (sturgeon) and one chicken ...
The cooking class was held overlooking the paddy fields. The resort does not "produce" rice, just grows it and offers guests the chance to learn all things rice and pick the stuff themselves.
The two buffalo - one pink (who does get sunburn) and one brown ... are delightful creatures ... VERY, VERY clean & looked after and are delightfully friendly. One licked my leg ... it was weird but apparently the sign of affection.
For those who don't believe that buffalo have long memories - well - they do. And both Tone and Tong remembered me from two years ago ...
In the afternoon, I was given a tour of Chiang Mai by lovely Nicola. It's the largest city in northern Thailand and once capital of the Lanna Kingdom. The centre piece is the "Old City" which is surrounded by a moat. We had foot massages as well as looking at old historic temples and buildings ... Actually the massage parlour has a story ... all the (female) therapists were once criminals in jail ... who got trained in massage while incarcerated and now have jobs in this special spa! I HATE my feet being touched ... but I endured the torture (I giggled a lot) and now have smooth and soft feet to show for it!
Fabulous day ... still missing those elephants though ... :)
Tonight is the last episode of Inside Luxury Travel Series 5 - airing in Europe ... It's the "look back" show ... hosted from the (new) Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles ... ahhhh ... anyway - new series starts filming ... in 2 weeks! Yippeeeee!
