So Miss Smith and I left the UK on November 12th 2009, and how glad I am that we did!
We arrived in Bangkok the next day and it has been a little adventure ever since. We didn't give ourselves long to settle in to bustling Bangkok, as we were on the train to Chiang Mai the following day. A nice 'crisp early' start to the train station (ha is there such thing?) and a good 15 hours later we arrived in Chiang Mai. Hefty train ride, but it was amazing to watch the scenery change as we headed further and further north. Amazingly green. The train did break down in the jungle about 45 minutes out of Chiang Mai, shunting back and forth for about 2 hours, but all part of the experience? Hmm..was not at the time.
Got ourselves into a tuk tuk (fantastic method of travel) and headed to our hostel: MD House. Great cheap place to stay; but cheap hostels in Asia are like hotels anyway- you get so much for your money. We even had a swimming pool! Brilliant. Love the way the Thais do it. The next morning we were up and ready to get started on everything. We booked all our excursions for the next few days, really helpful staff who go through everything with you. And we were set! We started the day with a trip to Chiang Mai zoo. Pretty cool, but a zoo is a zoo at the end of the day: cooped-up animals. Was an amazing setting for a zoo though; lush and tropical. Did see pandas though! The sweat was unbelieveable. Going to take a bit of getting used to methinks. We headed back to the hostel for a chilled out evening and met some fantastic people- Canadians and Swedes. Gotta love them. Really nice group of people; I love how everyone has the same mind-set when travelling- makes it so easy to meet people you have loads in common with. So a chilled-out evening by the pool ended up with a brilliant night out in Chiang Mai. I recommend the 'Riverside Bar' to anyone visiting Chiang Mai: live music and a great atmosphere, ironically situated by the side of a river. Ha.
The next day we visited the Doi Suthep temple- lapping up the culture. I love the architecture here- so ornate and stately, and so different from what I have seen before. We followed that trip with a visit toTiger Kingdom. I was petrified; Isobel was excited. Hmm. I sense a conflict of interests here. We went for the 'package' that day: small tiger and big tiger deal. Ha ha. Do I get to keep my limbs with that? I was scared of the little ones for God's sake! But they w
ere very cute. And I know they must sedate them slightly, but to be honest the tigers were all really lively, jumping around play-fighting with one another. So they did not appear sedate enough for my liking, not that I am pro animal cruelty or anything. I am digging a hole. Anway, then we were onto the big tigers. We were in a cage with three fully-grown tigers. Sensible? Hmm. We did the whole stroke the tiger for the camera thing, which was pretty amazing, just a bit on the scary side! And the trainer kept jumping up behind me trying to scare me. I think the tigers were enough. Ha. Fantastic experience. Let's leave the tiger cage now.
The evening followed with a trip to the infamous lady-boy bars. Haha. So strange, and yet you get used to the whole scene so quickly. The sex trade in Thailand is so blatant, theatrical even. Curiosity lured the backpackers in. It is hilarious to see the amount of sex-tourism going on here; fat white man scoops up petite, attractive Thai lady. They certainly do well for themsleves (the European men with big bellies that is). Obviously a sad side to it all, but what I found horrible was the fact that there were young children begging in these seedy bars. These kids are only four or five years old and they know far too much for their age; a Thai child should not be pinching women's behinds or know how to swear, and in various languages! But I suppose that's how things are done in places like this; we're all pretty damn lucky we didn't have childhoods like that. So yeah, not your standard night out, but great company in our new traveller-friends.
Wednesday was elephant-training day. The highlight of my trip to date! A mini-bus trip out to the jungle and we found ourselves in a Mahout (elephant trainers) village. Stunning surroundings and lots of elephants roaming about in their natural environment. I've heard terrible stories about the treatment of elephants in the touristy areas, but the animals here were treated so well and we were so lucky to be part of the whole thing. To begin with, we were given a list of Thai elephant commands to learn. I couldn't remember anything. Oh except "YOOD" which means "STOP" in Thai. Ha. Standard. And then we were off telling the elephants to lift their legs to let us up on their backs. The alternative way to mount them is to get them to lower their trunk and you climb up it that way; hilarious watching each other struggle to mount these gigantic elephants. Such an amazing experience.
We arrived in Bangkok the next day and it has been a little adventure ever since. We didn't give ourselves long to settle in to bustling Bangkok, as we were on the train to Chiang Mai the following day. A nice 'crisp early' start to the train station (ha is there such thing?) and a good 15 hours later we arrived in Chiang Mai. Hefty train ride, but it was amazing to watch the scenery change as we headed further and further north. Amazingly green. The train did break down in the jungle about 45 minutes out of Chiang Mai, shunting back and forth for about 2 hours, but all part of the experience? Hmm..was not at the time.
Got ourselves into a tuk tuk (fantastic method of travel) and headed to our hostel: MD House. Great cheap place to stay; but cheap hostels in Asia are like hotels anyway- you get so much for your money. We even had a swimming pool! Brilliant. Love the way the Thais do it. The next morning we were up and ready to get started on everything. We booked all our excursions for the next few days, really helpful staff who go through everything with you. And we were set! We started the day with a trip to Chiang Mai zoo. Pretty cool, but a zoo is a zoo at the end of the day: cooped-up animals. Was an amazing setting for a zoo though; lush and tropical. Did see pandas though! The sweat was unbelieveable. Going to take a bit of getting used to methinks. We headed back to the hostel for a chilled out evening and met some fantastic people- Canadians and Swedes. Gotta love them. Really nice group of people; I love how everyone has the same mind-set when travelling- makes it so easy to meet people you have loads in common with. So a chilled-out evening by the pool ended up with a brilliant night out in Chiang Mai. I recommend the 'Riverside Bar' to anyone visiting Chiang Mai: live music and a great atmosphere, ironically situated by the side of a river. Ha.
The next day we visited the Doi Suthep temple- lapping up the culture. I love the architecture here- so ornate and stately, and so different from what I have seen before. We followed that trip with a visit toTiger Kingdom. I was petrified; Isobel was excited. Hmm. I sense a conflict of interests here. We went for the 'package' that day: small tiger and big tiger deal. Ha ha. Do I get to keep my limbs with that? I was scared of the little ones for God's sake! But they w
ere very cute. And I know they must sedate them slightly, but to be honest the tigers were all really lively, jumping around play-fighting with one another. So they did not appear sedate enough for my liking, not that I am pro animal cruelty or anything. I am digging a hole. Anway, then we were onto the big tigers. We were in a cage with three fully-grown tigers. Sensible? Hmm. We did the whole stroke the tiger for the camera thing, which was pretty amazing, just a bit on the scary side! And the trainer kept jumping up behind me trying to scare me. I think the tigers were enough. Ha. Fantastic experience. Let's leave the tiger cage now.The evening followed with a trip to the infamous lady-boy bars. Haha. So strange, and yet you get used to the whole scene so quickly. The sex trade in Thailand is so blatant, theatrical even. Curiosity lured the backpackers in. It is hilarious to see the amount of sex-tourism going on here; fat white man scoops up petite, attractive Thai lady. They certainly do well for themsleves (the European men with big bellies that is). Obviously a sad side to it all, but what I found horrible was the fact that there were young children begging in these seedy bars. These kids are only four or five years old and they know far too much for their age; a Thai child should not be pinching women's behinds or know how to swear, and in various languages! But I suppose that's how things are done in places like this; we're all pretty damn lucky we didn't have childhoods like that. So yeah, not your standard night out, but great company in our new traveller-friends.
Wednesday was elephant-training day. The highlight of my trip to date! A mini-bus trip out to the jungle and we found ourselves in a Mahout (elephant trainers) village. Stunning surroundings and lots of elephants roaming about in their natural environment. I've heard terrible stories about the treatment of elephants in the touristy areas, but the animals here were treated so well and we were so lucky to be part of the whole thing. To begin with, we were given a list of Thai elephant commands to learn. I couldn't remember anything. Oh except "YOOD" which means "STOP" in Thai. Ha. Standard. And then we were off telling the elephants to lift their legs to let us up on their backs. The alternative way to mount them is to get them to lower their trunk and you climb up it that way; hilarious watching each other struggle to mount these gigantic elephants. Such an amazing experience.
We rode the elephants through the jungle and the surrounding streams, then we washed them in the river! They may be huge animals, but they are such gentle giants. Lovely animals. We gave them a mud-bath after that. I thought it would go the other way: mud bath then wash them with water, but the mud protects them against the heat of the sun. Ah see, didn't know that did ya? You probably did, makes sense. We had a brilliant Mahout helping us out- Kai. Such amazing people, so friendly and happy! I love this country! So that was our day with the elephants and I can't really explain just how incredible it was. Bloody knackered by the end of it.
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