Chang, Chiang, Chang

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December 23rd 2006

Published: January 3rd 2007

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First Thai Words

We wrote this sign in English then were helped to do the Thai translation - that's Laura's first attempt at Thai.

Quite possibly we completed our longest day of travelling on our trip so far, when we made the journey from Phnom Penh to Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. We were up at 5.30am to catch a morning flight to Bangkok and on arrival, transferred to the central train station to buy our rail tickets. We killed 5 hours by getting lost in the back-streets of Bangkok, travelling on the river taxis on the murky Chao Phraya river to the Royal Palace and even squeezed in a visit to the National Cultural Centre before closing time. At 19.30 we boarded the night train to Chiang Mai and finally got to sit down and chill with a Chang (Elephant in Thai) beer. Our second class tickets bought us two bunk beds complete with laundered sheets and blankets and curtains for some privacy, but as we'd bought our tickets at the last minute, we ended up at the end of the carriage, next to an "automatic door" - the ones that open and close erratically, stop working and then remain open for the rest of the journey! Thanks to a lovely Thai family sat next to us, we were able to write and stick-up

The Trekking Party

signs using the Roman and Thai alphabets to kindly ask people to shut the door - this caused great amusement amongst the guardsman. The train ride felt a little bit rickety but we slept comfortably for most of the night and arrived in Chiang Mai 14 hours later.

Upon arriving in Chiang Mai, the climate was noticeably fresher and our first impressions from the tuk-tuk were that that this northern city was more like a small town, the streets were rubbish free (very different from Cambodia) and there were lots of temples to visit. There are numerous cheap guesthouses here for as little as 150 baht a night for a room with en-suite and hot water, especially if you look keen on doing a trek into the surrounding hills. We took our chances with the 5 Star Guest house, which isn't recommended in the Lonely Planet but probably should be for its professional attitude towards organising treks.

In order to feel like we would be getting away into the hills, we opted for the "non-touristic" (read in the loosest sense because every organised trek is touristy) 3 day, 2 night trek into the forest, which included an elephant

The Elephants Arrive

ride and a bamboo rafting experience. The walking was easy and the best views were saved for the last day, but it was brilliant to spend time chatting and singing around the camp fire with our group from Austria, Germany, France, UK, Australia and New Zealand. We were even treated to a song and dance show by kids from the mountain village that we stayed in. They taught us the elephant song, "Chang, Chang, Chang..doo be dah..." and we returned the favour by singing, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"and "Old McDonald" in an amusing concoction of foreign accents.

Although we've heard reports that elephant riding can be cruel, when we rode them it seemed that their owners treated the elephants with enough force to control them, as Europeans do and did when horses were integral to farming and transportation in Europe. The elephants here are Indian elephants with the characteristic large heads and small ears which according to our guide Toto, makes them more intelligent than African elephants. Elephants are separated from their mothers at infancy and broken-in by their trainers so they can help to carry timber and goods, grown and made in the villages. The elephants

The Hill Tribe Kids Perform Chang, Chang, Chang

here would seem to have it much easier than those in Burma and Cambodia where they are more susceptible to ivory poachers and of course, landmines. Yes, elephants have also lost their limbs to landmines and humans have made prosthetic legs out of metal cans and wood for elephants that have lost up to two limbs. As elephants live to a ripe old age, they live their lives with their masters family for up to 70 years, until they are set free in the forests and graze throughout their retirement. It's hard to imagine why their owners would treat their elephants with deliberate contempt when they are so integral to work-life in the mountain village. The men spend more time with their elephants than with their wives! For me, it was an amazing experience to get this close to an elephant and to feel the bristly hairs on their heads.

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