All turned out well in the end in Chiang Mai

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Chiang Mai in the North of Thailand was our last stop in Thailand before moving on to explore the rest of Southeast Asia. It’s hard to believe we spent a month in Thailand, it went by so fast!

We had some big plans for Chiang Mai: trekking, riding elephants, bamboo rafting and visiting local tribes. However much to our disappointment and frustration we didn’t get to do this as we ran into some major problems with our tour company. It all began on our very first day with them; we were told to be waiting in the lobby at 6am! So there we were at 5:55 am being told by a tour guide that we were not registered for the tour and off he drove. We were told to wait for another tour guide that would be coming to pick us up in 15 mins ... actually turned out to be an hour. Little did we know that waiting an hour was going to be the least of our problems. When the tour guide finally showed up, we were hustled into the van and off we went. As he began to explore the itinerary for the day, we realized we were on the wrong tour and told him such. After many long, suspicious phone calls to his superiors he turned to us with a smile plastered on his face and said that this indeed was the tour we were supposed to be on , but if we wanted to see what we originally booked there would be an extra charge...tours in Thailand are all about the unexpected charges! With all this said it turned out to be a good day (after getting some money back), we travelled to the golden triangle and took a speed boat to Myanmar and Laos.

From then on we decided the best way to explore the rest of the country would be to do it on our own , so we rented a motor bike and drove to a nearby national park, exploring waterfalls and mountain top temples.

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Photos

... Alex zooming around on our rental!!
Unfortunately such an ugly helmet was mandatory. As we were informed and later found out for ourselves these helmets are completely useless and only protect you from a $400 fine. The scotch tape holding Ashley's helmet together failed while we were driving along the rode and her helmet came flying off.

A pleasant surprise along the way
The scence however wasn't quite so nice when Alex decided to lead Ashley through a closed portioned of the path, inorder "to get a better view then everybody else!" Following this path meant that Ashley got soaking wet, sank up to her ankles in mud and ended up with a tik in her leg. She'd still asking was it really worth it?

The Mekong's Golden Triangle
To the left is Thailand, the middle is Myanmmar, and to the right is Laos.

Ashley had quite the way of attracting the kids
..they all wanted some candy

Comments

[Uncle Alex and Aunt Monique]

We just love this BLOG thing...
Just received your postcard..Thank you very much... Hope you both are keeping well.... Will have a big pot of hamburger stew ready for you when you get back home...Normal food....!!! ahahaha Uncle Alex and I misses yous very much... And we are keeping track of all your travels..We are very envious of you....Except for the bugs eating thing..YUCK!!!!! Love you both...