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Published: January 31st 2008
It's in the eyes
elephant reserve, Chiang MaiItineraries, well, they're made to be broken, right? On the road we met with some Germans and a Londoner who told us great things about Tigers in Kanchanaburi in central Thailand, and then we find out that the bridge over the river Kwai was there, and we were sold. So with only two days left until we flew to Singapore we found ourselves racing there on a mini-bus from Bangkok after taking a nightbus from Chiang Mai that unfortunately meant we had no sleep. But before I get into that, I'll tell you about our time in Chiang Mai.
We arrived and pretty much straight away decided it was our favourite Thai city so far. The laid-back vibe, friendly locals, pretty back-streets and many Wats mean it's very chilled out and fun to stroll around. I was very excited as we were going to (a) take an elephant trek and (b) do a cookery course, two very enjoyable ways to pass a few days. We decided to splurge and spent €18 on a lovely room in a hotel with a swimming pool. Alan minded the deck-chairs while I splashed around in the freezing cold water.
The next morning we
Like attracts like
Orchid farm, Chiang Mai were up bright and early for our elephant trek, which I was pleased to note, was on an eco-elephant farm. When we arrived the elephants were just getting ready for their show, and so Alan and I tried to do our best to distract them from their stage fright by feeding them bananas. They kept wanting to hug us with their trunks, which I reluctantly allowed, not wanting to hurt their feelings, despite the fact that the banana juice does make their trunks a little wet and runny - it was one of those 'what a great privilege, but boy does it feel icky' moments.
In an eco-elephant farm show, I was expecting the elephants would get to do interpretive free-style dance, and was surprised to see them actually having to dance in unison, head-banging like a load of rockers in the rocker section in Bruxelles circa 1996. Alan said, quote: 'I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry', and I was just trying to decide myself when we were treated to seeing an Elephant paint a picture. In fairness, the Mahout (the elephant's minder) seemed to do a lot of direction, so instead of Jackson Pollack we got
Hey... look at that!
A baby tiger checks out the view Jack B Yeats. Later the elephants lined up and kicked footballs, quite well actually, making us wonder whether Dublin Zoo might provide a sub for the Dubs bench, move over Mossy Quinn.
Before we had time to ponder we were all lined up to go on our elephant trek, where we sat perched on the elephants in these sortof saddle yokes. It was very pleasant, the elephants trundle at a nice slow pace and we travelled through a river and up through the jungle. Our elephant was lovely, a girl aged fourteen, and her Mahout was most chatty. It turned out that the Mahout is an illegal immigrant from Burma, and he told us all about his life in Burma, his family, what the political situation is like, and in between pumped us for information about Ireland. We didn't want to get off, but our Mahout told us that the elephant had done five treks that morning, so we felt guilty and took our leave. Later we went on an ox-cart (random - not sure why, but sure why not), and a butterfly farm (beautiful) and orchid farm.
The next day we were up bright and early for
Bridge on the River Kwai
Thousands of POWs and conscripted workers died constructing the railway and this bridge under Japanese occupation in WW2. The tourist bazaar adjacent is Thailand's most depressing. our cookery course, which took place in a cookery school outside in the open. After checking out a few of the schools whilst rambling contentedly through Chiang Mai the day we arrived, we picked ours as the lady working there seemed so lovely and friendly. She very kindly listened to my request to learn how to cook Chicken Noodle Soup and said that it was no problem, and on the day the chefs actually made a big pot of it for everyone in addition to all the other yummy things we learnt to cook (the place is called Chiang Mai Smart Cook if you're interested). The women teaching us were great fun, and we went to the food market before hand to shop for the ingredients. We had great fun and the people on our course were lovely - Áine, an Irish girl from Leitrim, and a couple - Simon from New Zealand and Morgan from America, but both of them had been living in Cork for a few years, so there was a lot of chat about Ireland over the woks. There were two menus, so to max our learning Alan did one and I did the other, and
Stay ...very ...still
Aoife interrupts an afternoon nap between us we had twelve plates of food and of course the chicken noodle soup I had specifically requested. We were so stuffed afterwards it isn't funny. We learnt how to cook Pad Thai, Paenang Curry and Green Curry, glass noodle salad and papaya salad, cashew stirfry and spring rolls, bananas in coconut and mangos with sticky rice, and a few others, and of course I can't remember any of it now. The cookery school gave us a recipe book which we've posted home, so I will have to give it a go when we eventually get there.
On our last day we rambled around the city and actually noticed that the reason for all the special pictures and shrines for a lady that looked a bit like Hyacinth Bucket with black hair were for the death of the King's sister. I remember my cousin telling me that they are crazy about the King in Thailand before we left, but nothing prepares you for the adoration of this elderly bespectacled gentleman who's face is in every small coffee-shop, plastered on billboards, above shrines in small villages and towns - it's safe to say that every business proudly displays at
C'mere you
Give us a cuddle least one photo or garish painting, possibly a calendar and definitely lots of yellow in his honour. So when his sister died, she got the royal treatment too.
The sunday market was in full swing so we looked around and availed of some foot rubs for sixty Baht a head or a pair of feet I should say. The lady rubbing my feet was trying to improve her English and was asking me lots of questions. Unfortunately most of them were related to my poor bashed legs, and so the words she learnt were 'bruise' which she thought was hilarious, saying 'booze', and then 'mosquito bite' and 'itchy' (she pronounced 'eeshee') which she really enjoyed saying as loudly as possible and then laughing hysterically. I'm sure everyone walking by with a smidge of English were crossing over to avoid the crock that I am. In fairness though she was a great masseuse and also she smeared some green gunk on my boozes and bites, which worked wonders and made them a lot less eeshee.
We boarded the night bus and were delighted to get a free onboard bag of goodies, a nice blanket and a pillow. As we
somehow didn't book the 'Farang' (foreigner- comes from the word for French in Thai) bus we ended up being the only two westerners, which was great, until they put on the onboard movies (usually bootlegged recent releases from Hollywood when in Thailand we find) which were authentic Thai comedy. Now I'm very partial to the bit of local cinema, but due to the absence of subtitles, I was struggling. The bus was great, except for one thing, quite an annoying thing actually. Every time we dozed off, the man who assisted the driver would turn up the music and wake us all up. I'm sure he didn't mean to do this, it was just bad timing. Still we ended up in Bangkok at four thirty am after no sleep. After wandering around the old Khao San road, yapping to other backpackers who were arriving in from other destinations at that awkward time, we resigned ourselves to no bed for the night and had two breakfasts and three coffees instead.
There's something jolty and weird that happens after no sleep. Just before the final schlumpy death watch you get the fourth wind and have a brainwave. I'm not sure who
Punt
Someone call the Dubs - quality half back material here! to blame - Alan, I or the caffeine, but we found ourselves on a mini-bus to Kanchanaburi with a real shifty driver at eight am. Somehow we found a bed in the town and then slept the sleep of the damned before waking up refreshed at two in the afternoon.
Tigers and the bridge, that's the attraction of the town. The Tiger Temple is this fantastic complex where Buddhist Priests rescue and care for wild tigers who have been abandoned as babies. They also care for a myriad of other animals - oxes, hogs, ponies, chickens and such - but the Tigers are where their Jedi powers come in to play. Using the force, or something, I'm not sure what, they seem to be able to communicate and care for these fantastic cats making a loud teeth baring moody teenage tiger quite a kitten.
It is very cool watching them raise their hands up in their robes and the tiger submit to them, very Yoda. They're really kind and let you take photographs with the tigers for the entrance fee, but I did the whole big eyed thing with Alan and he let me avail of the 1,000
Flutterby
Chiang Mai Baht option where you hold the tiger head, score! I have to admit that it is a little intimidating as you are lead by the hand by a monk or a helper and they place your hands under the tiger's head, but it is very peaceful and the whole experience is very serene and calm. Although I found sometimes I would get aware that one of these beasts just had to take against me and it would be a different story. It was a total privilege, and afterwards we got to touch and get very close to the baby tigers too.
Unfortunately for my credibility this American woman, very glamorous and beautiful in a sort-of Indiana Jones heroine way, mislead me greatly by telling me in confidential tones that she had read in the National Geographic that the animals are all raised as vegetarians, including the Tigers, which I will admit to my shame, made me have tears of wonder in my eyes as I stroked one of the cubs. On the tuktuk back to town I told this Irish man from County Down who was visiting with his family from Adelaide and he guffawed wildly, as did Alan
Trekking?
Sure - just watch where you step... and the others (even the two teenage sons of the Irish man who were acting disinterested on purpose beforehand just to be cool). I felt like a right knob. Apparently it is highly unlikely that the cubs were vegetarians, or so I am told. I still think they might be.
On the way home we stopped at the bridge briefly and remembered Alec Guinness in the film 'Bridge over the River Kwai' and the real prisoners of war who built it. We planned to come back the next day, but unfortunately something happened to my insides and I was really ill for the next twenty-four hours. It was really annoying as I wanted to go to the bridge. I did try and ventured out for ten minutes but no joy. I would like to point out that this was at least seventy two hours since the cookery course, so it can't have been my cooking. Alan went out and had a look, and took a video of the bridge for me, which was really sweet. It was also quite funny as he was nearly ran down by a really slow train in the making of it, adding a delightful
Ox
Chiang Mai Jackass element.
We made our way back to Bangkok via mini-bus in time to catch the flight to Singapore.
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matthew26
non-member comment
love it
i really love the pictures and how you describe everything. I felt like I was really there.