Northern Thailand - Sukhothai, Lampang, Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai

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Yes, it is that time again, time for another update in the travels of Abbie!! You guys may have noticed that I am trying to update my blog about once a week and that this blog is a little late in coming but that's because things have been a little non-stop for a while. Things are slowing down a bit now (thank god otherwise I'm not sure I'd survive!!) which means I finally have time to update!! Woooooh!! Ok here goes.

I left you guys last time as I needed to run and join my tour group for the all important tour meeting so lets start from there.

Once we'd had the meeting, a bunch of us headed out with our tour guide, Boom, for some dinner. Boom took us into China town, and it was here that I finally managed to try some durian. I'd been trying to find it since arriving in Thailand, as my Singaporean friends had told me that I absolutely had to try it and that I shouldn't be put off by the smell... I had read somewhere about the 'pungent flatulence of durian' and if that doesn't make you think twice before trying it I don't know what will! In my opinion, it smells like a gas leak. When I went to take a bite, I suddenly thought, 'I can smell gas coming from somewhere', it was like when you leave the gas on while trying and failing to light a hob. It was only when I took the fruit away from my face that I realised it was the fruit itself that was giving off the smell. I'm not really sure how to describe durian, my tour leader, Boom, told me that durian is like marmite back home, in that you either love it or hate it. It tastes really odd, a tiny bit like mango, and it is sweet with a strange (and not all together pleasant) aftertaste. I didn't love it or hate it, it was simply OK....

On the first real day of our tour (12th March) we went to Wat Pho. Yes, I had already been there, but it was nice to go with a tour guide as I finally had my questions about it answered. Wat Pho is the oldest temple in Bangkok but the Reclining Buddha is only the 4th largest in Thailand (the others must be HUGE!). The Buddha was once open to the elements and the building was added later to protect it (answering my first question in my last blog). Boom also told me that the bowls I put money in the last time I was there are monks bowls, so by putting money in them you get the same good luck you get from giving food to monks.

Next on the agenda was a boat tour of the river and canals. The only difference from my last boat tour was that I got to see the Temple of Dawn, Wat Akun. This temple is made completely of broken pottery from China, When the Chinese transported pottery to Thailand, inevitably some of it got broken on the way. The Thai's, disliking to waste anything, made a temple and used the broken pieces to make decorative mosaics.

It was then quickly back to the hotel before the 6 1/2 hour bus journey to Sukhothai. The Kingdom of Sukhothai existed from 1238 and lasted about 200 years, and Sukhothai city was once the capital. When we arrived it was pretty much just dinner and then bed, as the bus journey had really taken it out of us.

The next day (13th) we got up early and went on some skylaps (I am not too sure about the spelling!!) which are like back to front tuk tuks. Tuk tuks have the motorbike in front and the carriage part behind, whereas skylaps have the carriage at the front and the driver/motorbike at the back.

Boom took us on an amazing tour where we got to see a different side of Thailand. First we saw the paddy fields and learnt how the rice takes 3 months to mature and then the soil is left for 3 months before being used again. We got to see the rice plants up close, and our drivers also showed us this plant whose leaves wilt when you touch it.

We paused briefly at the ruin of a temple from Sukhothai's heyday and then it was on to see some cock fighting (no not that kind of cock fighting, you dirty minded people!). Cock fighting is illegal in Thailand, and so is betting, but it seems to be the standard thing for Thai people to watch on a Sunday. Just about everyone in the country seems to have a pet cockerel that they occasionally fight. I had mixed feelings about seeing this as I had always thought it unnecesarily cruel and violent, with cockerels fighting to the death.
When we arrived, men were carrying their cockerels around like favoured pets, or even babies!
Before the cock fight can start, a man has to come and judge whether the two birds are the same size and weight. This is done by eye and hand, nothing so sophisticated as scales or measuring tape. Once everyone agrees that the two birds are similiar enough for it to be a fair fight, the owners start to rub female hormones on to the cockerels. It is this female hormone that makes the birds fight eachother. While I was watching, one man dipped a feather in the liquid hormone and then put the feather briefly down his bird's throat... Why? I have no idea!
Next, a sort of incense is burnt to relax the birds, so that they are not unduly stressed before the fight. While the incense is burning, the owners warm some wax and use it to start attaching feathers to their cockerel's wings, making the wings longer...again, I'm not sure what the purpose of this was. While watching is drawn out process, it became obvious that these people really care for their cockerels (as paradoxical as that seems!). At the first place we went to, one of the owners decided that he didn't want to fight his bird, as he was worried about it getting hurt, even the prize money of 2,000 baht (about 40 pounds) wasn't enough to tempt him.
As preparing the birds once they have been ok-ed to fight takes so long we decided to move on to another place to watch the actual cock fight.

It was nothing like I expected. It was very much like boxing but between cockerels instead of humans. It wasn't as fast or violent as I had thought it would be, instead the birds pushed and leaned into eachother a lot, with sudden and short bursts of jumping and flapping while pecking and clawing their opponent. In no way am I saying it was tame and soft, the birds were panting and bleeding by the time the break was called, but then so are boxers....

I was happy to learn that the birds don't fight to the death, and instead there are generally 4 rounds in a fight, each lasting about 5 minutes long. Points are scored depending on where the birds peck and claw (much like muay thai, thai boxing!), and it is the bird with the most points at the end of the 4 rounds that wins.

It is hard to explain without people seeing it themselves, but my whole group left the cock fighting place with the opinion that cock fighting isn't completely wrong or cruel, and that the Thai's don't do it because they have a sick sense of enjoyment. However, this being said, I don't think I will be hunting out a cock fighting place when I get back to England.


After the cock fighting we went to a local factory. As the rice takes 3 months to mature, people need something else to do to earn money while they wait for the rice to be ready to pick. At the factory they carved the local teak wood into mirror stands, wardrobes etc. We were also shown a teak leave, which when you rub it and crush it between your fingers, it turns red (like it is bleeding!). The Thai people use teak leaves to make red dye for their clothes.

Next we went to meet the most beautiful woman in the village (according to Boom). I was a little unsure about this activity, as I didn't really see the point, but once I saw her it all became clear. The most beautiful woman in the village is this lovely old woman of 87 years. She is hunched, with a twisted back from years of bending and picking rice by hand. She is completely blind, although that only happened recently, so when you go see her she loves to touch you, as it is the only way she can get a sense of what you look like. She lives with her daughter and son-in-law in a house that is over 100 years old. It is made of wood and corregated iron, and like lots of traditional Thai houses, it is built on stilts. I was so glad we went to see her, as she spends the best part of the day completely alone, in darkness, as her daughter and son-in-law are out picking rice.

We then went to a house with all these things made out of bamboo. It was interesting to see what could be made from thin strips of bamboo, and the traps are pretty amazing. It was even more interesting to learn that the local Thai people really wanted to catch rats in these traps, not because they are a pest but because they sell for 200 baht per kilo at the market, whereas chicken is only 60 baht per kilo. Rat is evidently pretty damn delicious to Thai people....

After a lunch of the best Pad Thai in the world (SOOOO DELICIOUS! or 'Alloy' as the Thai's say) it was back to the hotel for a short break before the next activity (yes, this was a very full day). After 3 hours of chilling by the pool, we were ready to go cycling. We went cycling around the old ruins of Sukhothai.

These ruins reminded me so much of Cambodia, which isn't surprising as the temples were built following the Khmer style. It was thoroughly enjoyable to see the temples by bike, and as it was late afternoon it was a nice temperature. It was in the ruins that Boom told us the story of Buddha and of the Thai King that invented the Thai alphabet. It was a great end to a great day.

We left at 6am on the 15th of March as we were heading to Lampang. Thankfully we all managed to get a seat on the public bus, though at times, the unfortunate people who were having to stand were practically on your lap. Some people even had 3 people sharing 2 seats. I slept most of the way to Lampang, but it was still an uncomfortable journey.

We arrived in Lampang only to be greeted by grey clouds. This meant that we couldn't go see a temple, as the main reason for going was to see the coloured shadow, and obviously, no sun meant no shadow...

To console ourselves we all opted for a tradtional massages from the local school of massage. Most of us went for the Thai massage but Zara (a friend from my tour) wussed out and got a foot massage. This was different from the other Thai massage I had had before, and I have to say, more enjoyable. It was much more about finding the right pressure points and pressing firmly and less about pressing as hard as humanly possible in approximately the right place. What was especially funny was that we had to wear these special PJ type outfits that made me feel like I was in some hospital (a loony bin!!).

In the evening we travelled around the town by horse and carriage, stopping at a night market on the way. Unfortunately, due to the rain, there wasn't all that much to see. We then went for a lovely dinner by the riverside at a place with live music.

We left Lampang on the 15th to head for Chiang Rai right up in the North of Thailand. On the way we stopped at an elephant conservation centre. Here we went to see an elephant hospital and an elephant nursery. Then we went to see the elephants bathing, which was hilarious to watch as water fights broke out and one girl fell off her elephants back into the water. At the end, once the elephants had been sufficiently bathed, a couple of elephants came up and sprayed the people watching with water.

Then we watched an elephant show. Here we were shown the skills that elephants are trained to do; lifting legs so mahoots can climb on easily, pulling and rolling logs with their trunks. These bits were interesting to watch as it demonstrated the skills elephants have been trained to do for years (rightly or wrongly). Then the mahoots got their elephants to paint pictures and play musical instruments. I felt this cheapened the whole show, as the elephants were taught this purely for the tourists. Having said that, some of the pictures the elephants painted were pretty damn amazing. Much better than I could do.

After the show it was time to ride the elephants. We got on a chair on the elephant's back, two people to a chair, and the mahoot riding on the elephant's neck. It was amazing fun. Sometimes I felt a little unstable, like I would slide off the chair and under the pathetic piece of rope that didn't really seem to do anything. The elephants took us through the river and through some forest, the rocking motion of the elephant making it very difficult to take focused pictures.

We then had a quick lunch and just before leaving the centre we went to see how they make elephant dung into paper. Elephant dung is odorless after it is put in water with a little bit of glue (bleach?) in it. Then the dung is broken up in the water and then spread evenly onto a frame, and once it has been left a couple of minutes, the water is slowly poured away. The frames are then left to dry and once dry the paper is ready to be peeled off.

Then time to leave the centre and finish our 6 hour or so drive to Chiang Rai, arriving at dinner time.

It was unfortunate that it rained all day the next day. This made a potentially great day pretty average. Firstly we set off for a border town right next to Burma. This is where the jewels, like jade and ruby, first enter Thailand after being mined in Burma. There were lots of market stalls, but as it was raining hard, no one was really in the mood to shop much. Most of us bought some jade jewellery, as it is popular in Asia as it believed to protect the wearer from harm. Zara, Chantal and I went to the most northern point in Thailand, from where we could see the gate into Burma. We were tempted to cross the border, but at 500 baht for the shortest visa possible, it didn't seem worth it just to get a stamp in our passports.

Next Boom had a surprise for us. She took us to a temple that was in a cave, with lots of monkeys all around. There monkeys seemed friendlier and cuter than the ones I had fed in the south of Thailand. We had two little Thai kids with us, shoeing us up by running up the steps to the cave, while the rest of us struggled and whinged our way up (though to be fair, that might just of been me and Zara whinging). Their names were Naaht and Eg (least that's what they sounded like).

Then it was on to the opium museum to find out the history of it in Thailand. The hill tribes in particular have stories about opium, possibly as they had (have?) the biggest problems with the drug. They even perfected a position that you should lie in to get the most enjoyment from it. The museum was particularly interesting as it had lots of pictures and information about the hill tribes of Northern Thailand, e.g. why the Karen Long-Necks wear the rings around their necks.

Lastly we went on a boat ride of the golden triangle. This as pretty cool, as while we were going down the river, we had Thailand to our left, Laos to our right and Burma directly ahead. There was even this tiny island (with nothing on it, literally a small bit of land with grass on it) that is either part of Laos, Burma and Thailand, or completely separate of them (I name the island, Abbie Island, and it is my country :D ).

The boat took us to the Laos island of Donsao, where we could go look round without having a Laos visa. All there was on this island were simple hut houses and stalls selling good quality fake designer bags and t-shirts. When we arrived we all had a shot of Laos whiskey. There were a number of choices, whiskey flavoured with gecko (for health), tiger penis (for ....??? Though I'm sure we can all guess!!!), King Cobra (for energy) or Scorpians (not sure what this one was for either). I opted for the gecko whiskey (it even had the dead geckos lying at the bottom of the jug) as I was coming down with a slight cold, but most people went for the cobra, though a couple of brave people tried the tiger penis.....
We were in Laos for the grand total of half an hour, but still, I've been to Laos.... (it totally counts!!!).

We were all quite relieved to get back to the hotel where we could have hot showers and get warm and dry!

It was up early for us on the 17th so that we could go to Chiang Mai. We went to a temple called Doi Suthep as soon as we arrived. As it is high up it was emersed in cloud and unfortunately it was still raining!! We climbed 306 steps to get to the temple, and as per usual, we had to take off our shoes to go in. This was rather amusing as the terrace of the temple was very much like a paddling pool due to the rain, so we were wandering around with very wet feet. It was at this temple that I saw my first even female Buddhist monk (nun?). Like their male counterparts, they have shaved heads, but their robes are pink with a piece of orange cloth over one shoulder.
We were blessed by a monk (a normal male monk), and he blessed us by spraying us with water. Apparently, according to Boom, he wished us long, happy lives.

The next exciting event of the day (though it was actually evening by this time) was a cookery class. We got to learn some traditional Thai receipes and eat our efforts at the end. We had Pad Thai, Green Curry (including making the green curry paste from scratch with all 14 ingredients and grinding it with a pestle and mortar), stir-fried chicken with cashew nuts, and fried banana. All so unbelievably yummy. At the end of the cooking class we were given a cookery book with all the receipes we'd learnt and many many more in it, so hopefully this means I'll be able to recreate my masterpieces back home!

Lastly we went to see some Thai Boxing, Muay Thai! Muay Thai is like no other type of fighting I've ever seen. Once the fighters are in the ring they go to each corner of the ring to pay respect to the spirits, holding the rope of the ring as they walk from corner to corner. All the while a band plays. The same song is played while the fighters actually fight and the boxers seem to lift their feet in time to the music, and kind of dance to it. Thai boxing involves more kicking than anything else, even though a punch is worth more points.

The first fight we watched was between some kids who couldn't have been older than 11! I understand that they are learning and need to practice but I didn't particularly enjoy watching little kids beat eachother up, escpecially when one practically knocked the other one out, and the poor thing couldn't walk straight afterwards and struggled to get out of the ring.

Thankfully, the rest of the fights involved people 15 years old or older. The fourth fight was between two girls and that was one of the more interesting fights to watch, although it was the only fight to last the full five rounds. The rest were over by the second round if not the first!

After the girls fights was the most bizarre fight i have ever seen. Four young guys got in the ring with blindfolds on and started to try and fight eachother. It was pretty hilarious to watch though it was a somewhat pointless fight as they all took a pounding for no reason as there was no winner at the end.

My favourite fight was the last fight. There was a rather tall boy (very tall by asian standards) in the blue corner and a much smaller guy in the red corner. It didn't seem like it was going to be much of a fair fight. As expected the guy in the red corner took quite a beating from the bigger guy in the first round.
Things seemed to level out in the second round with both fighters getting in some pretty good kicks and punches. I found the fight really exciting and decided to root for the smaller guy (doubly so as one of my tour group had bet 100 baht on him to win).
The third round started my like the second when suddenly, the little guy got in some good kicks and winded the other guy badly. Still, he got up so the fight continued. Then a couple of minutes later, the red guy got in this amazing punch, and that was that, fight over. The bigger guy was on the floor, struggling to clear his head and get up.

The next day (18th March) was my last day with my tour group as in the evening they would be getting on a sleeper train to Bangkok, whereas I would be staying in Chiang Mai to do my mahoot training and explore a bit more of the area.

It was up early in the Death Hotel (christened such by Zara, Chantal and I because four people had died there the month before. We'd only found out that morning when Zara got an email from her mum saying, 'don't stay at the Downtown Inn'....exactly where we had just spent the night. Apparently the deaths had nothing to do with the hotel but was the fault of a nearby restaurant who hadn't prepared the fish properly. We were still very concerned!!!) for a sparse breakfast (avoiding anything that could possibly kill us) and then off heading for the hills.

Soon enough we arrived at an elephant camp where we all had our second experience of elephant riding in Thailand. Chatal and I sat on our elephants' necks' while everyone else opted for the seat. I didn't feel massively stable on the elephant as I had no idea what the best way of sitting was, and I had to try and avoid touching the elephant's ears as that is how the mahoot controls the elephant, and I would just confuse the poor thing by sending it the wrong signals. We had more time to just enjoy the ride this time, as having ridden on elephants before, we were less preoccupied with taking pictures and instead concentrated on the actual experience. It also helped that I wasn't raining this time.
Elephants aren't vastly comfortable to sit on, and when you sit on their neck, there is nothing whatsoever in front of you. Things would have got interesting if my elephant had decided to put his head down towards the floor as I would have most likely toppled off.
Thankfully, though quite a greedy elephant, constantly putting his trunk back and blowing air at us asking for some sugar cane that he knew we had, he was nice enough to keep his head up.
I had a few wobbles when my elephant went downhill and my body was tipped forward towards nothing. And I was concerned as we headed for the river as I couldn't help but notice that my elephant was smaller than most of the others and therefore my feet (and thus my shoes which i was wearing for once and not flipflops) were in danger of getting very wet. But I panicked for nothing and I managed to keep all of me on the elephant and dry.

After the elephant ride we went to a village of the Karen Hill tribe (not the long-necks though). Here they had wooden huts with leaves for rooves. Some of the building were more modern but there were a lot of the old tradition buildings too. We got to see the women making scarves and we learnt a bit about their culture. The women who wear white dresses are still single, whereas the women with blue blouses and coloured skirts are married. When a couple want to marry the woman has to go ask the mans family for permission. If they refuse, the wedding will not happen. If they accept, the woman has to pay for the wedding, all the food, drinks etc. However, once married the man is expected to pay for everything for the woman (what a good tradition :D ).

Once we had all had a good look around, we all walked to the nearby waterfall, where a few very brave members of my group went in and tried the water (bare in mind it had been pretty darn cold the last few days and raining constantly). Their faces said it all, and I was pleased I had decided to keep my clothes on.

My last activity with my group was bamboo rafting. When you step on it and sit down the water comes up through the gaps between the bamboo and soaks you. This being the case I decided to kneel in my shorts to begin with. However, as we went down the river, the water got choppier and there were spatterings of rapids (not real rapids by any means, just a few small rocks with water pouring over them but they seemed scary at the time), we decided to all stand up (with the permission of our raft driver) and float down the river that way. There were five of us on my raft including our Thai raft steering and he though it was hilarious to wobble the raft every now and then, just to test our balance. I was funny as he constantly caught us be surprise and I almost ended up going in a few times (taking Zara who was in front of me, in with me). If he wasn't wobbling the raft he was using his pole to hit the water and yelling 'CROCODILE'. We knew he was joking but it didn't half make us jump!
It was all over pretty soon, and it was time to go back to Chiang Mai so everyone could grab their backs and catch the train. I went with them to the train station to buy my train ticket back to Bangkok (500 baht, what a bargain!). I said my goodbyes and then I hopped in a tuk tuk to take me to my new hostel to chill before my mahoot training commence the next day. I was a little sad to be by myself, especially as I had found two really good friends in Chantal (my Canadian roomate throughout the whole tour) and Zara (a fellow Brit), and not forgetting the wonderful Boom, my tour leader who was so amazing and befriended us.

My mahoot training started on the 19th of March. This was where I learnt how to care for and command elephants. I was picked up from my hostel and taken to Baan Chang Elephant Park. 'Baan' means home in Thai and 'Chang' means elephant, and the people who work there mean this to be the final home for their elephants and to care for them until they die. They have 16 elephant there and they don't believe in putting seats on the elephants backs as eventually it damages them, so everyone who goes there has to learn how to ride on the elephants neck.

The first thing we did was feed the elephants sugar cane. As all elephants are different, there are some you can feed directly into their mouths and others you have to stand as far away as possible while still being able to hand the food to their trunks.
Then it was time to learn some commands and practice getting on the elephant. To make the elephant lie down you have to say 'Nalong'. You usually have to repeat this several times before they listen and do it. Once the elephant is lying down, you use the elephants leg and ear to help you up while you swing your other leg over its back. Not as easy as it sounds as these animals are pretty huge!! Much harder than getting on a horse. The elephant then stands up and you shuffle forward until your legs are dangling down by its neck and your knees are behind its ears.
After sitting on the elephant for a while, getting used to it, it was time to take it for a test drive. To steer you say 'gway' while nudging the left ear (if you want to turn right) or nudging the right ear (if you want to turn left). To go forward you say 'pai' (pronounced 'pie') while nudging both ears at the same time. To stop you say 'how' while squeezing with your thighs.

The test drive was fun, though it is debatable how much the elephants were actually listening to us or whether they were just following their mahoots instructions.
After a nice lunch and a rest it was time to put our newly learnt skills to the test and mount up and head into the jungle. I think my elephant was called 'Kun Tao' and he was the smallest elephant there at only 3 years old. he was also the cheekiest and the greediest. Every now and then he would let out this little trumpet and stop to have a munch on a tasty tree or bush. Because he is still small (the same height as some horses) I sat on his back instead of his neck. I would keep forgetting I was on an elephant and everytime he stopped I wouldn't help but nudge his sides with my feet. Unsurprisingly, it had no affect. Going down hill was really hard as I would find myself sliding forward, and gripping with my legs and thighs didn't do all that much. Still I managed to stay on and thus survived our walk around the jungle.

When we got back, it was bath time. The mahoots climbed on the elephants and took them into the water. We then had to follow them in. This involved climbing down into the water and stepping through mud that came up to my knees!!!!!
Once in the water, I used my bucket and brush to clean my elephant. The little guy seemed to love it. My mahoot then threw a bucket of water over me and then got on the elephant and persuaded him to shower me with water from his trunk. No other tourist at the place was being attacked by their mahoot and elephant!!! My mahoot then got me to get up in front of him on the elephant, and we then went around spraying everyone else. It was great fun. A water fight with an elephant on your side is somthing else!!!
I then clambered down only to be showered some more by my elephant, just so I didn't feel left out.....

It was then time to leave the pond and shower as everyone else had to go back to Chiang Mai. When they had gone I was the only foreigner left at the park, a rather novel experience. It was just me, the 16 mahoots and their families, and theowner of the park and his family. As I was staying for two nights I was shown to a room where I could dump all my stuff. Then I had the rest of the day to relax. While the mahoots played volleyball (topless 😉 ), I chilled in a hammock and read....only to discover that reading in a swaying hammock gives me motion sickness, so I had to relocate to a nearby bench. I also had the pleasure of Christmas, a lovely, friendly little tortoiseshell cat who is called Christmas as that is the day he just turned up at the park and never left.

I was given an absolutely huge meal for dinner, easily enough for 3-4 people, but it was all just for me. I was even told to ask if I wanted any more....as if!! It was so tasty and I ate until I couldn't eat another bite. Then i relaxed and enjoyed the quiet of the Thai countryside, looking at the large full moon and chatting with Tom (or it could have been 'Tum', it sounded like something like that at least...), the guy who had been explaining everything to us all day. It was nice to get a real sense of how Thai people live and I only wished I knew more Thai so I could try talking to everyone else. Alas the fact that every vowel in Thai can be said in 5 different tones always foxes me as I can't hear the difference!!

On my second day at the Baan Chang elephant park, I woke to find Tom ready to give me breakfast (which again was huge). He told me that the plan for the day was for me, him and an elephant with it's mahoot, to go walking in the jungle and we would be having lunch there before heading back to the park area.

I was introduced to Manoi, a 30 year old female elephant and her mahoot, Ba. First of all, Tom showed me how elephants differ in how they eat, and that it is important to know how each elephant eats as then you can notice any chance and see whether the elephant is sick or not.

Then it was time for a lesson about elephant dung. I had to smell it (smells like grass) and look at the colour, as dung is the best indicator about how well the elephants stomach is working. Then we had to clean her area, and this involved us shifting about 25k of dung, which she had produced over night (Helen eat your heart out, you have it easy with your horses!!), and clearing the leftovers from her meal.
As elephants spend all their time eating (and only sleep for 4 hours) they produce a lot of waste!!! Add to that that they need to be bathed 3 times a day and eat a hell of a lot of food, it is no wonder that every elephant needs it's own personal mahoot to look after it.

Once Manoi was ready (after a quick bath), Tom went and grabbed the stuff for our lunch and we were off. Manoi was much bigger than the elephant I had been riding the day before, so it took me a little while to get used to her movements and feel steady on her. As we were walking, Tom and Ba had their catapults out and were scanning the trees, looking for something to add to our lunch. They came close to getting a wild chicken but it got away.

To prepare lunch, they carefully made a fire and then got some bamboo and poured egg into one and put chicken in some sort of sauce in the other. They then stuffed leaves into the end of the bamboo to seal the food in. The bamboo was then stood in the fire so the food inside could cook. I'm not sure how you know when the food is ready, but when some of the egg exploded out of the end of one of the bamboo stalks, it was pretty obvious it was done. Tom carefully sliced the bamboo from one side, exposing the cooked egg inside. I then just scooped it out with my fingers and ate away.

A table was made on the floor of leave and then all the food was laid out (before we ate, Tom took some of the food, wrapped it in a leaf and left it in a bush as an offering to the spirits) and lunch was ready. It was all 'lum (delicious in Lanna Thai) and we all ate until we were 'Katon' (full). Having handled spicy quite well since coming to Thailand I got a bit cocky and decided to try the chilli thing Ba and Tom were eating with such relish. It simply involved getting a small green chilli, breaking off the end and dipping it in salt. Tom even told me that it wasn;t very hot. Let me tell you, it was hot!!! So hot infact that my tummy protested in the form of violent, rapid hiccups. Thankfully they didn't last long, but it amused the guys to no end.

We then started to head back, Ba making himself a hat out of a leaf, which Manoi kept knocking off when she flapped her ears.

Once we were back it was bath time again for Manoi. This ended with Ba and me soaked, as the inevitable water fight broke out. Mahoot just can't seem to help themselves from starting it. Tom stayed nice and dry as he wussed out of coming in and just sat on the bank laughing.

It was then time to relax, get clean and have dinner. Yet again it was huge! After dinner, Tom and the Mahoots made a bonfire, and there was singing and dancing (as well as the cooking of sticky rice in a bamboo stalk). They had a guitar, and one mahoot used an empty plastic bottle and some corregated iron as drums. Nearly all of them could play something on the guitar, so we had songs in Burmese, Thai and English. They all loved singing and weren't at all self-conscious (I'm not even sure they know the meaning of the word!!) which was refreshing. However, they couldn't understand why I didn't really want to sing. Tom and Ba were determined to get me to sing, and they found lyrics and music to some songs in English and sang. Sometimes it wasn't obvious that the words were english, but it was all done with great gusto, and I did eventually join in with 'Let it be', just so at least one person wasn't singing 'Let I beeee'. Ba was known as the guitar man and was pretty amazing. He could listen to a song and then sit there and work out the chords onthe guitar by himself. However, I wasn't too sure about having Ba sing me a couple of songs (while playing the guitar of course), especially as he was staring at me the whole time. I certainly didn't know where to look when he started singing James Blunt's 'Your Beautiful', and can only surmise that he didn't know what the words meant, hahahaha. I settle for the safe option of looking into the fire and avoiding all eye contact at any cost. They were very sweet but god they can be intense when they sing!!!

I was entertained by Ba and Tom all night, but my favourite part of the evening was when I made the mistake of saying I was taller than both of them. I then had Tom, Ba and this young lad from one of the Karen Hill Tribes, refusing to believe that I was taller than them. To be fair we were all pretty much the same height, but each one was at convinced he was at least 1cm taller than me (that could have been true of Tom but I was definitely taller than Ba and the guy from the hill tribe). They used the guitar, paper and anything else to hand to put on our heads to see whose head came higher, none of these things being particularly effective in determining who was actually taller. In the end I decided to just agree with them and say they were probably taller than me (NOT!!!) just so they would calm down and put the guitar down or at least use it how it was supposed to be used. By this time it was getting late and I was expecting a phonecall from my family, so I said goodnight and went to stand by the elephants as i had discovered that this was were the best mobile phone reception was to be had.
Another very, very good day :D.

It was a sad day the next day as I had to pack up my stuff and leave the elephant park. I had become amazing comfortable there in a remarkable short period of time and was slightly reluctant to go. Still, go I did, and it was off to join a day tour to go see a waterfall and go whitewater rafting.

When I met up with the othe day trippers, we all trekked for an hour to this waterfall, where we could go in a cool down in the water. The way there was uneventful but on the way back, this guy fell and hit his head. It bled quite a lot as head wounds do, but thankfully he wasn't that hurt.

We then went to the Whitewater rafting place. I was extremely nervous about doing this as going over rocks in a little boat doesn't appeal to me at the best of times. My anxiety only got worse when the intructions were explained to us and the Thai guy said ominously 'I hope you remember these things....'. Still after we got started and went over the first few rocks and crashing down the other side, it wasn't so bad. There was a moment when two people fell out of one of the other boats, and one of them was trapped under the boat as it moved along. They got he out and back in the boat quickly as he was fine, but it had been scary to watch. The rest of the rafting was thankfully calm, and the Thai captain of our little boat started to teach us some Lanna Thai words. I can now say 'No worries' and 'I understand' in Lanna Thai.

After such an eventful day it was nice to go back to my hotel knowing that I had nothing to do the next day but relax by the pool (and write this blog!!!!).




And you will all be pleased to know that that is it for now!!!! We are finally caught up :D. I am off on a trek tomorrow to see the Long-necks and various other hill tribes of Thailand, can't wait!!! Will tell you all about it in a week or so!! Take care everyone, will keep you all posted as to whether I will be going to Japan or not on the 2nd of April..........

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Photos

Skylap
The funny backwards Tuk-Tuk

Wat Chang Lom
Ruin of a temple from Sukhothai

Cock fighing
Checking to see if they cockerels are the same size and weight

Cock Fighting
Putting the female hormone on the cockerels

Cock Fighting
The actual fight

Golden Triangle
The little bit of green you can just see is the island that is right inbetween the borders of Laos, Burma and Thailand. Not terribly exciting to look at though.

Doi Suthep
A temple in Chiang Mai

Elephants and their mahoots
At Baan Chang Elephant Park

More me on an elephant
And Ba with his leaf hat

Comments

[Zara]

Wow...that took me' forever!
Hey ab!!! Jeez Louise that took me forever to read! Lol absolutely love it tho! :o) Glad u finally got to go and see the long necks, how was it?! Did u hear about the earthquake?! Where r u now?! Yay a visit 2 tunbridge wells! Miss ya lady! Spk 2 u soon! Zara XxXx (p.s I didn't woos out!!!) XxXx

[catia]

This is a great picture abbie! you should make it your profile pic! looks like ur having such a great time :)