Blogs from Chiang Mai, North-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 20

Ready to do a little time traveling? I hope so, because I'm now about six months behind on my blogging and desperately trying to catch up! These elephant adventures come from last November, when we had a slew of American friends visiting and we all spent some time up in Chiang Mai, in the northern part of Thailand. If you've ever wondered what it's like to get up close and personal with a creature that stands 10 feet tall and weight upwards of 8,000 pounds...read on! It was set to be an all-girls' day out at Ran-Tong Elephant Camp. My friends Katie, Anjelica, and I signed up for a half-day visit to feed, ride, and bathe the elephants, while Jeremy was going to hang out in town on his own. Unfortunately, Anjelica came down with a ... read more

Geo: 18.8, 98.98Started with a leisurely breakfast at 8.30am,wanted to relax after the trip, so went across to the Massage Palor and had a Neck, Shoulder and back massage with me adding a hand massage, wow it was brilliant. A lady who looked like she was from Mary Poppins, was selling for 80 Baht sparrows she would release to ensure we had a safe trip home! Mick had 15 minutes to wait for me so in the same area he found the shop that sells cashmere and silk rugs (no that is not all) he also found a tailor Sunni so when I came out we went and saw Sunni with me walking out getting a Jacket, skirt, pants and 3 shirts made. Fitting tomorrow and he will take in the 2 skirts I had made ... read more

On our original plan we weren’t sure whether we would go to Chang Mai. The easy route would be to go to Bangkok and either fly or train. It was due north and we needed to head south towards Singapore. Two things forced our hand one was if we flew into Thailand we got a 30 days’ visa as opposed to a 15 days one, the other was that Alison wanted to see some elephants. There wasn’t a direct flight so we took two Air Asia flights, the first a short hop to Bangkok then an hour north to Chang Mai. This city is known for three things temples, elephants and cuisine. We were going to experience all three during the next 3 days. On coming out of the airport the first thing we noticed was ... read more

Tina Writes The bus to Sukothai was just a bus. Nothing VIP about it but it was perfectly comfortable apart from some Kevin Costner movie dubbed in Thai playing out loud. Not such a problem for us though as we just watched Breaking Bad together making the journey feel much shorter. We were dropped off at the bus station and hopped on a songthaew (pick-up truck with makeshift benches on the back) for £1 each. As we left with a French couple, we quickly pulled over and Rob and I were transferred to a Tuk Tuk as the French couple were going in different direction. We arrived at the hotel a few minutes later and they asked us to find our name on the list of expected guests. We were not on it. I pulled out ... read more

Non sans une certaine nostalgie, me voilà maintenant de retour en Thaïlande que j'avais laissée il y a quelques mois de ça pour partir explorer l'Indochine. Si j'avais principalement visité le Sud et ses plages de rêve, je tenais absolument à retourner pour voir le Nord et ses jungles luxuriantes. Sur une route nettement meilleure qu'au Laos, je finis par arriver à Chiangmai après 18 heures éreintantes de bus. La ville me plait immédiatement: bien que capitale du nord, elle est beaucoup plus agréable à vivre que la bouillonnante Bangkok. Cernée par des restes de remparts centenaires, elle est également sertie de parcs et de fontaines qui en font un endroit plaisant malgré la chaleur. Je vous passe les temples magnifiques, je pense que vous commencez à connaître, mais je relaterai juste deux anecdotes qui prouvent ... read more