Blogs from Lampang, North-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia

Our last day in Chiang Mai was eventful to say the least!! It began with Camilla's stomach feeling a little delicate, but after some tablets we managed to go to the Tiger Kingdom where we posed with 3 massive tigers, which were a little drowsy to say the least but had very powerful tail flicks and got some very intimate tiger photos taken!! Camilla was then draped with pythons and mildly molested by them before Elin and Becky tried them too but a little less keenly!! After an exciting morning we headed back to the hotel and waited to leave to catch the overnight train to Bangkok which didn't quite go to plan.....within about 10 minutes of boarding Camilla and Elin were taking it in turns to use the toilet and were looking ever so slightly ... read more

Well instead of getting off the bus and staying in Chaing Mai we went straight to Lampang on the way to the North! Lampang was an interesting one! Very much a busy city, people weren't so friendly here. Unfortunately Greg hadn't been feeling well so we decided to stop here a little longer to make sure he was better for our next 5hour bus trip! It was nice to just chill and read books and do little, the river was horrible and stank and but at least Greg was starting to feel better! The great thing about it was the food, we found an amazing restaurant on the corner which was fabulous food and very very cheap! Next stop...Chiang Rai! Capital of the Northern Chiang Rai Province! So much quieter than Chiang Mai and much prettier ... read more

We zijn vanaf het noorden weer gaan afzakken richting het midden van Thailand. We zijn nu in Lampang maar daarvoor hebben we nog wel wat dingen gedaan. In Chiang Mai hebben we dus een kookcursus gedaan, erg leuk, we zaten in een groepje met 4 andere mensen en omdat iedereen zelf zijn gerechten mocht kiezen hebben we dus ongeveer 21 gerechten gemaakt. We begonnen die dag met een bezoekje aan de local markt ergens achteraf in een straatje, mooi om alle stalletjes met de diverse producten te zien, iets minder mooi het aantal kakkerlakken wat daar rondliep, want die waren in grote getalen aanwezig en liepen dus ook over voeten, dus om de 2 minuten hoorden je wel weer iemand gillen omdat er een heel grote kakkerlak over zijn voeten liep! Maar deze dag wel geleerd ... read more

Lampang Having recharged the batteries in Chiang Mai, we headed for the city of Lampang a few hours south of Chiang Mai. As usual, the bus station was complete chaos, little english is spoken, and notice boards and both (un)helpful passers-by are full of contradictory information! We eventually got tickets and arrived a few hours later in this small, quaint town. Both our reconnaisance and information in the Lonely Planet was poor and in this instance we were booked in at a hotel called the Top Hotel which they equated to a smaller Hyatt. Needless to say, it wasn´t, but we settled in and decided to explore. Our two main reasons for coming to Lampang were to visit the largest and most reknowned elephant conservation centre and to see a paricular teak temple thought to be ... read more

Day Nine...The Munch Bunch!!! If I eat anymore pineapple, I am worried that I am going to turn into a member of the Munch Bunch...not quite sure which one but I am sure Jojo or Miss Kat will inform me of this vital piece of information. Thai food is actually beginning to agree with me, which is a big surprise especially having never eaten the stuff in my life before. Also at this point, I have to mention to The Macsquirrel back in the UK that they lay every table out here left-handed...the amount of grief she gives me back in the UK as a result is untrue! Todays leg of the journey took us from Sukhothai northwards to Lampang whose city is proudly represented by the chicken! We visited several historic sights including those at ... read more

Our Global Vets summer is almost to a close! For the past 3 weeks, we've been busy tackling elephant feedings, large animal surgeries and everything in between! First, we spent a week at the Kamphaengsaeng campus of Kasetsart University where we were lucky enough to shadow some large animal vets for a week. During that time we got to witness a surgery on a cow with an extreme abdominal hernia, piglets with an E. Coli infection, an orthopedic equine surgery, and two bovine dystochia cases - one ending in a caesarian and one with a fetotomy! First experiences for all of us! We also travelled around with a vet to local farms and saw numerous interesting cases: a cow with Bovine Leukemia Virus, an artificial insemination procedure of a cow and a cow with a babesiosis ... read more

Hi all, How is everyone? Hope you're all doing okay. So after 2 pick-up trucks, 1 taxi, 2 buses and 20 hours later we arrived in Lampang, Northern Thailand. Lampang was a a lot less touristic than all the other places we have visited so far and we were often the only farangs (foreigners) in sight. The town was probably more representative of Thai life but we found that there was little to do here. On Wednesday 19th March we got a taxi to the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre. We had enrolled on a 3 day / 2 night mahout (elephant trainer) course to learn about the elephants and how to ride/command them. I was assigned a 10 year old asian female elephant called Wanalee (which I think was the cutest but I'm biased) and Stu ... read more