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I had just under 4 weeks in Thailand with Kate and Jess as travel companions so we decided to cram as much in as possible and the adventure started in Thailand's crazy capital, Bangkok!
Bangkok....It's brash, buzzing and a little bit bonkers with a healthy dose of inspiring and impressive culture. Our first day was a bit of a blur because Jess was jetlagged and exhausted from her trip over and Kate & I were equally exhausted from our transit from Vietnam and previous night at the airport...we took the obligatory trip to Kao San Road and scoped out the area around our guesthouse but that was about as far as we got.
The following morning, our sightseeing in the sunshine began in earnest. First stop was the Grand Palace with its bright, blingy, dazzling buildings and statues of buddha. It was overwhelming beautiful and a maze of different buildings which kept us occupied for a good couple of hours until the heat got too much and we went in search of shade and a cool drink!
Unfortunately, one too many nights in the rock solid bed in our guesthouse in Bangkok in combination with sleeping awkwardly caused
my back to go into spasm and left me unable to carry anything or turn my head either way! My eternal gratitude goes out to the girls for taking good care of me and especially to Kate who carried my big backpack as well as hers for a couple of days 😊
That afternoon we got our first overnight sleeper train up to Chiang Mai which was a novel experience but so much better than the sleeper buses in Vietnam and remarkably comfy. At about 8pm a lady came along the carriage and one at a time the seats were made into the bottom bunk, the top bunk was folded down and the two new beds were made up; it was carried out as efficiently as a military operation.
After an above average nights sleep, we arrived in Chiang Mai early in the morning and took a Songthaew (big open taxi) to an area of the city with lots of good hostels and went in search of our home for the next few days...luckily we stumbled across Jonadda's which turned out to be a gem of a guesthouse, run by a lovely couple who genuinely cared about providing
a good service and helping their guests wherever they could.
We were all keen to spend some time with the elephants during our time in the north and after a little research decided to go to Baan Chang Elephant Park (translated as "home of the elephants") where we would spend 48 hours learning to be mahouts. This involved learning commands, riding bareback in the jungle, bathing them, feeding them and clearing up after them. Everyone knows elephants are big but its only when you are standing right next to them and perched on their backs that you realise just how big! The first thing we did on arrival at the park was to change into our mahout "uniforms" (fetching blue loose tops and knee length trousers). After meeting all the elephants and giving them some bananas and sugar cane, it was time for our first lesson - learning basic commands, how to get on, stay on and then get off again! After successfully completing this, we went out on our first bareback ride into the jungle; each elephant had two people on them so the lucky one got to sit on their neck with their legs behind the elephants
enormous ears and the not so lucky person got to perch in the middle of their back with only a rope hold on to! We soon discovered that downhill was a lot more challenging than the ascent, especially for the person at the back, with moments of squealing while hanging on for dear life and gradually slipping further and further towards the front. I think we certainly kept the mahouts entertained! The last part of our first day involved giving our elephants a thorough and well deserved bath...and our elephants in turn giving us a soaking too. The evening saw us sitting around a fire with some of the mahouts, drinking thai whiskey, eating sticky rice that had been cooked in bamboo on the fire, releasing chinese fire lanterns and trying to recognise a random selection of English songs being played on the guitar and a makeshift drum kit of empty buckets and sheet of metal. The following morning, while some of the mahouts nursed their whiskey induced hangovers, we were allocated our elephants for the day and had to do the morning clean up of their area. I think our guide thought we were going to be grossed out
by the whole process but we all got stuck straight into sweeping and shoveling dung into bags - after 10 years of veterinary nursing, there's not too much that grosses me out anymore!! After several more hours of bathing, trekking, practising our commands and feeding our new friends, it was time to shower our aching bodies and head back to Chiang Mai and reality.
Kate and I also undertook a one day thai cookery class on a farm on the outskirts of the city; it was a deliciously fun and interesting day which saw us making spring rolls, pad thai, thai soups, curry pastes and traditional thai desserts. We were sent away with a recipe book as well so I'm hoping i'll be able to recreate some of the dishes on my return.
Next stop was Chiang Rai (further north) and the bumpiest bus ride of our lives to get there with 4 hours of being jolted and thrown around by our crazy driver. Although to the amusement of the girls, in the second half of the journey I still managed to get some shut eye even though my head was banging against the window next to me!!
We'd gone to Chiang Rai to spend some time with hill tribes and so as soon as we arrived, we headed for the Akha Hill House which is another hour north and is accommodation run by members of the local Akha tribe which also offers trekking and opportunites to explore the local surrounding with a guide. The temperature change as we headed north was noticeable and the warmer layers had to come out, especially in the evenings as we huddled around the campfire. We decided to do a couple of days of trekking with our guide, Amae. The first day saw us trekking in the surrounding jungle with Amae teaching us to survive and live off the land; we made bamboo chopsticks and cups with a machete, caught our lunch of fish, crab and shrimp by damming up a section of the river and then Amae cooked us a feast including omelette made in bamboo. Our return journey to the village saw us heading to a local waterfall and Jess & I braving a rather brief dip in the icy, cascading water while Kate looked on and laughed!
Little did we know the following morning just how hard
Amae was going to work us for our second days trekking; it was a day designed to take in a few different local tribes and also the hotsprings and it soon became evident this was going to involve a lot of long, steep hills! Luckily the hotsprings were approximately half way around our route so we could take a break and relax for a while in the naturally heated pools before setting off for the other half. The final part of the day was Amae taking us to the museum he is building and furnishing in the outer part of the village...its a work in progress but he was deservedly proud of it. After one final day spent chilling in the sunshine and recovering on the terrace of our "VIP" cabin, we headed back to Chiang Rai and then took a less bumpy bus to Chiang Mai.
We had a couple of days before we had to head back to Bangkok to continue our journey south to the islands and took the opportunity to continue sampling the amazing cuisine of the north with my favourite being Khao Soi (a scrummy yellow curry with meat, vegetables and noodles, then topped
with fried noodles), explore the extensive and bustling night markets and I also took the opportunity to take the girls to a local shopping centre so that we could go to the cinema; something I hadn't done since I left home.
Next stop, Koh Lanta.....
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