Thailand you were Amazing!

Asia » Thailand » Northern Thailand
March 9th 2012

Published: March 9th 2012

Saturday 3^rdMarch – Bangkok

Today we spent the day cruising around Bangkok. We went to the end of the sky-train line to Mo- Chit and visited the Chatuchak Market which is the mother of all markets. It sprawls over a huge area with tens of thousands of stalls and hundreds of thousands of visitors a day. Everything is sold here, from live chickens and snakes to handicrafts and antiques as well as huge piles of clothes, beer and hawker stalls. That evening we got on the overnight bus once again (complete with you own hostess, snacks, surround sounds in your seat and massaging chairs) and travelled 10 hours up to Chiang Mai.

Sunday 4^th March – Chiang Mai

We arrived in Chiang Mai which is a cultural darling: it is a cool place to kick back and relax, the streets are alive with monks and motorcycle-driving house-wives, bookshops outnumber glitzy shopping centres and the region’s Lanna heritage is worn with pride. After we checked in at our guest house we hired a motorbike and went exploring, we made it up a snaking road that ascends the hill to a long flight of steps, lined with ceramic tiles – this temple is called Wat Phra That Doi Suthep and is one of t north’s most sacred temples. The site was ‘chosen’ by an honoured Buddha relic mounted on the back of a white elephant; the animal wandered until it stopped (and died) on Doi Suthep, making it the relic’s new home. In the evening we went to check out the festivities of the Chiang Mai Walking Street where they close off the respective streets to vehicles for a festive shopping bazaar know for crafts and souvenirs, Dan only lasted about half of the market until he retired to a reggae bar while I continued on to shop up a storm (needless to say we had to send a box back to Melbourne the next day full of shopping).

Monday 5^th March – Chiang Mai

Today we still had the motorbike so went out to the Tiger Temple which is about 15km (40 minute scooter ride on the main road) out of the city. At the tiger temple we got to spend time with the youngest tigers (3 months), play with them and sit in their enclosure. We also went around and saw the older tigers and their enclosures.

Monday evening we enrolled in another Thai cooking class, this class was called the Ban Thai evening cooking school. As part of the course we visited a local market to learn about local exotic fruits and vegetables, then we both cooked up a four course meal. This time we could cook anything on the menu not a set menu so we ended up making: thai fish cakes, pad thai, coconut soup with chicken/seafood and penang curry – needless to say we were full after the first course.

Tuesday 6^th March – Chiang Mai/Jungle

We had an early morning pick-up to begin out two day trek through the hill tribes and jungle. After a 40 minute drive we stopped at the market for fresh supplies before we reached the elephant riding sanctuary. Dan and I had the youngest of all elephants in our group, we weren’t sure if this was a good or bad thing, turns out our elephant loved to misbehave, we were often sprayed with her trunk and while our guide got off to have a pit stop she stole some bamboo and started galloping away……panic!! Lunch was served after our ride at a local restaurant (road side table and chairs) then we were on our way to the jungle. We were really lucky and there were only six people in our group, an couple from Hong King who would have been about 50, a couple from Poland who were in their early 30’s, us and two Thai guides (one spoke good English and one spoke barley any). The first part of our hike was through big tall trees that left huge leaves on the track, we were warned that snakes like to live under these big leaves as its nice and cool, especially cobras….. and also one rule of the jungle, when (not if) we come across snakes they will usually scuttle out of our way, however cobras are territorial and will not move, we need to get out of their way, and if they start coming for us RUN. We naturally assumed that the guide would be carrying some antidote, however when Dan enquired he told us only the hospitals have this antidote and if we get bitten we have 40 minutes to live, however we can increase this time by drinking other peoples urine (not our own as it already has been poisoned). Needless to say we were feeling rather apprehensive about walking through these big leaves and what was to follow. We made it to our first stop unscathed where we cooled off under a huge waterfall, the temperature in the jungle was a little cooler that Bangkok and down south but probably still sat at about 35 degrees. What we found more exhausting was the smoke in the atmosphere, the hill tribes burn off all the dead foliage on the ground once a year which makes way for new growth, amazingly this does not burn all the trees growing as the fire is not big enough and the big trees are too green from the rainy season. After our break we were full steam ahead to visit the first hill tribe. This village was only very small and part of the Karon tribe, there were only 12 people living there, however out guide is part of the Karon tribe and knew the people so we were welcomed with fresh bananas and allowed to take photos in their house and of the family. Next stop was the village we were sleeping the night, we trekked through dense bush, over rivers, through open hill sides and up steep hills. During this time I happened to come face to face with my biggest fear, a two meter long red snake that was sitting under the make shift bridge as I crossed it. I may have alerted the whole jungle with my scream and ran as fast as I could off the bridge to where the rest of the group was watching wondering what on earth I was making all of this racket for. Turns out like everyone says the snakes are much more afraid of you than you are of it so we never got to see it again, the rest of our trek along the river (where the snakes like to hide) was very touch and go for me, so after 30 minutes when we finally made it to our village that was a sigh of relief and a couple of Chang beers went down a treat. The village where we stayed again only had one family living there, we bathed in the river, slept in a 14 bed dorm (a bamboo dwelling that had leaves as a roof and mattresses with ripped mosquito nets inside), we ate together a curry that the guide had made with the fresh produce that we bought from the market earlier that day and drank beer around a fire from a huge chilly-bin on an honesty basis with the family. I loved staying here, the people were really friendly, even the dogs were friendly and the place was really homely.

Wednesday 7^th March – Chiang Mai/Jungle

After a really good night sleep we were up, fed, and ready to start the trek out of the jungle. Our trek today as not as long as the day before, and because the couple from Hong Kong struggled with the trek the previous day we had to take the easy route out. We did get to stop at another big waterfall and another hill tribe (this time this one was much bigger, about 12 families) before we made it to the pick-up truck. We ended our trip with bamboo rafting, the locals tie between 7-9 pieces of bamboo together to make a raft and take you down a river through small rapids and winding rocks. Here we saw two snakes on the land lazing in the sun, and another water snake swam by as we paddled along. Our guide thought it was really funny to pretend to pick the snake up and through them at you – I was not impressed and consequently was named a cry baby by the guide!!!!!

We got back to Chiang Mai late that afternoon, checked in to our guest house, went for foot and leg massages then had a bite to eat at the Night Bazaar – the leading night time tourist attraction which is yet another market of vendor carts and trading caravans selling all types of souvenir’s, clothing, cheap watches, wallets, handbags etc and food, including my favourite roti banana coconut pancakes.

Thursday 8^th March – Chiang Mai to Huay Xai (Laos)

Today is a travel day. We travelled by minivan to the Thailand border in a little place called Chiang Khong, after we went through the border office (shack on the side of the road) we got a long tail boat to the other side of the Mekhong and tadaaaaaaaaa we were in Laos. We found ourselves a guest house, a beer, some dinner and checked in for the Gibbons experience which we are leaving for tomorrow.

Missing you all and be in touch when we are back from unleashing our inner monkey - P xx

Thailand you were Amazing!

Copyright Notice: All Rights Reserved