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Published: September 18th 2005
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On the Motorbike
Gas is expensive in Thailand as well! Next time I am going to take an elephant. The past few days have been such a blast. We needed to get away from the chaos of Bangkok, so we headed up to the northern tip of Thailand. What a relief it was.
The bus ride to Chiang Mai was a journey. It was an overnight bus that left at 6pm and arrived at 6am. It was a double decker bus with a horrible movie, crowded seating, and air conditioning that brought us close to hypothermia. The good part is that it cost us only 6 bucks each!
Chiang Mai is the second biggest city in Thailand, but it was so peaceful compared to Bangkok. The air was breathable and there wasnt someone screaming at me to buy things every 5 seconds. We spent our first day in Chiang Mai on 125 cc motorbikes that we rented from some shack on the side of the road. This only cost us $4 + gas!
Our day on the bikes was insanity. We had to drive on the left side of the road through a crowded Thai city with weird signs and swarms of locals swerving in and out of traffic on their motorcycles. The weather was sporadic- pelting
Local Restaurant
Stopping for a beer on our motorbike trip. down rain one minute and 35 degrees the next. we took the bikes onto the highway and cruised at around 90km/hr until we found a little thai restaurant that someone made out of their front yard. After a beer, we decided to head back along the 'faster route'. 15 mins later, we were all split up and lost. Everyone I approached for directions could not speak english, and I had absolutley no idea where I was. After losing control on a u turn in an alley and knocking someones clothes line over, I was able to find a taxi driver who knew minimal english. He gave me directions, and after getting lost only a few more times, I was able to find our guesthouse.
That evening we invested in some $1 beers and played playstation in an internet cafe for 30 baht/hour ($1). The next morning we departed for our 3 day jungle trek. We piled 13 people into the back of a pickup truck with benches on either side. This is a popular form of transportation instead of taxi's in Thailand. 4 Hours later we arrived at a hill tribe in the northern hills of Thailand.
This
Drive to jungle trekking
We were crammed into the back of a truck for 4 hours. first tribe that we saw are completley independant. They have farms stretched across miles and miles of rolling green hills, pigs, cats, dogs, and chickens wandering the village, and wooden shacks to live in. It truley was amazig to see.
Our group then trekked through the jungle for several hours until we arrived at the next hill tribe. we were given a bambo hut that overlooked the jungle to sleep in. the toilets were porcelain holes in the ground that dont flush - you have to scoop up a bucket of water and pour it into the toilet to flush. The local tribe served us an amazing curry dinner, beer, thai moonshine, and some of the local herbs...it was quite impressive.
Later in the evening all of the local kids came over to see us. we sat aroud and talked as they wrestled and practiced their muay thai boxing on eachother. Most of the people there can not speak ANY english at all...but we still had such a great time. The adults joined later joined us for several (well maybe a little more) beers with absolutley no communication by language! We all still laughed and had a wonderful
View on Trek
Green Mountains near the hill tribe village time though! So far, that had been the highlight of my trip.
The next day, we rode giant elephants through an extreemly uneven and muddy jungle path. I shared an elephant with 2 others, 2 of us were sitting in a wooden box up top, and an other was riding on the head! An hour into our trek, our elephant started to lose her temper! That was scary to say the least. Her baby was following along behind us, and was feeding from our elephant. At one time, one of the group leaders did not give the baby enough time, so the mother let him know! Elephants have quite a scary growl...and a very loud trumpet. I wasn't too pleased as I was 15 feet above a muddy puddle and wasnt keen on being bucked off and stomped by an angry elephant.
We spent the next night at a different hill tribe, and had a great night, much like the fist. That day we rafted down a swollen/flooded river on traditional bamboo rafts. This was by far the most exciting part of the trip. the water was very fast, and often drove us straight into trees or overhanging
Hill Tribe Village
A curious little girl who came out to greet us. branches because the only way to steer is by pushing a long bamboo stick into the ground and pushing. We acquired many scratches, lost our shoes, and eventually snapped the main flotation for our raft in half! The raft was stuck on a rock and we were thrown off. Eventually we were able to make our way back up to the raft in the fast current and dislodge it, but unfortunatley we broke it in the process. We spent the rest of the trip submerged in the water with a broken raft. After being clotheslined a few times by overhanging logs, we made it to our destination to complete our jungle trek. it was a crazy 3 days!
The next night we went to a local thai bar that was packed with locals. It was very interesting. I bought a dish of curry at about 2 am with our favourite beer- Chang. Chang is 7% alcohol, tastes great, and comes in 750 ml bottles for only $1.
Right now I am in an internet cafe in Chang khong, just alongside the meikong river. we have to take our shoes off to go into the cafe, as it is
Hill Tribe Village
Little boy asking Jay for some money. quite common in Thai culture. The roof is made of bamboo, and the windows are just open holes in the wall so we can feel the jungle breeze!
Tomorrow we are getting up early to start our trip down the meikong river into Laos. After getting our visas, we will be floating down the river for 2 full days! The scenery is supposed to be amazing, so I am quite excited. This will only cost us 9 bucks a day! I'm not sure if there are any internet connectios in Laos, but I will do my best to keep this updated.
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Lucy
non-member comment
Same Same but NOT different!!!
Hi there you three. This made me laugh, you stayed in the same bamboo hut as I had the week before...must have missed you by hours when I left Chang Mai, thats Tom I see in the picture correct? Top bloke. Same problem with the rafts for us out there too! Tim/Jay, what about the Ping Pong? ;) Take it easy - Lucy x