The Bare Necessities

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Tuesday morning and we both overslept, bearing in mind we had a pretty tame night. Took a stroll round the night market which seemed to be never ending then stumbled upon and Italian icecream stand and were 'forced' in to buying one each. After that we went to a really nice Greek and Middle Eastern restaurant, that we had read about in our Lonely Planet, called Jerusalem Falafel, the food was really good! We thought we would try and check out this indie bar called "The What" obviously inspired by The Who and see what it was like in there. It was so funny, we were obviously walking down Chiang Mai's red-light district with girls sitting outside every bar and as usual completely ignoring me and Hannah. We saw the bar we were looking for and didn't even stop, it was so funny! It was some smokey old bar with a couple of guys inside playing a game of pool, after that we just headed back to our "cell".

So we got picked up at 9 o'clock on the dot, didn't even have time to drink the coffee we had just made and went to collect some other people. After making us wait for half an hour because they were still in bed they finally stumbled into the back of the van, can't say we were really impressed seeings as we had rushed out of the hotel without time for breakfast. After meeting the rest of the group at the Tourist Information office we all headed off to the jungle. We stopped half way at a market to get some food and anything we needed for the trip. We only took really small backpacks as we would be trekking around in the jungle but I've become quite a pro at packing and light travelling now! We were dropped off to our guide where we got in a minibus which took us to a small village where we started our trek. We walked about ten minutes then stopped for lunch.

After lunch we walked for about 3 hours in the jungle, we stopped at a waterfall halfway which was nice. It was pretty hard going, with some steep climbing that I thought were never going to end! We were all pretty releived when we reached the Elephant camp. When Han and I originally booked the trip we were a bit apprehensive about the Elephant riding but we were assured that as they were kept in the national park there were very strict rules about how the elephants must be treated. Firstly, they didn't have them seats on their backs as they are meant to be really heavy and the elephants don't like them. We noticed they had bells around their necks and when we asked why, we were told that they let them free into the jungle at night so the bells are there so they can find them in the morning. There were twelve of us in the group and five elephants. The first six people got on, one person each on the four baby elephants (I say baby, they were about four years old but not that big) and then two people on this massive elephant called Cambert who was 35 years old. None of the guides sat on the elephants and all the elephants walked along at their own pace to the camp where we were staying, eating trees along the way and not one of the guides had them horrible hooks on them that you see used all the time. It was really nice to just be walking along with the elephants. Han and I got talking to one of the guides who was really funny.

We got to the camp we were staying at, then it was our turn to ride the elephants. We got to go on Cambear the massive elephant. I was sitting on his neck and Han was behind me, it was really funny because he kept flapping his ears and they were slapping my legs. The guide had been explaining to us that an elephant will always look after you and at one point when he stopped for a toilet break the elephant stopped to wait for him. Cambert was a bit slower than the others and our guide ran off and said "goodbye, i'm leaving you in the jungle". So he had just left us in the middle of the jungle on some huge elephant it was pretty funny but we were fine and Cambert knew where he was going. After catching up with the guide we got discussing an "elephant shower" and said we really want one. We got back to the elephant camp and everyone else had got off their elephants, the guide picked up a massive bag full of bunches of bananas then threw them up to me and Hannah. He told us to say "bo" to Cambert and he lifted up his trunk to where we were sitting and we put the bananas in his trunk and he then put them in his mouth and ate them - he must have eaten about fifty bananas in total, he was so lovely!

We went back to the camp and assumed we wouldn't be getting this elephant shower we had been talking about. Our camp comprised of six bamboo huts next to a river with a little camp fire in the middle of it. About ten minutes later and we here Cambert and the guide coming down to the camp. He had a chain attached to a massive log, and the guide was just talking to him and Cambear was doing exactly what he said, it was pretty impressive! He was wrapping the chain round his trunk then putting it in his mouth to pull the tree trunk along to the camp fire for burning. I think he got a bit carried away though and pulled the log straight through the benches surrounding the fire , it was really funny! He also tried to eat a coke can and a plastic bag! Han and I were then called over to the river for this elephant shower, Cambear was laying on his side in the water and we were told to get on his back, the guide said something to him then all of a sudden he rolled over and threw us in the water! It was so funny, even if the river was freezing. We then washed him and got thrown in a few more times and at one point the guide fell in as well! It was the best thing I have ever done, it was lovely to be with the elephants and so nice to see them being treated so well.

After all that excitement me and Han changed into some dry clothes then went back down to the camp. About an hour later, dinner was served, we had some green curry, bean sprouts with tofu and then what can only be descirbed as cooked cucumbers with tomatoes and chicken, different but tasty. It got dark really quickly and the temperature dropped a lot. We had a big fire going but was still really cold. Han and I went to bed about 9 o'clock, we were both pretty knackered. We had six blankets and sleep sheets, I slept with it over my face as I was really scared of the creepy crawlies that might get into our hut as their were loads of gaps. I can't really say I had a good nights sleep, I woke up about six times, either because I was freezing or was aching from being in the same position too long - the matresses were very thing and very uncomfortable.

We got up about quarter to nine in the morning and went and had breakfast which was four slices of toast, toasted over the fire, with a boiled egg with jam and butter. After breakfast we set off walking again, I must say we were aching quite a lot! We stopped in a village to see the Kareen Tribe people, they had loads of animals (obviously for eating) there were little piglets, cows, dogs, chickens, so I was loving every minute! We visited the school which had about ten children in, they were so sweet. They kept looking at me and Hannah then giggling until eventually a girl came up to us and asked if we were brothers, then ran away giggling. I think they meant sisters, although I wasn't wearing any make up and hadn't washed my hair for a few days so who knows?!!!

We decided to take the "easy route" the rest of the way, I don't think we could face anymore climbing. It was pretty much all downhill the rest of the way which wasn't particulary easy either! We got to a little village where they grow loads of vegetables and the local people all started shouting "snake, snake". Our guide and one of the guys in our group (who me and Han thought looked like Hulk Hogan as he wore a bandana round his head at all times) ran over, after killing the snake it was placed into a plastic bag and then given to someone else for his lunch! Lovely! We saw another waterfall and then were collected by a car to be taken to the bamboo rafting, not before having some lunch! The bamboo rafting was ok, nothing amazing. It was really slow and you just stood on a raft made out of bamboo. After this the trip was over and we got a lift back to our hotel which took about an hour.

Got to our new hotel yesterday about half four and were really tired!! We just went out for some dinner last night then had an early night, it was so nice to be back in a normal bed - althought I think I will be able to sleep anywhere now!!

Today has been interesting, we went to go and find the "Prison Spa" which was in our lonely planet book. The women prisoners from the Chiang Mai prison do vocational courses in massage and the money you pay goes directly to them so they have some money when they are released. We got there and had half an hour to kill so ate in the Prison restaurant and I can honestly say it was one of the best meals I've had so far. We went for our Thai massage and the girls were so funny, they were telling us that the ladyboys are kept in the female prisons. They were really fascinated by my tattoos and they were all talking about them!

Tomorrow we have our cookery course which we are both really excited about!

Hope everyone at home is ok. xx

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Comments

[Helen]

Postcard
Sounds like you are having an amazing time. Jake loved his postcard, although he thought the elephant was a dog and kept 'woofing' at it. Pete says he expects our postcard will arrive sometime soon!