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Published: September 11th 2008
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Greetings once again ladies and gents and welcome to the 'difficult fourth blog' - however after just re-reading my first 3 I am pleased to see that I didn't set the comedy bar too high.
So, fresh back from the trek it was time to find new accommodation in Ch Mai. And as such it was time to say goodbye to Nice Place 2 and hello to the ironically named 'Happy House' (the owner was the grumpier sister of the jungle 7eleven lady). That aside, the good news was that they had hot showers. On reaching the room I couldn't believe I'd fallen for the 'hot shower' trick again as I jumped in to another cold shower.
A day of chilling round Ch Mai followed saw me catch up with my one thai massage per day - I think I may have squeezed in two to make up for the lack of pampering on the trek. The massage ladies in Ch Mai were v much like those in BKK insofar as I didn't get a discount for my lucky arms (so thin, lucky they don't snap) altho during one of them I did get a 'tag team' as they
called it - it was in fact 'two at once' (not like that) but I wasn't going to pick holes in their vocab as they didn't charge me double.
That afternoon something embarrassing happened, yes it was the fact that I couldn't go more than 9 days without a trip to BK or Maccy Ds. And as I tucked into my Whopper meal I noticed on the table opposite me an older western man having a one way conversation with a bored twenty/thirty something thai girl. This paying for company is something you see a lot of over in these parts however after witnessing this first hand I couldn't understand see how the bloke could be enjoying it (the conversation, as I'm sure the burger was as lush as mine) as the girl look so bored and hardly spoke back to him. I mean this is something you can get for free in any nightclub in Cheltenham as I have proved for the last 10 yrs or so. The irony of this little moment was that he was less embarrassed paying for company than I was eating at BK in Thailand!
The following day I went on an
adventure day trip which consisted of a 3 hr go on a quad bike followed by 2 hrs of white water rafting down a 10k stretch of the MaeTae river. The former was excellent fun and after a good talking to about safety we were told that we would have 'adrenalin' (in the words of the instructor) driving thro the country. I realised this would defo be the case when I got to my bike as the back tyres had no tread. And when I started driving it I found out that if I breaked too quickly it stalled. So for the next 2 hours I would have to over accelerate for the uphill bits and under-brake for the downhill bits.
The white water rafting consisted of a rushed safety lesson (as we were late getting there due to someone crashing a quad bike and having to go to hospital) before we were finally let loose on the grade 3-4 stretch of river. It was a great 2 hours and, on paper we had a good balanced team two blokes at the front, two girls behind and the guide at the back. I however let the side down by
Sanctuary setting
Elephants roaming in the field paddling like a girl and am sure I was mainly respnsible for us going backwards down one of the rapids.
The next day would be the best part of the trip so far - the 2 day stay in the Elephant Sanctuary which has been the subject of many documentaries and press articles. It was set up in 1995 (I think) and aims to rescue elephants that have been mistreated and allows them to see out their days with dignity in a relaxing environment.
The day began with a trip to the market where we helped load the elephant food onto trucks as these bad boys consume 10% of their body weight everyday (beat that Reevesie). On arrival at the sanctuary we learnt about the elephants (ie their groupings, names and backgrounds) before feeding them their favourite food.
Later on it was time for the elephants' post lunch bath so they headed to the river as did we armed with buckets, brushes and cameras to get in on the fun. We then had a short lecture whilst the mother elephants took their babies to the river for a wash - we had to be out of the
way for this as they are v protective over the babies. We then had a video explaining what has happenen to elephants in Thailand over the last few yrs (decline in numbers) and how they are treated and tortured prior to being used by humans. Then more feeding and more bathing (I tell you the guys living here have a great life!)
As I'd opted for an overnight stay I along with 2 others were allowed to chill out and soak up the surroundings until dinner. Then after staying up for a dull draw btwn Villa and LFC it was back to the hut for some kip. The funny thing was that we were accompanied by our minders (3 dogs) who came back with us and slept out on the veranda all night (despite a monster storm) and were there in the morning with wagging tails ready to escort us back to the main area for breakfast.
The morning was probably the best part as we were allowed to walk in the park with our guide and get right up close to the elephants before the next group arrived. Got some great pics, esp next to the giant
Maximus who I decided was my favourite (not like that) cos of his height and the fact that his front legs were like step ladders and as such was the slowest mover of the lot. The rest of the 2nd day was a mirror of the first day altho we had the added bonus of meeting the founder of the park ('Lek') which was a great privilege.
For more info on the sanctuary check out www.elephantnaturefoundation.org
It was then back to the Happy House (where my landlady still couldn't manage a smile) for another night before planning the journey to the Laos border.
I had heard that the 5hr journey to Chiang Kong for the border crossing was a bit of a rough ride so there was with a hint of disappointment when I found out that the daytime bus slots were full and I would be going on the night bus...but boys and girls, that's the next entry so stay tuned...
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King Kev
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Catch up
Hi G just caught up on the blogs, looks and sounds amazing. I hope you took lots of photo's of the Bridge!!!! All that lovely food and your eating a Burger. You're not missing anything here, just work and rain.. Did you manage to see the great England preformance last night?