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Published: March 12th 2010
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We departed Bangkok on a plane and arrived into Chiang Mai in the afternoon....we jumped into a Songthaew provided by the guesthouse and went flying down the nice open streets with the beautiful sights, smells and sounds all around us...we love it already and we have been here not even 30mins a songtheaw as you will see is like a little truck that the back is open and has bench seats in it not a bad way to get around!
When we get to 'The Castle' we are all instantly in love with the place and those of us that have been to Bali feel right at home and like we are back there the temperature, the crazy little back streets we went down to get to the hotel and dogs and roosters all around! The staff at the Castle are fantastic and the place is exactly what we thought it would be 😊
So quick freshen up and off we go to the Sunday night markets...we walked down about 15mins and got there to stalls and stalls of food and goodies....all ravished we dig into different things swapping and sharing as we please I buy some twisted potato
chips on a skewer....you choose what flavour you want on them and they sprinkle them I had BBQ flavour....mmm BBQ home made potato chips will be trying this at home when I get back...what a simple but genius idea! Next was a sausage made of garlic and sticky rice and to finish fresh Chocolate Waffle mmmm all the boys dig in and I am not sure what they try and they appear to just go back for something new every 10 mins! Mike did finish u[p with a full sized banana wrapped in a pancake and then covered in CHocolate sauce and hundreds and thousands. We went for bit a walk around and had a look at all the handy crafts etc around the place and really enjoy it...alot of stuff has prices marked so bargaining is hard so after checking everything out there we head home to the castle and settle in for the night before what was suggested to be a big day the next day!
Full Day one we organised a driver....well that in itself was an experience we went in a Songtheaw with what would become our almost permanent driver while we are here first
we head to two Temples one was where you can have a 'Monk Chat' basically talk to them about there lifestyle and philosophy. Mike did meet a couple and talk to them for a while but we were on a schedule and soon head on to the next one which is on the hill top its a bit hazy today so you can't see much in the distance however we have a look around...most of the temples I have seen in all different countries seem to have work happening on them at the moment- they had made an effort this time and have the scaffolding made in similar colour as the stupor so that it blends...this place is pretty cool and I got some lovely photo's of a young girl in traditional head gear she was obviously earring money by doing this about half way down the stair case...we gave her some money probably too much but I took a few photos the temple itself is colourful and is a little walk up..we caught 'the cable car' up which was more like a closed in version of what we went in in Penang at the temple it went all of
50 meters and really would have been more pleasant to walk! We head back down the hill in the Songtheaw to the Zoo and on arrival Mike and I decided that its not for us and that a afternoon of research and relaxation is of priority. We are supposed to head to the night safari tonight so we go back to the b&b we head down the road for lunch and as we are eating a couple of guys pulled up on a bike one jumped off and ran in and put a leaflet on each table for the local type of fighting Muay Thai boxing that happened to be on that night in town only 10mins walk from our place we make this decision that Mike will go to this and I will go to the night safari! On return to the B&B we went into the little lounge they supply and Mike watches a movie while I use free wifi what a great little setup brilliant 😊 Soon I go on the mission to find a hair dresser (there is plenty around) we went to three hair salons before finding one that had a photo of the haircut
I wanted I settle in and have the cut done...I love it so short and easy to care for its great! We went out to dinner and then decided after receiving all our meals 5 to 10 mins apart that the night safari would wait until the following night and T and I head back to research a bit together!
Today is a big day and requires an early start we head out at 8am to the Maesa Elephant Park to see the bathing and the show...it was a real treat the elephants range in age and there is over 80 of them in this camp. First we watch the bathing which is so cute I want to get in and help but I reluctantly stay on the bank and take photo's...then we head up to watch the show...they dance, play soccer, Paint, throw darts at balloons and bow and curtsy to the crowd what a fun thing to see. As Mike and I are leaving the park one of the elephants and his Mahout are sitting in a resting area and we are lucky enough to get to sit on the elephants knee while he wraps his trunk
around us for photos...the maesa elephant park is nice and open and they have 65+ elephants only about 15-20 in the show so hopefully they rotate them and some days they get a rest. Next we head to the village that has been set up here for tourists to see different types of traditional people and how they live they are still in traditional huts, clothes and doing there traditional daily tasks but mainly for show...this to me is a terrible place and made me feel like I was at a people zoo watching a group of people put there because they are different its not very nice...all the same we had paid twice what we had to go see the elephants so I made the most of the situation and got some photos of the different types of people. There was people with big earings, some from burma and the last and main group was the long necks the ones that wear all the rings around there necks to extend them they are originally from Myanmar they don't look very happy and you can see they have no choice but to stay they are moved here from there country
and once are there them and any children born here are not given Identity cards which means they become Aka(not sure on spelling) basically and illegal alien they can't leave as they are not recognised in Thailand or there own country as a person as they have no identity card...there is many people like this through out thailand from what I understand.
We are happy to leave the village after I use the public toilet which are the nicest in thailand so far! We head to the Tiger Kingdom where we have lunch and proceed to have our photos taken with two big tigers Meatball and Sticky Rice (where do they come up with these names???) The tigers are so lovely and they sleep or just sit there while we are with them...you get told the rules don't approach from the front, don't touch its head, don't make loud noises but they were pretty placid when we were there! This experience is unbelievable and something that everyone should do even if its once in there life!
We head back to the hotel and have a rest before early dinner but soon decide that we are all ready for an
early night/quiet evening and rule out the night safari after all....so we head to the night bazaar to get some dinner and have a little look around then head back home as we depart for Chiang Rai tomorrow for a whirlwind trip there and back.
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