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It's a long'un i'm afraid....
We arrived at Chiang mai and as usual were met by numerous hotel touts. We went to the tourist information desk where a guy told us we could get a free ride into the old city to look at his hotel and if we didn’t like it could simply leave and go look elsewhere, so we agreed. The hotel was ok but quite far from the markets and main backpacker area so we decided to look around. We stopped to have some breakfast before taking a tuk-tuk to the backpacker area where most of the budget accommodation is. We came across a tout claiming he could take us to a guesthouse with rooms at 200 THB per night so again we agreed. Chiang Mai Inn Guesthouse – the rooms were not as big and maybe not as nice as the previous hotel but the place as a whole had more character and personality than the previous place. The guesthouse also ran a tour company called ‘Mr Whisky Trek’ and we were keen to find out some more information about trekking in Chiang Mai so we sat down for another sales pitch.
They had two
types of tours – the one that everyone does, run by another company which is reasonably priced and involves the usual elephant riding, bamboo rafting and overnight stay with a hill tribe village. They also did what they call the ‘non-touristic’ trek, which includes all the same things but further afield meaning you don’t see any other tourists while you’re out there. He told us there was a non-touristic 3 day 2 night trek leaving in 2 days time and that 4 other people had already signed up to it. We went back to our room to think about it, the trek was expensive and after all we are not really outdoorsy people are we?... Screw it lets do it!
That afternoon Debbie took a nap while Angelo went Thai boxing which he loved – unfortunately he didn’t manage to get any photos of himself in the little silk hot pants 😊. As it was Sunday we took a walk around the Sunday market in the evening which is supposed to be full of lots of hill tribes people who come to sell their handicrafts but it seemed mainly to be local people selling the same old things –
nice atmosphere though and many buskers, a lot of them we noticed were blind, playing some pretty awesome music.
Monday; we did nothing except take a walk around town. In the evening had a meeting with the trek group and guide, Mr Ton, to go through the route and what we would be doing. There were 6 of us all together, the other 4 being a couple of Brazilian lads, a Spanish guy and another Brit – Debbie was the only girl! We got an early night as we were leaving at 7am.
After an early breakfast the jeep came to pick us all up. We first stopped off at a market where we both had to buy some proper shoes, socks and something waterproof as we hadn’t actually packed any! We opted for some snazzy ankle boot style wellies and rain ponchos – a good look! Then it was off to ride elephants through the Jungle! Our Elephant was called Non Pao (we think).
After the elephants we got back in the jeep headed for a village when we got stuck in the mud! Angelo, because he was wearing his snazzy ankle-wellies – got out to
help Mr Ton push! We arrived at the village and Mr Ton gave us a tour and explained about what life was like for the people there. We stopped for lunch -some tasty rice followed by fruit. Mr Ton them gave us all a belt with knives and catapults. Angelo thought he was Rambo.
We set of walking into the jungle and it took around 2 hours. During this time we swung on a Tarzan swing, fell over down the slopes due the rain and practiced how to kill chickens from a distance with just a banana stalk and a knife. (No chickens were harmed in this training exercise!!) . We also set some rat traps to catch some rats to eat. We were relieved when the trees cleared to reveal a little hut perched on a hill – Camp!
One we reached our hut where we were to spend the night we all took off our boots to check for leeches and as Angelo took off his boot a massive one fell out! It must have been sucking him for some time, and his leg didn’t stop bleeding for a good few hours!!! Eeek.
Later in the evening
we all sat together chopping up vegetables for dinner which the man of many talents, Mr Ton, then cooked up for us. There we were in the jungle expecting ration packets and instead we had restaurant quality potato curry, stir fried chicken and vegetables. Nom Nom indeed.
Next morning we went out to find our rat traps so we could have barbequed rat for brekkie – no rats today though, it seems they all decided to stay in their holes rather than venture out into the rain for the sake of a few nuts. Never mind, we had scrambled egg and toast waiting for us back at camp!
After breakfast we headed off back into the jungle, this time accompanied by a dog that Angelo decided to name ‘Lloyd’ although we later found out his name was ‘Gurrer’ or something that sounded like that! The trek was harder than the previous day, up and down, across streams, scrambling over rocks and tree roots. After around an hour we arrived at the waterfall where we were to have lunch. Mr Ton whizzed up some noodles with veg while we made ourselves some tea. After lunch we took advantage of
the make shift shower that had been constructed from bamboo next to the waterfall (the shower at camp had consisted of a barrel of cold water and a bucket which we had all avoided).
We again headed off into the jungle and were again relieved to reach the Karen tribe village where we would spend the second night. We dropped our bags and grabbed a well-earned can of coke. Angelo tried to become friends with some of the kids who were stood there staring at us and he offered them some chewing gum. He made friends with a boy called Na-kle (Ang decided to call him “knuckles”; not sure the little boy found it funny!!). Angelo and Jack (the other Brit) played football with the little boys whilst Mr Ton was cooking dinner. We treated to stir fried veg, pork and pumpkin curry (which Debbie is still raving about!!). We were sat admiring Mr Tons carving skills when Debbie was made aware of the gigantic spider that had taken its place on the wall behind her. Of course she then suddenly became aware they were pretty much everywhere. Despite her distress due to her massive spider phobia she managed
to sleep (or at least lie down in the dark with the covers over her face) in the hut without a mosquito net.
The following morning we left the village and headed off for about an hour and a half walk to be picked up by our jeep and taken to bamboo rafting. Angelo was nervous as he can’t swim! We both got out life jackets and jumped on the rafts, Debbie fell over a few times loosing balance and Angelo spent most of the time crapping his pants and worrying the raft would tip over. We actually did nearly tip it over at one point. After rafting we had lunch and then we headed off to see the waterfall where we had a little swim. It is the highest waterfall in Thailand apparently. This was the last stop on our tour and we piled back into the jeep for the journey back to Chiang mai.
A shower had never felt so good!
The following day we did pretty much nothing. We did book some activities for the following day and take a walk around the night market though which we enjoyed.
We were picked up at
9am for our cooking class. Perm (chef/teacher) picked us up and we headed off to the market to pick up some fresh ingredients. He was a comic, cracking jokes about everything; the only other person in our cooking group a middle aged Korean lady called Peg who did not seem to appreciate some of the cruder jokes! We on the other hand loved it. He also told us the Thai word for pumpkin - “fuk” – which he found very funny. Perm drove us to his house where he taught us to cook spring rolls, pad Thai, soup, drunker noodles, Thai curry and stir-fried dishes. Angelo cooked his favourite Thai dish, his beloved tom yam soup with shrimp.
After cooking we sat down to eat our yummy creations and were given certificates by Perm who told us we had successfully graduated from his cooking school as we had both made it through with eyebrows intact. Debbie unable to resist ended up buying some utensils made of coconut!!
Later that evening we visited Chiang mai night safari. We weren’t expecting much but actually we thought it was the best zoo we had ever been to! Debbie held a lemur
and was slightly freaked out that its hands felt like human hands. Our driver walked us around showing us all the animals. After on we hopped on little safari trams and we were driven around the park at night. Zebra, Giraffes, pigs and Deer all approached the truck – the best bit was when the giraffes poked their heads into the tram and we fed them bananas. We also saw lions and tigers and bears, oh my! And a few hyenas, hippos, rhinos kangaroos and camels. We stopped briefly on the way out to watch the end of a lady-boy show before being dropped off at the Saturday night market.
We had a slow start the next morning, but by lunch time managed to make it up to Doi Suthep, a temple on a hill with views of the city. To be honest we found the whole place a little too touristy with people trying to sell you things you don’t want all the way up to and down from the temple and young children pestering you to take a photo with them in their traditional dress for a ‘good price’.
In the evening we made our way
to the bus station to catch a bus to Nong Khai where we would cross the border into Laos. At 8pm we boarded our first VIP bus which was actually quite comfortable with reclining seats and free biscuits 😊
We really liked Chiang mai and were a little sad to be leaving. It’s more relaxed than Bangkok but still with plenty to do and the locals are really friendly!! – Maybe one day we will come back here – once we’ve seen the rest of the world!
Deb and Ang
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