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Published: June 19th 2006
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Hilltribe village
Girls playing in the Hilltribe village. Chang Mai, Northern Thailand After a few days in Bangkok, we big goodbye to the crazy tuk tuk drivers, scam artists and touts. We set off on the overnight train to Chang Mai. The Bangkok train station is an amazing place. Very busy and full of people trying to sell you tickets. If you want to get a train ticket it is a good idea to buy from the Advance Booking Office inside the station. We looked for the sign, walked straight towards it and ignored all the people saying "where you want to go sir.. you want ticket to Chang Mai?"
The overnight train is great. We went second class as they had sold out of first class sleepers but it was fine. Very comfortable and quite nice to fall asleep in a rocking train. It is a good idea to book a bottom sleeper bed though. The little boy and his Mum that were sleeping above us were freezing all night as they were right next to the air conditioning. It's much nicer on the bottom.
As soon as we got on the train I decided to pay a visit to the 'ladies room'
It was basically a long-drop in
Hilltribe woman
90 year old woman who has lived in the Hilltribe village all her life. Black teeth from crewing the leaves in the area. A sign of beauty. the Asian 'squat' style. Looking down you could see all the previous visits to the toilet. Nice. At that stage I began to think how this might smell all night... But hey, harden up Kiwi Girl. Welcome to the world of travelling.
I decided to visit again after an hour later and looked down and saw.... the tracks whizzing by. Our toilet was a hole in the floor and all the 'business' I had seen on my last visit was still sitting back in Bangkok station. Nice.
The next day we arrived at Chang Mai, feeling rather happy with our train experience. Quite good to have transport and a nights accommodation all for one small (well in $NZ) price. After jumping in a tuk tuk we were off to the Awana Sleep and Swim guest house. Well that's where we told the driver to take us but he still tried his hardest to take us to where HE thought we should stay. Those guys really try their hardest to get every last baht they can!
After moving in and unpacking we were counting our blessings at getting a nice room with a little swimming pool. This one
Traffic jam!
Elephant trekking through the jungle. Wicked. was even CHILLED which was just what we needed. Lunch was great, despite the fact that the lady pestered us the whole time to sign up for her Thai Cooking lessons..
After the banana in sweet coconut milk I started to feel a bit dodgey. No, not some dodgy diesase from the mangy cats. It was just that the heat, the overnight train and the hot milk turned out to be a bad mix. Chris took me back to the hotel were I slept for a few hours under the air conditioning. Nothing like an afternoon nap to cure all. By that night all systems were go again!
When it comes to shopping, Chang Mai is fantastic. The night markets are great but even better is the Sunday walking market that runs from about 4:30 until 11pm.
Bargining is the rule here and we got very good at it after awhile. And unlike our earlier shopping in China, it was all non-threatening. The stall holders are used to the tourists and you'll find lots of them have a good sense of humour too if you make an effort. The shopping was almost a bit too good. After
Hilltribe crafts
Handmade crafts in the hilltribe village. a few days our packs we bulging and we had to send a box over to the U.K. God, how embarrising.
We had a great day visiting a few of the hilltribes. The best ones seemed to be the ones that you have to walk to. It was neat seeing the kids and especially the old people. Really was like visiting another world. New Zealand never seemed so far away.
The waterfalls were quite nice but the water is very muddy so you certainally wouldn't want to swim there even though the locals do. The highlight was the elephant trek which only lasted an hour but really that was long enough! It's amazing to see how the trainers control the older ones by using voice commands. Our elephant was younger than the others so our trainer (how old are these guys? They look about 14) sat on his head and directed him through the forest.
After that it was time for a nice relaxing ride down the river on our bamboo raft. Hmmm.. was a real laugh until we had to abandon ship before it got caught in the rapids and went crashing over a waterfall. While
Orchards
Enjoying the orchard farm in Chang Mai. Oh no - spot the tourist! the water was only waist-deep it was brown and FILTHY. Character building. Enough said.
There were lots of other things to do in Chang Mai. The orchard farm was nice (I was in my element here!) and there were lots of butterfly farms. (Not quite the butterfly fantasty we had been imagining as most of the butterflies seem to sleep at this time of year. You actually see more butterflies on the treks anyway.)
We also visited the highest peak in Thailand but to be honest this was the least enjoyable trip we did.. nice but a little boring as you are really whipped from one sight to another.
The elephant camp put on a good show and I would love to believe that the elephants are treated well. They do some amazing (un-natural) things like playing football, dancing, play instruments and painting amazing pictures that are sold in the gift shop. Please tell me that the elephants are not tortured into producing the images - I really want to believe that they enjoy it! Also because we shelled out about $20 for one of the paintings by an elephant. Damn, where are we gonna get a
Yeah that's bamboo..
..and that's a fast flowing river... frame big enough?
After five days it was time to say farewell to lovely Chang Mai and get back on the train for the trip to Bangkok. This time it was a first class trip which meant we had our own little cabin. We made the journey through the carriages until we reached the dining hall. The food was revolting but it was great to go rocking though the Thai countryside with a bunch of drunk German tourists while listening to American hip hop.
Superb!
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