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Published: January 26th 2008
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We left the border crossing for Chiang Mai with two Swiss guys, hiring our own mini-bus so we could have some more comfort. We arrived in Chiang Mai being dropped at the night market where we were told there was lots of accomodation but suprise, suprise, we couldn't find anything! We ended up hiring a tuk-tuk being taken to the old town where we finally found a room at the Chiang Mai Whitehouse, the people were really friendly and we felt like we were at home. Just down the road from our hotel there was an english run restaurant called the Peppermint Cafe with imported english ingredients and the best thing was the HP sauce!
Whilst in Chiang Mai we visited Bhubing Palace and temple which were elaborately decorated and the views from the top were amazing. From Chiang Mai we done a trek to visit the Longneck tribe and the Lahu Village. Our group Sid, Amy, Richard, John, Sasha, Sharon and the three of us all got on like a house on fire. Our trek started with a trip to see the longneck tribe and other smaller tribes surrounding them. The longneck tribe had metal rings around their necks
which they do from the age of 5 years old and it is believed it makes them more attractive. We asked them how it felt to wear the rings and was told that it really hurts, plus it looked really uncomfortable. We were then taken to the market, where we met our tour guide "Mr Good" who liked to snack on grasshoppers!
Along the trek he liked to play practical jokes and had his own catchphrase for everything "Why Not!' The first part of our trek was an elephant ride where Sam D had to sit on its neck and feed our elephant bananas so he would keep walking up the hill. We then had to cross the river in a cage that was held up by a rope, it was scary and hurt when we hit the tree on the other side. We then had a three hour trek up the mountains to reach the Lahu village where we would be spending the night. The trek was very difficult we had to climb over rivers and up hills on dirt tracks. When we finally arrived at the village we were shown our room which was 12 mattresses on
the floor of one of the cabins, everytime someone walked across the room the whole thing shook. That night Lucy was really sick so went to bed early, whilst Mr Good entertained the rest of the group with his guitar and singing. The next day again we had to trek but only for 2 hours until we reached a waterfall, the trek was much harder than the day before because the steps were steep and crossing the rivers on stepping stones was tricky. We finally made it down the mountains where we were going to do white water rafting, Lucy couldnt do it because she had collapsed from exhaustion and was looked after by Mr Good whilst the others went and done white water rafting and bamboo rafting. We was then taken back to Chiang Mai and visited our local night market and bought some souvernirs. The next day was Christmas Eve and we met up with Amy, Sid Richard and John and went for dinner and a drink. We played connect 4 and pool with Sid being the connect 4 champion.
Merry Christmas! - Today we were going to Maetong Elephant training day to look after the elephants.
It was the best day ever and one we will never forget. We were given uniforms to wear including a straw hat and was then introduced to our elephant Jumper, who was the biggest elephant in the whole of Chiang Mai. First we fed him sweetcorn and sugar cane, and he ate lots of it. We then gave him a bath scrubing him and washing him all clean. People were going past on their bamboo rafts and were amazed about the day we were having and what we were getting to do. After Jumper was all clean Sam and Sam got to ride him first. Sam D rode him round the neck with Sam J behind and half way through they swapped round. Trying to get Jumper to sit down was really hard. He kept putting his front legs down first which left Sam d hanging round his neck until finally he sat down properly. Sam J got back on the elephant up his trunk which left her on her stomach with her legs in the air. Once the elephant made it to the top we all swapped and it was Lucys turn. Jumper took Lucy back down the hill
and then carried on walking right into river. The man who looked after jumper started giving him commands and he started spraying Lucy with water and then laid down in the river with Lucy still on his neck. We then got to wash Jumper again and had a water fight in the river. We got back to Chiang Mai with the biggest smiles ever.
That night we all called home to wish our families a Merry Christmas and then went out to meet Amy, Sid, John and Richard for a christmas drink. After meeting them we went to a bar where there was live music and all a free bbq. We then went to a club which was strange, there was loads of old white men with really young Thai women and the entertainment consisted of live singing where ever act coming out seemed to wear less and less clothes each time, and you never knew whether it was a man or a women. After finally having too much we all left the club, only for them to then put on proper clubbing music. The next day we were leaving Bangkok so met the guys at our favourite restaurant
' peppermint cafe' and said our goodbyes. The bus journey to Bangkok was horrible we had no legroom for 10 hours and couldn't sleep a wink. When we arrived in Bangkok the first thing we did was walk down the famous Khosan Road, which was full of clubs, bars, market stalls and food stalls, it was the place to go during the day and the night. Because we were waiting for our Indian visa we had to make the most of our stay so visited the Grand Palace, Patbong night market and Sampeng Market. We also visited the local cinema to watch I am Legend and ate loads of popcorn.
The New Year went with a bang, we got all dressed up and headed for Khosan Road where we started drinking cocktails on the street at one of the many bars. We met a group of guys from England Jake, Al, JC, Nick and Nick and joined them in celebrating the New year at the Shamrock night club. They were fun guys and we couldn't stop laughing all night. Like all drunken people we needed food so headed straight to Burger King. On the way to back to our
hotel we met some strange people and then saw our mates from our local restaurant passed out on the floor. Sam D decided to poke him back to consiousness and Lucy got bought a panda ballon from the guy whos name was Mark. We arranged to meet them for breakfast the next morning before they were due to leave and headed to our hotel where Sam D was sick. After all the guys left, our days in Bangkok were boring and to fill our time whilst waiting for our visa we slept, ate oh and went for late night Mcdonalds in our pjamas. We finally left Bangkok for Koh Tao island on a night bus - bring on the sunbathing.
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Mum Sue
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JUMPER!!
What a terrific memory you will have - riding, feeding and washing Jumper the elephant on Christmas Day. I would love to do something like that! Look after each other girls. Take care and enjoy yourselves. Love Mum Sue XX