Going North

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The next stage of the adventure got off to a really slow start, mainly caused by the after effects of too much of the local brew and a late night, luckily we had built a day’s chilling and planning into our action packed itinerary. The next day we rose early and headed off to the Northern Bus Terminal. As a small digression, when you visit Thailand you will notice that almost every bus station or terminal, even in small towns, are miles and miles away from the town centres. I’m not sure why this is, it makes no sense but an explanation was offered to us that the conglomerates (for the want of a better phrase) that control the tuk-tuks, taxis and travel services hold significant sway in the country, and help ‘shape’ planning permission. Whatever the reason it’s a right pain, not just for us travellers but the locals rely on these services as well. As a typical example, we paid 60 Baht for a 3 hour bus trip (about £1) but the tuk-tuk we needed to get to the town at the end cost us another 60 Baht for a 10 minute trip. Go figure eh!!

Anyway onwards, we caught a very comfortable bus to Sukhothai, about 450 Km north of Bangkok, where we were spending a couple of nights. We stayed in a lovely little Thai house, At Home Guest House, with wooden floors and thick polished furniture sat in a tranquil garden. The owners were really helpful and free WiFi as well, marvellous. Found in the 13th century, Sukhothai (literally means Dawn of Happiness) was the first truly independent Thai Kingdom, which enjoyed a golden age under King Ramkhamhaeng, credited with creating the Thai alphabet. Our guest house was in “New” Sukothai but the centre of the original city was about 10Km away in the lovingly restored Sukhothai Historical Park. It’s now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a must-see for anyone travelling north. We decided that walking around the central district would offer us the best choice rather than hiring a bike, given the heat and Lisa’s earlier attempts on two wheels.

We started at the magnificent Wat Mahathat, the centre piece being a huge sitting Buddha. The Wat is built of laterite and surrounded by brick walls and a moat. The main chedi is in the characteristic Sukhothai shape of a lotus bud, which you see repeated at most of the temples in the area. It is believed to contain relics of Buddha. Two huge Buddhas reside at the entrance. Of the eight smaller surrounding chedi, the four brick ones at the cardinal points reflect Khmer style, and the four on the sides indicate Lan Na art. The niches of these smaller chedi contain 28 Buddha images and stucco reliefs which illustrate the life of Buddha. From here we slowly (flipping hot) wandered through Wat Si Sawai, Wat Trapand Ngoen, Wat Chana Songkram and it’s lovely lake, Wat Phar Pai Luang, Wat Sorasak, Wat Mai and finally the modern monument to King Ram Khamhaeng. I’m not going to describe each in detail, just to say that if you get the chance to visit on a trip through Thailand, you won’t be disappointed. The superb temples and monuments of this great city have been restored to give a flavour of life in this once magnificent location, you can imagine the place throbbing with life, worshipping at the temples and each of the palaces resplendent as befitting their status.

After another very nice evening meal on the banks of the river, the next day we headed back to the bus station to continue the journey north. Another 3 hours on the bus and we were in Chiang Mai, the second largest town in Thailand and another place we would visit a few times. We arrived a mere 5K outside the city this time, and headed for the Tha Pae Gate. Chiang Mai is essentially a very chilled place, with the old quarter surrounded by a moat and the Tha Pae Gate on its east side home to a lot of the backpacker accommodation, cafes, bars and tour operators. Despite its size Chiang Mai still has quite an old village feel to it. On arrival at our chosen lodgings, Your House 2, we realised that we’d probably gone a bit too down market this time, oh well, it’s only a couple of nights. We had a wander round to get a feel for the area and decided the following day to follow a tip from the Marks and go and see some Tigers.

Tiger Kingdom is about 20 minutes outside Chiang Mai but what a place, and yet another fantastic experience. You arrive, choose if you want to see big cats, cubs or babies. We all chose the big cats, obviously, and the cubs. We were shown into the cages where you realise they weren’t kidding, these animals were flipping huge. We were given the safety brief and Chris decided that he would definitely do everything he was told this time, and we stepped into their world. The tigers looked asleep, then one lazily opened an eye, glanced around and decided that nothing edible was on offer so went back to snoozing. Being so close to these magnificent beasts is incredible, first you crouch down and nervously pet them, long enough for a couple of photo shots, then Chris took the plunge and laid down beside one and rested his head on the tigers back, what an unforgettable moment. We all then were allowed about 20 minutes, stroking, hugging and laying down with the big cats. Why weren’t they eating us? Well it’s a mixture of being reared in captivity, being around humans all their lives and being kept really well fed. Just as well because our brave keepers were only armed with a small bamboo cane each, and whilst we were sure it would sting if it caught them we weren’t necessarily convinced it would stop an almost full-grown tiger if it was determined to eat us as a light snack. It was also hot, but we were assured that no drugs were involved and this was proved as a short while after leaving the cage the two big cats were suddenly up and fighting/playing over ownership of a coconut, yep these babies definitely weren’t drugged. The tigers are available to the public until 2 years old at which point they are moved out into either the breeding program or their own area further into the park. The area they have to roam is certainly better than a lot of zoos but obviously a lot less than the wild. Having said that what would their life expectancy be in the wild when you hear that there are only about 850 of the Indochina Tigers left roaming in the jungles. When you see them you realise that they are the top of the food chain so the only thing that has reduced them to near extinction is us. Yep, yet another example of man not giving a toss about this beautiful world we live in.

The next cats for us to get up close and personal with were the 7 month old brother and sister. By the time we went in the photographer with the previous group had wound one of the cats into a bit of a frenzy, it might make great photos for him but ensured that we would struggle to settle down with these two. When I say 7 months old, don’t get me wrong these Tigers could do you serious damage, their claws were already a fair size. But boy were they lovely. Their coats were soft, their faces still cute and if you knew what you were doing great fun to play with. We did eventually manage to get up close to one of the ‘teenagers’ and capture those Kodak (or rather Canon) moments.

Spending time with these kings and queens was so wonderful that the lure of cuddling the babies and new borns was too great for Lisa and Matt, so into the nursery they ventured. Like any 3 month old baby animal they were absolutely gorgeous, fluffy and mischievous - well one of them was the other two were exhausted. We sat on the floor and followed the same procedure as with the big cats, approach from the back and stroke them firmly. Well that’s all well and good, but you really want to pick the bundles up and give them a good cuddle. When one of the keepers asked if we wanted to have them on our laps, Lisa was straight in there and almost took his hand off in her excitement to get hold of them and one of the tired little cubs was lifted onto her lap - absolutely brilliant. Well on seeing this, the livelier one decided to have a quick chew on Matt’s shoelaces and play round his legs and then try and wake up her sibling by biting its ears - but to no avail he was just far too comfortable. Before Lisa knew it she had two cubs on her lap and things couldn’t get much better. Unfortunately, as with all good things, it was soon time to say goodbye and although Lisa was sorely tempted to try and fit one into her handbag she swiftly came to her senses and remembered that it would soon grow into one of the big ones. Wow, what an awesome experience. Looking back to the start of the trip I don’t think we could have imagined the amount of times we would be speechless or lost in wonder, what a fantastic place this world is.

Talking of fantastic places, the night market at Chiang Mai is a sight to behold. It’s huge and, while all the main & side streets are full of the usual knock off T-shirts, watches & tat, the actual market itself it a treasure trove of arts and crafts. It has a huge number of stalls selling silk, lanterns, wooden carvings (made in Thailand rather than a Chinese factory), jewellery and curios that we haven’t seen anywhere else. Lisa, and surprisingly Matt, were in shoppers’ paradise. Again I’ve a feeling we may be returning!!

The following morning we were off to the bus station for the start of our trip to Laos, luckily we had queued a couple of days before and managed to get tickets to Chiang Khong on the border because the queues at Chiang Mai station were the longest that we’d seen. We had booked a 1st class bus, thinking that it offered the best chance on a 6 hour trawl to the border but when it turned up, oh dear, well if there is a trade descriptions act in Thailand, this would be its biggest violator. As long as it got us to the border in time for the ferry, that’s the main thing, and it did. We arrived in Chiang Khong, but can’t really tell you much about the place as we got the inevitable tuk-tuk from the bus stop at one end of the town to the Thai immigration post at the other. Permission to leave the country obtained we walked down to the banks of the mighty Mekong (looking a bit low at the moment) and gazed across the river to Laos and the next part of this wonderful adventure.

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Photos

Baby Buddha
but we won't be worshipping him

Sleeping Beauty
and a tiger NOT!!

Nursery
still just like kittens

10 minutes earlier
we were cuddling these beauties

The King
of this particular jungle

Walking Tour
maybe bikes would have been better

Hurry Up
I think he's getting peckish

Only 7 months
Beautiful

Your carriage awaits
happily the 1st class buses were better, just.

Angkor ish
A tribute or a copy?

Comments

[mum]

animals
what fantastic pictures , not to be missed eh matt ,hard to imagine the ferosity of these little lambs???