Chiang Mai, a really pretty little city

So we got into Chiang Mai at around 8.30, and I was pretty glad to get off the bus.  We waited in the station to hear from the others, but when we hadn't heard after a half hour or so, we just picked the first place in the book and went there.  But then we got a phone call in the taxi, and headed to the RUX Thai guesthouse.

We checked in, and then had a wander round the night market - it was huge!  It was much the same as other night markets we've seen, but on a much bigger scale, and they really were selling everything under the sun.

On the way home, Rick called into McDonald's for some tea, and I was horrified to find what they had on offer - a double big mac meal!!!!  How gross!!  It turns out that it would have been an absolute monster of a meal - apparently Mike and Nikki also visited the same establishment, and, feeling rather thirsty, got large meals.  They only just managed to eat a portion of fries between them, and the drinks were the size of a small house.

The next day we went for some breakfast, and being the kind of place Chang Mai is, it was easy enough to get a full English!  Don't get me wrong, it's a nice little city.  The centre is surrounded by a moat, and some ruins of the old city wall remain.  It's just that, in a similar way to Bangkok, it's just a bit too tourist-oriented for my liking.  But I guess you'll have that if you follow the usual traveler route!

We spent the afternoon wandering round, sightseeing, and looking at other guesthouses.  That evening we headed out for food - the boys were very happy to get some steak, and I tried some northern, more stew-like curry.  Nice.  Next we headed to a courtyard area which had a boxing ring in the centre, and was surrounded by bars.  There were shows going on all evening, like Thai boxing displays and Lady-Boy Cabarets.  We stayed there for a while and watched the boxing practicing (I wasn't really on for watching an actual match!), and then on to another bar, Brasserie, which we had read about.  There was a live band playing, and they were amazing.  They did covers of everything from Tracy Chapman to Jimi Hendrix to Led Zepplin.  They even had a violinist.  It really was brilliant.  After that we went to a club, and some of the girls from the first bar met us there.

The next day, we woke up and Rick and I decided that a curry for breakfast was in order.  It turned into a messy one, involving a couple of bottles of Sang Som, and Number 1 bar.  There we met Rawden Enever (how cool is that name??!!), Steve, Phil and loads of the girls working there, and it was great craic.  I was also talking to Steve from Boston, who was an old guy who had just come in for a quiet drink, and had no interest in talking to me.  But I thought he was cool, so I just kept talking.  Eventually he broke, and we had a great chat, much to the delight of Jimmy, from Edinburgh, who was sitting beside me and had been egging me on!

We (eventually) left Number 1 bar and headed back to Brasserie, to see the band again.  They weren't playing for another hour or so though, so we headed to a reggae bar, where another band were playing.  The place was cool - there was even sand on the floor! - and the band were brilliant, they played radiohead and arctic monkeys on request!  Phil and I also found a 'car' bar - just a van with the side lifted up that was kitted out as a bar.  There are quite a few of them about.  It was a late night, and a random one, but really good fun.

The next day was a bit of a non-event.  Rick wasn't in a good way, and I spent the day reading, watching tele, and on the net - I'm such a good traveler.

So the day after, I was all about doing stuff.  I had a look on the net at various trips and things we could do, and that afternoon we booked our cookery course, and looked into our tribe day trip and elephant park.  Very productive.

So on Thursday we were up early, and got picked up to go on our cookery course.  Our chef, Suriyan, took us first to the market, where he showed us all our ingredients, and told us all about them, including alternatives to what we wouldn't be able to buy back home.  After that we drove about 20 mins out of town, to where he held his classes.  We learned how to cook Pad Thai, Green cury (traditional stylee), panang curry (modern method) Khao Soi (possibly the best Thai dish ever) and Mango with sticky rice, which technically I wasn't allowed, but I thought it would be rude to refuse.  We got to taste all our food as we cooked, so when it came to lunch time we were already stuffed, so opted to take our curries and desert with us.  We got our cookbooks, and were dropped back at the guest house, where we just chilled out for about an hour - it had been an early morning after all!!

Barry arrived about 2 (not sure if I've mentioned that bit before, Irish Barry who we met in NZ) and checked in.  We stuck a third bed in our room, so it was quite the squeeze!  We all headed out to the What bar for some food, and then booked our trips for the following day.  We spent some time faffing around doing photos and the like, while Mike and Nikki went for a massage.  Rick and I decided to introduce Barry to Nam Phon et al in the Number 1 bar, and the other two met us in there when they had had their massages.  We headed over to the kick boxing place, and had a few games of pool there.  We were all pretty tired though, so Barry and I headed back, although we did get distracted on the way when we passed another bar.  There were a group of people standing outside banging nails, so we decided to investigate.  Basically it was a small chunk of tree on legs, and everybody had a hammer and a nail.  You took it in turns to bang the nail into the wood, one hit at a time, with one catch - you had to use the tiny end of the hammer.  It was great craic.  So we stopped there for a drink, where I had a hugely deep and meaningful conversation with Barry about Christianity and Catholicism, and with the barmaid about Buddhism...

The next day we were up early for our tribe trip.  Barry had booked a different one to us, and I didn't envy him one bit when he had to get up a half hour earlier!  Our day consisted of a trip to an orchid farm and an elephant dung paper-making place (yeah, I know).  After that, it was on to some tribes in the hills.  It was interesting to see them, and our guide was able to tell us lots about their history - they had come from China, Tibet, and other bordering countries, and very often had previously grown Opium, which was now illegal.  So the Thai government had given them citizenship, and they were now mostly farmers.  Like I say, it was all very interesting to see, but it was at times a little awkward - we were basically walking round their village, past their houses, and taking photos and staring at them.  Or at least trying not to.  And I've never seen so many chickens.

We saw about 4 different tribes, and then had some lunch at the foot of some mountains.  After that, we walked through a massive limestone cave, where there were various relics and Buddha statues.  That was kinda cool.  We also got to see some longneck and longear tribes, but that was even more awkward - they just sat in front of their stalls while we walked past.  I did learn some very interesting stuff about the longneck tribe though.  It turns out that their neak isn't long at all.  When they begin to wear the rings, the weight of them presses down on the ribs.  Eventually, as weights are added, the rib cage is forced to tilt to one side, which lowers it.  The shoulder muscles then fall also, giving the appearance of a long neck.  Isn't that cool?

Back in Chang Mai, we met up with Barry, went out for some food (khao soi, of course!) and then had a wander round the night market.  We also booked our trip to the elephant park, which we were very excited about.

Nikki and I really wanted to do a trip to then elephant parks - Nikki especially - but I was really worried about supporting somewhere that didn't care for the animals properly.  Nikki had found the Elephant Nature park, and I had had a look on the net, and although it was expensive in comparison, it certainly seemed good.  And it couldn't have been better.

We were collected early in the morning, and set off about an hour and a half out of town, but not before stopping off at the market to load the last van up with bananas and other fruit for the elephants.

We arrived at the park, which was in a valley in the mountains, and were met by Michelle, an Australian lady, who instantly learned everyone's names, and used them throughout the day - I was already impressed.  She was the most enthusiastic lady though, and the first hour or so was spent listening to her tell stories about how the camp was started, and about all the individual elephants, while we sat on the platform and watched the elephants.  She had tale after tale about how they got there, their individual personalities, how they interacted with the others, and various other little anecdotes.  It was like she was talking about her own children, she really was an amazing lady.  But she was interrupted by the breakfast bell, and that meant feeding time.

We all picked a bucket (each animal has their own particular mix, since some of them are fussy eaters!), and started to feed the elephants, it was brilliant.  It was also an opportunity to touch them, since they don't really like being petted in general, but don't mind so much if they're being fed or washed.  After feeding, it was time for us to have some lunch, which was delicious!  Not that we were there for the food or anything, but it was really good.

After that, we heard some more stories about the elephants, and, when the mahoots were ready, it was time to head down to the river to wash them!  That was brilliant, we just clambered in with them, and got to scrub them down.  It was such a cool experience.  But then one of the babies, who was known for annoying everyone, started picking on one of the others, so Michelle called us out of the water before it all kicked off.

It was raining a bit, but no one was bothered too much, so we stood and watched the elephants roll around in the mud (so much for our hard work!), all the while listening to more stories from Michelle.  The elephants had such sad stories - they even had a drug addict there, an animal who had been forced to work all day and night, so had been given speed for years to do so.

We then went to see BK, the dominant male of the group, who was being separated from the others as he was in musth, and so could have been very violent.  He was pretty impressive, and I nearly collapsed when threw his trunk in my direction.  Apparently though, I decided that Nikki was hard enough to take it, and hid behind her.

If BK was impressive, he was nothing in comparison to Max, possibly the tallest elephant in Thailand.  He was absolutely enormous.

We heard more stories, then watched a National Geographic documentary that had been made on the camp.  Lek, the lady who had set it up, was such a brilliant person.  She had received death threats for her work, but has continued nonetheless.  We actually met a lady on our bus who is making a film about it, due to be released in a couple of years.

After the film, it was time for another washing session in the river, and then, unfortunately, it was home time.  It was such a fantastic day, and I was so glad I hadn't gone on one of the other trips.  After seeing what the elephants go through in 'training' to take tourists for rides, or to do demeaning tricks with a football or drawing pictures, I would hate to think I had helped fund that.  So after thank yous, we were back on the bus to Chang Mai.

We met the boys, who had spent their day cooking, visiting temples, and shooting guns!  I showered, and then headed out to the Hungry Horse to meet up with them for some food and to watch the Man U v Chelsea FA Cup final.  Steve (from the night in Number 1 bar) was also there, and Rawden came in later.  We watched the match, and I got chatting to Sam, from Essex, who was staying in Steve's guest house.  She had been volunteering in an orphanage for a week, and was to spend another two weeks there.  I arranged to meet up with her the following day, and spend a day there myself.

After the match, we all headed to the reggae bar that we had been to a few nights previously.  Rick had a bit of trouble finding it, but we got there eventually, and the same band were playing, so it was great.  Barry and Rick headed on to Spicey's, but I went home with Mike and Nikki and got an early night.

The next day I woke up and chatted the lads about their antics from the night before (of which there were many), and then went out to meet Sam.  We had some lunch, and then got a tuk-tuk to the orphanage.  After agreeing a price, the driver took off, and then out of nowhere threw his head back and did one of those bad-guy-in-the-movies evil laughs.  Sam and I looked at each other and wondered if we should jump there and then, but we made it in one piece!

The day at the orphanage was quite an eye-opener, among other things.  I helped look after a group of 1 and a half- to three-year olds, and they were the cutest wee things.  They didn't really get much attention, so we spent the day picking them up, and hugging and kissing them, in a nutshell!  I always get a bit broody around kids at the best of times - Rick had warned me about taking any home with me that day! - so I was in my element.  The poor things just lived in one room, and they didn't get to play much, and didn't get a hug when they fell over, or when one of the other kids hit them.  Their 'nappies' were changed at scheduled times, not as needed, and even then the children weren't even washed, just given a new cloth.  It was really sad.  They obviously had a lot of sweets donated, because I have never seen so much crap being fed to kids in my life.  They didn't seem to get much proper food though.

We stayed from 2 till 7.30, and then headed back into town.  Larissa and Steve, whom we had met on Bottle Beach, had arrived during the day, and when I got to reception, the lady told me to wait there because my friend was on his way.  She made a gesture about funny hair - I assumed she meant Steve's blonde curls, but then Dan arrived (Dan who we met in Airlie Beach and Singapore)!  We had been expecting him a few days previously, but he had been held up at the border.  It was good to see him again, and we arranged to meet up that night.  I got ready to go out, and was on my way to phone the Canadians to see where they were at when I bumped into them on the stairs.  Hurray!

We all headed out, and met up with Sam and Steve for some food in the Hungry Horse.  We had a few drinks there, and then went to the What bar to meet Dan.  From there, we went to the VW van bar, just a van converted into a bar, obviously.  It was a late night, but it was pretty random, and lots of fun.

We slept quite late the net day.  Late morning we got up and, possibly still a little under the influence, Steve, Larissa and I headed to Mike's burgers for breakfast/lunch.  Except I couldn't find my flip-flops, so had to go in my bare feet.  Oh well.

That afternoon Steve and Larissa went on a cookery course, and the four of us and Barry went to the 'Monk Chat' that was taking place at one of the temples.  It was basically a way for foreigners to discuss Buddhism with the novice monks, and for them to practice their English.  It was very interesting, if not a little awkward at first.  There were a few long pauses, but the worst came at the end when one of the monks stood up to leave.  Without even thinking, I extended my hand to shake his and thank him!!  He politely reminded me that monks are not allowed to touch women, and went on his way while I quietly combusted in the corner.  How embarrassing!!

After that, we all headed to the night bizarre for some food.  Mike and Nikki had found a rooftop bar that they wanted to check out, so we headed there afterwards.  I was ready to fall asleep though, so after one fruit shake, I headed back with Mike and Nikki, and left Rick and Barry to it.  Larissa and Steve called into our room, and we watched tele for a few hours, including some scary stuff, so we had to watch the Disney channel for a while to recover!

The next morning it was time to check out.  While I had been sleeping the previous morning, the others had booked us on a minivan to Pai, in the north.  I tried, without success, to get Rick out of bed in time, so in the end had to settle for changing his bus.  It arrived to pick us up at midday, and we set off.

Click here for the Chiang Mai photos