I am still not feeling myself right now, suffering from the side effects of the malaria tablets. I have lost my confidence, and still feel on a bit of downer. I am slightly nervous about going it alone, but also excited to discover what lies in wait for me in Chiang Mai, and want to have the experience of seeing what is is like to be a lone traveller. I also feel I need a bit of space, and need to give the others some space too, as I have not been that easy to be around lately, so here goes!!
I board my flight at Luang Prabang direct for Chiang Mai, I have no hotel booked and no information with me on the area so am just going to wing it and hope I find an honest taxi who will help me find a good place to stay. I should have done some research but was not really in the mood, so now I will have to just play it by ear! I am lucky to have no one sitting next to me on the plane so I can relax and spread out with my things. Two guys got on and sat behind me, they introduced themselves as Steve and Craig. Craig was the same age as me and Steve was 50, they were travelling for a couple of months and were so excited to be going back to Chiang Mai! Steve offered a place for me in their taxi as I was alone, which was very sweet of him, I accepted and he said he would show me where the best place to stay was. I started to relax a lot more now and chatted with the guys for a bit as we eventually took off. The scenery was beautiful, so green and lush, as we left Laos and flew over the hills to Chiang Mai.
When we arrived I was surprised to see how big Chiang Mai is, I thought it would be a small town, but is is like a city out here!! I was glad these guys knew where to go because I would not have had a clue!! We collected our things and got in a shared tuk tuk and headed into town. The first hotel they stopped at was well out of my price range, and I told them I would look for a backpacker place nearby. They agreed it was too expensive so we all left together. Steve said he knew a place he had stayed before called Mojito house and took me there. It was perfect!! £5 a night for a double room, hot water shower, wifi…I was in heaven!! I settled in and after buying the guys a few beers to say thanks, and trying to find them on Facebook, they headed off to find another place for themselves as this was full now! I added Steves daughter as she is a singer. We were listening to some of her songs on my laptop in the bar, and she is amazing, a cross between Adele and Katie Melua and she is only 19 and interested in travelling too. I then started to unwind and have a look through the multitudes of leaflets and brochures, depicting all the trips and tours available in the area. I eventually decided on a late start tomorrow so I could get a bit of rest, followed by a visit to see the tigers. Day 2 I would see the elephants and learn to be a mahout for the day! Day 3 Trekking, to include an elephant ride, waterfall, white water rafting, bamboo rafting, butterflies and orchids! Day 4 meet up with the girls and do one of the many cooking classes on offer! Sorted!!!
I felt a bit apprehensive the first night here, and there was noise coming from some sort of generator I think, and it went on all night so I did not sleep great. I woke up tired still and went in search of some breakfast. I found a lovely little place just opposite my hotel called nice Kitchen and had the best breakfast to set me up for the day and then ventured off to see the tigers. I was really excited to be doing this, I have always had a passion for tigers and what they stand for, which to me is strength, power and beauty, and is why I have one tattooed on me!
There was so many options available as to what you could do, but I decided on the biggest and the smallest tigers available. All the tigers here are under 2 years old as I guess they become a bit unpredictable once they reach maturity and are then sent to zoos around the world. The guys working here seem to really love them and they look well cared for. I was chatting with one of the guys there and he was so fond of animals and could not understand why anyone would want to hurt them. A lot of the religion here is buddism so this view point is in line with the religious beliefs of buddism.
The tigers here are not drugged as many people believe, but are raised here from cubs, so are so used to human contact, it is all they have ever known, and there are certain rules, you are not supposed to encourage playful behaviour, run near them or touch their heads. Otherwise they generally sleep 18 hours per day and as they are well fed are mainly inactive. I did however see them playing together later in the day and they were definitely active then and enjoying each others company. I just hope they end up in good zoos!!
When I got back to the hotel, steve and craig were in the bar opposite, so I went over for a chat and joined them for a drink! As we were chatting who should turn up but Nicola and the others. It just so happens that they are staying at the same hotel as me!!! Chiang Mai is huge and full of hotels, so this was really bizarre!! I had no idea where they had booked, but so much for me getting away on my own for a while, I guess it was not meant to be, things like this keep happening out here, I believe this is fate so just gotta go with it!! Like meeting Dave in Hanoi and so many other like situations, I guess when you are on the tourist trail this must happen a lot, but it just seems crazy that you end up in the exact same place at the exact same time!!!
The next morning I went off for my Mahoot training at the elephant camp. Another girl Eli was also staying at my hotel and was on my trip for the day, so we hung out together and partnered up with our elephant. We started off by learning some basic commands. How to tell the elephant to go back, forward, stop (the most important), leg up, left and right etc….
We then went out to meet our elephant and see the new arrival, a 28 day old baby elephant!! So cute and interested in everything!! Not surprising after 22 months in the womb!! We gave the elephants some bananas and then got to work trying to climb aboard. We gave the command for leg up and got them to lift us up and clambered on board, not very elegantly!! Then go back, forward, turn to the left and right etc… Once we had mastered the basics we had lunch and got ready to find them some food.
We cut sugar cane for them and bought it back in the truck before feeding them once again. Basically according to the workers here all they do is poo and eat!!! I can see that!!
We then boarded our elephant for a trek. Well if I thought riding a horse was painful it has nothing on this!!! I tore the tendons in my legs years ago and was worried they were going to tear again, but despite the pain of bareback riding, it was an amazing experience being in control of an elephant. Well, I say that loosely because the elephant just did what it wanted ha ha and I was just too busy trying not to fall off, especially when we went down this really steep hill and I nearly rolled off over its head. It was pretty terrifying, but despite my screaming, such a drama queen, it all ended well!!
We took them down to the river next, and i was just happy to be on level ground again and somewhere I would have a soft landing if I fell, and we gave them a bath, or they gave us a bath, I am not quite sure as my elephant seemed to just love filling his trunk and squirting us with water :) It was such fun playing with them and scrubbing them, they really loved it, it was their special time!!! We then went into this big pool of water and went swimming with them, it was so funny and I could not stop laughing as we went under the water and came back up again, down and up, it felt so good and when it was time to get out our elephant was being really naughty and did not want to, so we just sat there and in the end she got told off and eventually gave in. I enjoyed the day so much, but can't say that I wasn't relieved to get off, my legs definitely were!!! I think I will stick with the horses in future!
That night Eli and I decided to go and see the lady boys show and finish up with a few drinks at the Reggae bar, it was very entertaining and well worth a watch, and it was free!!! Just had to pay for drinks!! I was exhausted from the day and headed back for some rest before my full day of trekking!
Another early start and I headed off for my trek, we started with a visit to the butterfly and orchid farm, which was a bit disappointing, the orchids were beautiful but there was not many butterflies, there was more just flying around outside!
However we swiftly moved on and visited a local tribe of longnecks, so called because of the many rings they wear around their necks to keep evil spirits of tigers from biting them. We then had lunch and started our trek to a waterfall.
It was not an easy trek and we were climbing over rocks, balancing on wooden makeshift bridges and narrow ledges and trying not to slip on steep inclines. Finally we reached the falls and just chilled out for a while before taking the same route back. After we arrived back we went to do our white water rafting. This was my first attempt, and I loved it!!! There was 6 of us in the boat plus our guide, and through one of the rapids one of the others fell out and was hanging on by the rope, his girlfriend tried to pull him back in as he was going to get crushed against the rocks and I tried to help too, we eventually succeeded and he landed on top of me so I could not move and the guide was shouting to paddle, but I was stuck and could not do anything. I finally managed to get out from underneath him and we took our places back and paddled until we were through, it was hilarious!!! After we had passed all the rapids we picked up a bamboo raft, which to our horror our guide decided to park our other raft on top of it and then wanted us to climb aboard. The bamboo raft was already sinking under the weight and we were under a foot of water!!! I suggested that maybe we didn't actually need the bamboo raft and we could have just stayed in the other boat instead of putting the other boat on the raft and all sinking!!!! He took no notice though, and we soon got stuck on a rock! Another boat tried to help us out and we all had to get back in the other boat and take the weight off one end of the raft so it could get unwedged!!! What a palava!!! But it was funny!!! Anything to make a quick buck!!!
Our trip had come to an end now and we headed back to our hotel, I said goodbye to the 2 girls I met from England and went in search of a massage to ease my aching body!!
I rejoined the others today for our thai cooking lesson. Jason left this morning so we are back to 3 until Tracy arrives in a few days and we meet up with Dave again in Koh Samui. We decided on Sammy's Organic Thai cooking class, and it was perfect!! We started by going to the market and looking around. There was many things on offer here, from rice, vegetables, cakes and sweets, flowers, fresh meat to include everything, fresh fish flapping on the counter and frogs. We then went to his farm where he grows most of his own vegetables and fresh herbs which were so fresh and delicious and I am sure made all the difference to the taste of our food. We started off making green curry, followed by soup and Pad thai and spring rolls and then finished with a desert. I made sticky rice with mango, it was delicious!! After we had eaten lunch we all went for a snooze in the hammocks in the garden, I could have stayed there forever! It was so peaceful and relaxing, and i was so tired still. Having problems sleeping still, but had no problem here whatsoever!! Sammy then gave us all a recipe book and took us back to our hotel, the end to a perfect stay in Chiang Mai!!
The next morning I was sad to leave Chiang Mai, it is such a wonderful place and I could definitely have spent a few weeks here just chilling out. There is so much to see and do and it is so cheap too. I think it will be a shock going to the islands and I had so much fun the last few days and feel happy again and revitalised, I have heard it has been raining most of the time down south! Never mind, I was looking forward to catching up with Dave again, as we boarded our flight to Koh Samui for the Christmas holiday!!! Partytime!!!
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