Chiang Mai

We boarded our 1st class carridge, all set with our own sink! and 2 fold out beds. From the point we got on board we were treated like royalty, waiters and waitresses knocking on our door making sure everything was perfect, bringing us bottles of Chang, food, even a bucket of ice to keep the beer cold!! I was very impressed, then i saw the toilet, hmmm. The guys were ok but the girls had to bring out the shewee's to get the job done! Apart from the toilets everything else was very nice. It took a while getting out of the city but once through it was nice a quiet and we just chugged along at a steady pace (pretty slow one) into the night. We hit the hay early to catch up on missed sleep from the plane so not that much to tell you from the night.

We got woken up at 8 being served breakfast but the happiest waitress ive ever seen, permanent smile on her face and would not stop talking. We got up and packed our stuff up and checked out where we were. The view from the carridge was very nice, we were travelling up through the mountains in a very rural part of Thailand. We topped at a pretty shabby staion where the carridge behind us was unhooked making us the last carridge. They forgot to close the back door so we could just walk out our cabin and look out the back and get a nice view (and lungs full of diesel smoke) of the area we were going through. A bit further up the track and we saw some dogs running along side us, the train stopped and would you belive it, the driver and waiter from earlier got off and started feeding the dogs haha. After 20 minutes of tending to the dogs we started off again. Finally after a few more hours we arrived in Chiang Mai.

We got to our hostel via an open back taxi, (its all about the health and safety in Thailand as you may have guessed by now) threw our stuff down and headed out to check out the area we were staying in. We got our bearings and spotted a few good places to go and eat/drink over the next few days. It was very hot so we went back to our hostel to chill out by the pool (yes our hostel had a pool and waterfall and still only cost £4 a night) In the afternoon i went on a mission to find a guitar shop and bought myself a guitar to take on my travells.

The first night we had a traditional Kantoke dinner planned with the Northern Thailand Hill Tribe. We were picked up and taken to a community hall where we sat on the floor and were brought platters of different northern Thai food buffet! While eating we were trated to a number of Hill Tribe dances and live music. It was quite an authentic experience although there was always that feeling of it still being put on for tourists. The food was great though and the dancing was impressive so was still a great night and a chance to fill myself up with more thai food. After the Kantoke dinner we went outside to watch a few more live shows and music and then got a chance to light some lanterns (i know them as chinese lanterns?) It was a lovely end to the dinner.

The next day was our elephant trekking trip. We met our tour guide who was a real nice chap and funny guy. We got picked up early and driven 1.5 hours outside Chiang Mai to a elephant sanctuary where we got introduced to our elephant and driver. Me and Damian managed to get a stereo with our elephant, by this i mean our driver loved to sing, and he was pretty good actually! We moved through rivers and some forest areas, it was amazing how powerfull the elephants were just powering through the river like it was nothing. After feeding our elephant friend some sugar cane and banana's we got dropped off at a hill tribe village where our next method of transport awaited, an Ox Cart. Not the smoothest of rides but fun never the less. I grabbed a seat up front with the driver who jumped off half way giving me the reigns, was slightly worried at this point as i thought if i pulled it to hard we might end up bolting off in some random direction. Once of the cart we watched the elephants taking a bath which was nice but one of them was pretty sneaky and came up with out us seeing and sprayed water all over us! Before lunch we got to see an "elephants at work" show. This was ok in some parts but bad i felt in others. It was good to see how the elephants are used to help build things and move heavy objects. The elephants were very cleaver in working as a team and but when the show turned into them kicking footballs, and painting pictures it made me think of what must have been done to train them, its not natural and a group of us didnt stay to watch the whole thing once it turned into more of a circus. That being said and even though i dont agree with it, I did take a picture of what the elephant painted as it was quite incredible to see how intelligent she was and also to show you what im trying to explain. When we got back to base we were treated to another buffet of thai food which was just as good as the night before.

After lunch it was time to hit the river on a bamboo raft which was great fun. We just floatsed down the river throughthe middle of the woodland area looking at all the hill tribe houses and mountains. Again our "captain" let us take the wheel or " bamboo stick" and we had to push of rocks and the river bed to keep in the flow of the river. We got to the drop off point where out tour guide was waiting to pick us up and head back. On the way we spoke to our guide about some places we could go away from tourists to chill out, preferably near some water as it was baking. He told us about a lake outside Chiang Mai that we could go to. He hooked us up with a cheap taxi when we got back and we headed out to the lake. We had to go through a military check point as the lake was on military grounds. Once at the lake we were real chuffed with what we had found, we were at the bottom of a mountain, the sun was setting just behind them giving us a amazing view, the place was really cool, no tourists, only thai people. Along the lakes edge were little huts and a small bar so we had a few cheecky Changs and rented some tubes (or insides or tractor tyres). We took our Changs out on the lake and put my waterproof camera to some good use getting some funny pics of us lot messing around.

That evening we headed out for dinner next to the river. It was a really nice place with a nice view and great food. Dan had a duck curry and learnt about the Thai spice chart as i had in Bangkok except he got a number 2 which we nowknow is very very hot. Was pretty funny watching him trying to eat it with sweat dripping and lots of water being drank. After dinner we moved next door to a bar with live music. The band was brilliant and the cocktails were pretty good too. We saw a funny old Thai man in his 50's with a girl who looked about 25. The old guy was doing his best to throw shapes on the dance floor with this girl, it was great entertainment!
Our final day in Chiang Mai we were up early and headed down to the river to go on a river cruise up to a thai farmers house. The trip was long, we were all pretty tired but once we got to the farmers house we all perked up. It was nice to see all this fresh produce being grown, lots of different fruits, herbs and vegtables. We were treated to some fresh pineapple and melon and some strange juice drinks. I cant remember what was in them but they were deffinatly very heathly, only problem was they didnt taste that great so we mixed them all into one which made it slightly easier to drink.

After the river cruise we headed back and was taken by our tour guide to another temple, Doi Suthep. This was the best temple i had seen so far and i was told one of the most sacred as the site was chosen by an honured buddah who wondered on the back of a white elphant until the elephant stopped (and died) We had to drive up to the top of the mountain to get there, and then climb 308 steps to the entrance. It was nice to have our tour guide as finally we had someone to explain to us about the ways of buddah. I can tell you a bit more now about what we learnt. No one knows what buddah looks like which is why people worship the "buddah image" and each buddah image is different. You will find that different communities / villages base their buddah image on the way the village is run and what they stand for. The 3 insence sticks that the thai people light when praying stand for Lord Buddah, his teachings and his followers. When they pray they dont have their hands fully pressed together but more in the shape of a lotus flower. The lotus flower is white but i cant remember what this stands for at the mo so will update later. During our visit there was a elder monk visiting and we were lucky enough to be blessed by him. Some more info for you now curtesy of our tour guide. Monks are not allowed to touch women and if they do they have to go on a 3 day clensing cermony. During the blessing the elder monk dips wooden sticks into water and taps you on the head while saying something (not entirely sure what) and then ties a piece of white cotton around your wrist. For men the cotton is tied around the right rist and women the left wrist. Women can still be blessed but when it comes to tying the cotton the monk passes it over to a helper who will tie the knot for him. A monks life is very different to that of "normal" life and we were told that if a monk returns to normal life and rejoins more than 3 times that they have to go to a special "monk" hospital as the changes to and from the different walks of life over and over can affect someone mentally. We were also given the opportunity to have a reading from the temple, kind of like your star chart but its different for each temple. You shake a tube filled with bamboo sticks and when one falls out you look at the number and then take a your slip of paper which will tell you what your near future holds for you. I dont believe in that stuff but i had a go and it was nice to read that all the good things it said about me ;) plus it was actually pretty accurate with what ive been up to recently. I did think that they were all going to say nice things but someone in our group got one saying basically that shes in trouble and no one can help her, not the nicest thing to read but she didnt do it properly so we convinced it didnt count.

That evening we ventured out to find a few bars, we had heard of a Reggae bar that was supposed to be really good so went searching. We found a spot to eat on the way out and grabbed some food, Damo (Damian) had something that had hidden chillies in it and when he found one and started chewing it his face almost exploded. It was actually quite bad, he went really red and with sweat dripping of his face, pretty funny but did feel a bit sorry for him. After dinner we found a small square area with bars all around it, the vibe felt really good so we deceided to settle here and move around the different bars. I had the best white russian ive ever tasted at a bar called Costa Del Sol (yes i know, not really the most Thai of names). We had a visit from a kid trying to sell stuff but he soon turned into a pain and started flicking tooth picks at us and then setting them on light and continued flicking them. Once his mum saw she soon took him away though. We moved on to what we thought was the reggae bar but it didnt seem as good as what people had said but tryed to make the most of it anyway. After a few drinks we went to find a toilet and as we turned the corner we saw it "Reggae Roots Bar" The music coming from it was awesome, a live band playing improvised reggae with all sorts of instruments, We headed straight in and it was everything we were looking for, tourists and thai people all daning like crazy people. Half way through the night we made friends with a group of thai guys who were really nice people. They were offereing us drinks and insisted we drank with them. You could see they didnt have much money and were all sharing drinks but the fact they still insisted we share with them showed how nice they were. Seeming as we had more money we all chipped in and bought everyone a bucket of Chang, they were really appreciative and wouldnt accept it at first but we were all soon drinking and dancing and having a good night.

The next day we were leaving to head back down to the south of Thailand. We looked at trains and found that they were fully booked because everyone was heading down for the full moon party. We checked out some flights and decided to pay for a flight direct to Ko Samui rather than spending 24 hours on a train, bus and boat. On sunday we went to the airport and were pleasently surprised with the welcome we got with our economy tickets on Bangkok Airways. We were taken to a private departure lounge anf given free drinks and cake, as much as you can eat!! So that turned into breakfast! Next stop Ko Samui.