The overnight train to Chiang Mai was an absolute dream we boarded the train at 7.30pm and had seats opposite each other for about the first 90 minutes of the journey before one of the staff came to transform our seats effortlessly into bunk beds complete with fresh sheets, pillow and blanket. We both stayed in the bottom bunk until bed time before I took to the top and got myself settled in for the night. Not expecting to sleep at all with all the noise, stopping and starting I was flabbergasted to wake up around 6am having slept most of the night. The train arrived around 8am and having got chatting to another couple we all decided to share a taxi into town. At 8am its too early to check into a hotel, not that we had one booked anyway but we decided to grab some breakfast and share some traveling stories with our new found friends. After breakfast, armed with our guidebook the 4 of us set out in search of some cheap accommodation and after checking out a couple of duffers we found a real gem hidden up one of the many lanes in Chiang Mai. After checking in and getting a much needed shower and freshen up we set off to explore the town and hopefully arrange a couple of days trekking. The town isn't too big and easily negotiated on foot and after visiting a few travel companies we booked ourselves a couple of trips and were literally spoiled for choice with things to do. While walking around town we had been given a few leaflets advertising Thai boxing that evening and that was another thing on our to do list while in Thailand. Before booking tickets we went in search of the venue just to make sure it was legitimate and not in a really dodgy area of town. When we got there we realised you could actually reserve your seats so with only a handful of table reserved we managed to get 4 seats right at the front, I could already smell the sweat!! By late afternoon we were pretty hungry and in need of a wee rest before the boxing so we headed back to the guesthouse for a bowl of noodle soup and an hour relaxing in our room. We arranged to meet up with the others in a bar across the road from the boxing to have a few beers before it started and that definitely helped get us girls get in the mood! The boxing was as you would imagine more of a boy thing but after the first couple of matches I was starting to enjoy it more. It is kind of like kickboxing with 5 rounds of 3 minutes each the winner being announced straight after the match before the next competitors take to the ring. The first couple of matches were boys of 11 or 12 which I found a bit strange, watching these little boys kick lumps out each other for our entertainment. As the evening progressed the competitors got older and the rounds became more violent with there even being a couple of knock outs which I didn't like at all. It was after midnight before it was all finished by which stage we were all absolutely famished so we stumbled to a nearby pizza shop for a distinctly average ham pizza.
We had an early start the next morning as we were off on a two day one night trek to visit a hill tribe village and spent the night there. We were bused out of town on the back of a pickup to the start of the hiking trail where we were given lunch before getting the chance to take an hours ride on an elephant. The elephants were absolutely massive and the tiny baskets were precariously balanced on their giant backs. We were taken to a giant mound of earth and from the top of the mound we had to walk up the trunk, along the neck and then get into the little basket seat. Everyone before us seemed to effortlessly mount their elephants who obediently stood at the foot of the hill waiting for their passengers. Then from the distance appears an elephant that seems rowdy to say the least, jumping from left to right not even remotely listening to the trainers and I just knew this was going to be our guy! It took ages to get him to stand still long enough to climb up the trunk and get into the little basket. After much coming and going we eventually took our seats and were able to take to the trail. We were out for about an hour by which point we were covered in water and mud having been repeatedly sprayed with whatever our little elephant could get into his trunk! When the thoroughly entertaining ride was over it was time to get to work, hit the trail and get to the hill tribe before nightfall. The walk was brutal to say the least, two hours of constant vertical climbing with very little let up on the ascent. Whilst we fully appreciated that the hill tribes would involve some climbing nothing had prepared us for the grueling nature of this climb. What made it seem even worse was the near 40° temperature and 90% humidity which left you sweating buckets and gasping for breath the entire time. I am sure the clue to the degree of difficulty from the climb was hidden in the names of the first two hills with the first being called "oh my god" closely followed by "oh my Buddha". Much relief was had when the village came into sight and we knew we were nearly there. Once at the village we had an hour or so to get showered, relax our weary legs and get to know the rest of our group which consisted of 2 Americans, 2 Germans, 2 English and a Kiwi. The village itself was actually more developed than we had imagined, whilst there wasn't any wireless internet or star bucks they had satellite dishes and a primary school as well as very comfortable living accommodation in bamboo huts and with lots of cute piglets running around there would be no shortage of bacon sandwiches! Following a rest a few of us went to have a walk around the village to meet some of the villagers and the vast array of farm animals running around. The only thing cuter than the piglets and puppies were the kids who were absolutely gorgeous all be it absolutely filthy. We did get a bit of a fright when a little boy of about 4 or 5 charged at us with what looked like a piece of wood however on closer inspection he was chasing us round the camp with a rusty machete, straight from the script of your worst nightmare made worse only by his satanic little giggle as he swiped at our legs! Having had a distinctly average lunch none of us were holding out much hope for dinner however a ray of hope came when our trek leader confessed in a previous life he used to be a chef. Sitting on little bamboo matts we were served an amazing and hearty meal of curried pumpkin soup, rice and fried chicken pieces and it was exactly what we needed after our long day walking. The rest of the evening was a giggle as the group had some real characters who had us all in stitches most of the night. One of the hill tribe residents also played the guitar so he joined us to strum some familiar tunes while we all played cards and shared traveling tales. When it was time for bed we all took to our bamboo mats which had a small mattress and blanket on top and a mosquito net per 2 beds. I am not sure if it was all the fresh air, the delicious meal or being well practiced at sleeping in strange environments but we both slept really well and had to rely on the alarm to wake us for breakfast.
The next morning after breakfast we had to say our goodbyes and make our way down the hill to our first stop at a waterfall for a morning wakeup dip. After the waterfall it was further downhill to the river where we were to change into rafting gear and whitewater raft a small stretch of the river. As it wasn't rainy season the water levels were pretty low so to be honest it wasn't the best rafting weather and we spent more time banked on rocks and sand bars than we did tackling any white water. Obviously sensing our disappointment at the lack of action our guide decided it would be a good idea to cause us to capsize the boat on our heads and then have to swim out and down a stretch of the course scraping our knees and elbows on the shallow riverbed, very strange experience which entertained our guide if no one else. Whilst there were elements of the experience which left a lot to be desired its not every day you get to float down a river that has elephants chilling on the bank rolling around in the water as you sail past. Eventually we swapped the paddles for a bamboo raft which is basically a dozen or so lengths of bamboo bound together poorly with twine and the captain punts you to your destination with another length of bamboo. This was the most hilarious part of the journey and if we hadn't got soaked in the previous raft this questionable mode of transportation would have got more than our toes wet. Every time someone moved even the smallest amount the entire thing started to fall apart and became completely submerged with us on top! Needless to say we were all happy to reach camp and disembark from our bamboo experience. After another average lunch it was time to get back in the pickup truck and head back to Chiang Mai for a well needed hot shower and a cold beer!
There was no time to rest following our trek as the next morning we were off to spend the day with rescued elephants as honorary mahouts. We were collected from our guest house and bused out to the reserve stopping on route at a market to collect an insane amount of bananas and sugar cane, a morning snack for the elephants! On arrival we were given a welcome briefing and our outfits for the day. Fortunately we weren't going to have to ride and bathe dirty great big elephants in our own clothes. Unfortunately they were rather unattractive denim trousers and matching shirts but at least we were all the same! The morning started with our guide teaching us some of the elephant commands and being that we are in Thailand the commands were all in Thai! After the first run through of forward, back, right and left everyone around the table was looking somewhat concerned as all the words seemed completely random and impossible to remember. After the classroom introduction it was time to meet our elephants and practice on the real thing and we all couldn't wait to get started. As a sweetener to get the elephants on our side we were first able to feed them the snacks we had collected that morning from the market. The feeding was one of the scariest and funniest things we have ever done. Rather than giving the bananas to the trunk for the elephant to put in its own mouth we were putting entire bunches of bananas into straight into their giant open mouths then watching them effortlessly devour the entire bunch. Whilst it seemed like a crazy amount of food it was only a small proportion of their 200kg a day diet!! Whereas the previous day we had climbed into little baskets for our trek today we were going to be riding on the neck of the elephant and have to climb up the elephants bent leg, using the ear to help haul yourself onto the elephants back. Once up there and sitting comfortably we were then able to practice our commands. When we arrived at the elephant playground and we could see how absolutely massive these beasts were I instantly felt really nervous and being able to climb up onto its back seemed like an impossible task. I has happy to have Michael in the group as he was willing to go first and if there was to be any humiliation he was to be first up and I was more than happy to let him. With the command yokka unbelievably the elephant lifted its leg off the ground and then with the second command soong it raised its in the air taking you high enough to reach an ear and subsequently jump from the bent knee onto the neck in one effortless leap! Michael made the whole thing look easy and once on the neck he really was miles from the ground and looked comfortable with all his commands! Once it was my turn much to my surprise my commands were obeyed and with lifted leg I managed all be it in an undignified fashion to literally crawl up the side of the elephant and take my position on the neck with my feet tucked behind the ears! After about 4 attempts we were all getting pretty good at getting on and off as well as all the directional commands so it was time to take a break, have some lunch before heading out to practice our skills on a 2 hour tramp around the jungle. The trek was to be done 2 people per elephant our elephant was called booloy and with one driving at the front the other somehow had to stride the massive back hanging on for dear life. I wanted to try the driving first so once Michael had managed to get himself comfortable on the back I took to the driving seat. The trail was fairly well defined and with the elephants walking it most days they seemed to know what they were doing which made the whole commands thing a lot less stressful for me. The only time our commands were really needed was when our little elephant friend decided she wanted to leave the trail and take us into the bushes so she could munch on some leaves. At one point she uprooted an entire banana plant and proceeded to spend a good portion of the journey carrying it in her trunk occasionally trying to fit the entire thing in her mouth much to our amusement! I was relieved when my stint as the driver was over and I had successfully avoided an out of control stampede and was able to hand the reigns over to Michael who was ready for his stint up front. The first thing we did after we had swapped over was to take our elephants to a drinking hole and as soon as we saw where we were going we knew what was coming next. Soon all 4 elephants were around the hole taking water into their trunks and then spraying it over their drivers and all the other elephants too it was absolutely hilarious and they were most definitely in charge, there was nothing we could do but be on the receiving end of water and elephant snot until it was time to move on. Michael's shot in charge was trouble free with booloy following all his commands and with no stops for more Scooby snacks the trek to the river was great fun for us both. Once at the river the final part of this amazing day was to get scrubbing brushes, get into the river and scrub the elephants down while they lay on their side patiently letting you clean around their eyes, trunks and entire bodies. It had been such a great day and having become more confident with the elephants as the day went by it was a great way to end things. When all the scrubbing was done we were told the elephants had one final gift for us and much to our delight it was a giant water fight in the river us vs. the elephants! We all got completely soaked and by the time we were finished we were wet from head to toe and happy to say goodbye to our elephants and head back to the reserve to get changed into our dry clothes. What an experience the whole day had been, the entire journey back to town we were all swapping stories about the crazy things we had seen the elephants do and the things we had learned about their behaviour. Without a doubt it is one of the best things we have done on this year long trip.
It was back to the classroom again the next morning as we took ourselves off to cookery school to learn how to cook some of our Thai favourites. We would be preparing and cooking 7 dishes of our choice as well as taking a tour around a Thai herb garden and the produce market. The first stop was the herb garden where we were shown some of the more unusual herbs that we wouldn't see very often in the UK including about 4 different types of basil and a chive that smelled like garlic! After the garden it was off to the market and here our teacher showed us how the different kinds of noodles are made, the variations in the type and quality of rice as well as some of the fresh ingredients including the giant durian fruit which apparently smells like cheese and its alternate name is the vomit fruit because it tastes like vomit?? Needless to say I passed on the sample of that little delight as I wanted to save space for all the dishes I would be cooking later! Eventually it was time to head back to the kitchen to start cooking! Michael was going to prepare tom yam soup (spicy soup), sweet and sour stir fry, green curry paste, green curry, spicy papaya salad, raad na (noodle dish) and for dessert bananas in coconut milk. I had chosen spring rolls, spicy basil stir fry, chicken and coconut soup, red curry paste, red curry, pad thai (noodles) and for my dessert sticky rice with mango. The whole afternoon was great fun as we got to do everything step by step alongside the teacher and when all the preparation was done we took to our own cooking station and cooked everything in our own wok. Michael and I followed every instruction perfectly but it was fascinating how many people decided to go off on their own recipie adding more of everything than instructed and their food at the end looked horrible. Our dishes at the end were amazing, they looked delicious and they tasted fantastic too. We had intentionally chosen different dishes so that we would have 14 different Thai meals to share with each other and try. Our highlights were the basil stir fry, raad na noodles, our curries and the sticky rice with mango as far as the preparation went I really liked rolling my spring rolls and deep frying them and Michael enjoyed pounding all his spices for his curry paste. With so much food to try I have no idea where I put it all, I had been worried I would be sending loads of my food back but it was so delicious that I managed to eat almost everything and returned only a little soup and some rice! Michael was the same sending very little back to the kitchen and he enjoyed everything he ate too his favourite dish being my spicy basil chicken which I must admit was something of a taste sensation. After all our cooking was over and we had eaten until we were fit to burst it was time for us to graduate and we were each given a cookbook full of recipes including the dishes we had made so we can come home and torture everyone who comes to visit with our newly acquired Thai cooking skills! Needless to say after such a busy few days and then such a big lunch we were exhausted so the rest of the afternoon was spent lying in bed reading and relaxing. As it was our last night in Chiang Mai we decided to walk across town to the nightly bazaar, a giant market that spans about 3 streets and must have literally thousands of stalls. With no need to have dinner as we had had it at lunch time we spent the evening taking in a small portion of this giant market. There were so many lovely things to choose from that I was unable to pick just one thing so I got a lovely bracelet then found a necklace to match on another stall and then I also got a beautiful silk scarf. Michael was much more practical with his purchases choosing a cap as he somehow lost his last one and an LED torch for the islands which he proceeded to play with the whole way home! Once we felt we had seen most of what the market had to offer we made our way back to the hotel to enjoy the night in a proper bed as it was back to the night train the following night!