so last time we wrote it was our last day in Bangkok……
We had a really nice afternoon, the cloud shifted which must of allowed a bit of pollution to shift, it was clear sunny and we did very little except more wandering and exploring and squeezed in time in the pool before we left! Was definitely glad to be staying somewhere with a pool – nice work chez! And obviously more amazing food!! Still happy to be moving on and as most ppl say 2/3 days in the city is plenty – we had a great time nevertheless! Loved Chinatown, the boats, the friendliness, the food!! A sign that things were definitely only to get better….
Made it to the 7.35 night train – really excited about next step – got there in perfect timing half hour before it left, although it ended up leaving sometime around 10, so felt really sorry for the poor people we saw running past our carriage at 7.30 with huge rucksacks and daysacks in tow. Bet they werent impressed!! Night train was definately an experience haha didnt sleep much, but when woke up in the morning and was going through amazing scenery it made it all completely worthwhile. Got off the train in the afternoon, train was supposed to be about 12 hours and ended up being around 18 or something lol but it went impressively quickly and my first chance to make an attack on holiday reading!!
Got off at Chiang Mai to be greeted by someone from our guest house collecting us – perfect!! First impressions of Chaing Mai was lush, chilled out, hospitable and a good amount of thai quaintness! Had booked accommodation the day before based on a recommendation and it was gorgeous – Lai Thai.
Our plan for Chiang Mai was day 1 arrive – find a trek, day 2 and 3 do trek! and day 4 fly to Koh Samui in pm so thats what we did! Checked into room and were really happy to find they they ran a trek that suited us perfectly and we were more than happy to book it up rather than wander around comparing, they’re supposed to all be pretty competitive so werent too worried it had the main elephant riding – bamboo rafting – staying in local village and walking through fields, jungle etc! We then wandered into town, which turned into a serious tour of the whole town/city! Went down to the river, saw a gorgeous flower market, wandered around the shops, markets, saw lots of temples and monks and chatted to lots of very helpful strangers, one of whom told us about an amazing festival that we’d just be missing! Gutted!! Due to this festival every shop/restuarant/school had paper lantens hanging up which would later be lit and set off, this made everyone seem even more beautiful – i do like my tea lights!
The next day we set of on our trek!! (something ill happily admit to being just a bit nervous about – predominately due to the spider issue!)
We were picked up outside where we were staying and sat in the back of a jeep with another english couple from london, good start!! Was about an hours car journey to a local market where we had a wander around, saw some chicken heads, stocked up on water, red bull and thai whisky/rum (samsong – excellent.) Was then about another half hour and we stopped for elephant riding and lunch!
Elephant Riding!!
What can we say hehe our elephant was a mummy so we had a baby elephant come along with us too!! Soooo cute. Hard to explain how amazing we both found it to ride an elepahnt through the forest – got lots of pics where we bought them bananas and fed them to them while riding along!! Slobbering trunks!! But it was excellent! Then got to the river!! our elephant entered the water, decided to cool himself off, and seemed to dredge up all the mud from the bottom of the river and spray over its occupants! We were covered it was excellent!! Helen and Doug then got informed how to tell their elephant to spray (they were behind) and so then we god a good dousing of water too! But was just so funny, and nice and cool and just added to the whole thing – was really really great. Had lunch, another half hour in the jeep and then we got dropped off – last time we’d be ferried around!
The other couple we were with seemed really nice – nice relief! And got on really well which definately helped make the trek even better. temperature was in the 30’s, I expected to die treking in that, but I didnt (neither did anyone else! Think I was definately the most unfit when it came to trekking up a mountain solidly for several hours!) Just lots of sweating. LOTS…. encountered first spider only to find it was tiny! Guide said they rarely get much bigger and so that was a huge relief which definitely helped me to relax more when working through a jungle! Over the whole trek most of the wildlife that we encountered was ants…. some termites… a very small worm and a snake that ‘ran’ across my path which we were seriously excited about as was getting a little disappointed when our guide stopped to point something out which turned out to be termites, or a worm that was so tiny we could barely see it haha but he didnt seem impressed by the snake! Ah well we were satisfied!
Stopped after about an hour only to be told we were only 30% of the way. By this time I was full on ready to die. (james fine!) Eventually we got to the top, and then in 10mins a good amount down back the other side to reach a river and waterfall which was amazing. All of us were as hot as you can get and it was just amazing, a bit rocky and I was a bit of a wimp getting under the waterfall itself but it was great, we spent a good hour in it until cold, and then walked the last bit to the tribe.
Arrived at the village (about 250 people) completely different to our preconceptions. Guide showed us round bits, explained interesting cultral bits, how the daughters wear white until married, and look after a pig which is eaten on the 2nd day of marriage to celebrate. We asked what happened if the pig died and he replied that they killed the daughter lol he had a good sense of humour! Showed us the local school (previous goverment did well at spreading the wealth to the poor and made education compulsary until 18) where children can walk to about an hour too, accomodation very basic…. great picture of the barbours! But not as primative that you could imagine.
He showed us to where we’d sleep etc, there’s one big wooden hut where all tourist stay even on diff tours etc for the whole village, wooden hut with padded matresse and mosquito nets – was pretty happy with that! Sat around a great wooden table with 2 bottles of samsong with the other couple, and then were later invited into one of the huts where we watched him cook up a seriously good dinner! By this point there were about 10 of us altogether, 2 spanish and the rest french. Dinner was great – rice, vegetables, yellow curry and enough for thirds! This was followed by more drinking. Our guide then brought out a pack of cards and attempted to show us a game. HAHA. it was rubbish, I could explain it all but wouldnt be worth the baht! But anyway was a good laugh and was then followed by whist.
the 4 of us and the guide were the last off to bed, up around 8ish or whenever the chickens woke us up! Was very cool lots of chickens happily wandering around everywhere! And some really scrawny dogs….
Day 2 of the trek was easy day (yay!) We clambered down the forest, lots of beautiful sights, another waterfall which we got to stand behind, and ended with bamboo rafting down the last bit of the river which was sooooo good!!! So much to say!! Doug impressively managed to fall in, but didnt loose sunglasses! We all got nice and wet, and went over a couple of rapid bits which was terrifying but excellent and the whole thing was over too fast! From there we got taken back to our places, and arranged to meet doug and helen later for massages. James had a thai one – which he loved (nothing to do with a small little thai girl being all over him for an hour!) And I got a oil one which was goregous. Foot one is next on list! This was followed by exploring the night market (HUGE!!) buying a few things and a good drinking session til the early hours :)
Today we packed up, caught our flight from Chiang Mai to Koh Samui and have had a great day/evening. Arrived just before sunset, headed straight to the beach, about 30seconds away from our little wooden bungalow! Water was as warm as a bath, it was absolutely gorgeous, soft white sand, idillic. Made us very happy! Looking forward to lots more beaches!
Will add in pictures as soon as poss – and tom will make sure one with us in too, just so you know we haven’t grabbed them off google!!
Rafting
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