Yesterday i moved from the extreme luxury of a swimming pool and air-con just outside the city, to an absolute flea-pit of a hostel within the moat area of Chiang Mai which had a pillow made of bricks and just a fan. Oh the joys! Glad to say i moved somewhere round the corner today called Same Same and they are really lovely. It's still not comfort but i'm only paying 2 quid a night so can't complain really! They have organised for me to do a trek overnight tomorrow aswell so sure i'll have lots to report on that.
Anyways, yesterday evening i decided to do a quick tour of the temples at night so managed to hire a tuk-tuk for an hour to take me round. Alot of them were really beautiful and glimmering but very difficult to capture in the dark (i tried as you can see from the photos!). Really need a decent camera!
This morning, by no choice of my own may i add, i had my first ride on the back of a moto! I had told the woman at the guesthouse i needed to go to the bank, it was only 5 mins walk away but she offered for her brother to take me. (Sounds really dodgy but i had already got the impression they are a nice family and not up to any scams!) It was pretty scary and i don't think i'll be doing it again in the near future.
Today seems to be a day of firsts, because i also decided to visit the Tiger kingdom about 30 mins North of Chiang Mai. I got driven up by the guesthouse owner which was in the luxury of a jeep with air-con! Now i had been thinking about doing this when i was planning my trip but had second thoughts now that i was here, bit intimidating.
It cost's you 6 pounds to see the big or medium tigers, or 12 pounds to see the small baby ones. I decided to be a cheap skate and see the biggest ones, i also thought there was less chance of being bitten by one as the babies seem to play about alot more! There are stories surrounding these sorts of places that the animals are drugged to ensure they don't attack people, but particularly the small tigers were moving arouns quite a bit and i seen one of the larger ones jump up against the fence.
I was absolutely bricking it when i got inside as the tiger was moving around the cage then decided to lie down right at the exit, no escape for me! I got some photos taken quickly and was right back out of there..i lasted around 4 mins. You are allowed to stay for 15 mins and you see people lying practically on top of the beasts, patting them and not even flinching when the tiger was moving it's head suddenly. Absolute nutters!
I am glad to report i escaped the cage unharmed, although that would have been quite a way to go - mauled by a tiger haha!!
