CHIANG MAI
When we arrived in Chiang Mai, we really got a good
impression. It’s up the very north of Thailand, near all of the hills tribe
minorities, so it is full of ladies with their crazy outfits on. It’s a pretty
happening city, with bars and restaurants lining the streets. We mainly hung
out in the old city centre, which is surrounded by an old moat which used to
separate the town. We were lucky enough to arrive in time for “Loi Krathong”
which is a festival in which you let off lanterns and firecrackers to send all
of your bad luck and sins away. I tell ya what; it was one of the most amazing
things I have ever seen! A massive parade, lanterns dotting the sky like stars,
firecrackers and fireworks exploding every two seconds and thousands of people
crowding the city central. We let off a little ‘krathong’ thing, with flowers,
candles and incense into the river with hundreds of other people, representing
letting out bad luck and bringing in good luck. The parade was gorgeous!
Beautiful floats holding beautiful ladies wearing the traditional Thai costumes.
Next we went on a mountain trek into the hills tribe
minorities. Now; this was NO ordinary trek through some mountains. This was a
twenty kilometre trek up a vertical mountain with virtually no path and
surrounded by complete jungle. Well as most people may know, I’m not into sport
at all and haven’t really ran anywhere/walked anywhere in a LONG time. So you
can imagine how difficult it was for me. OH MY GOD I will never forget that,
but darling, I swear it was worth it to get to the top! The hills tribe village
was lovely, and a nice cold coke was perfect. Probably THE BEST coke in
history. We slept in a bamboo hut propped up on poles, (The Bamboo Hotel!?) and
literally slept on the floor with one sleeping bag.
We made some friends around the campfire, Kylie and Melissa.
They were really awesome girls! And our tour guides were the wackiest things
around, dancing and playing funny songs. They spoke pretty good English but the
main things they said were “Why not, You like jungle OK” which was hilarious.
We also got offered to try opium (no thanks), but it is the
traditional way of life up in the hills tribes. A couple of the other tourists
tried it, but we just hung around and watched.
The next day we walked some more through the jungle
(AHHHHH!!) and stopped every now and then for a drink and a swim at a
waterfall. We stopped at this one waterfall that was really nice and cool, and
we relaxed for a while. Then we walked downhill some more until we came to
another waterfall which we had to cross. IT was pretty difficult to get across
so they made a quick bamboo handrail for us to get across. A few of us jumped across
until the guide realised there was a snake on the three above him. You should have
seen him yelp! He jumped 3 metres in the air and looked up again. He told us
that it was the most poisonous snake in the whole of Thailand! And it was right
above his head! He said that if it had of bitten his head/neck then he would
have died in one hour! That was quite a shock, but we moved on and ate lunch at
this beautiful village with its own waterfall. From here it wasn’t that far to
the main road so we hiked down and went for a walk to the river camp. This camp
wasn’t much better than the other one, except it was on flat ground (woop) and
beside this magnificent river. The most daring ones went in for a swim, but
most of just stayed knee deep, thank you.
The next day we went white water rafting down the big river.
We were prepared to get wet and we did!. It really was very fun floating down
white rapids in a rubber boat with six other people. It was pretty scary at
some points though, we felt like we were
going to tip right out! You should have seen all of our faces!
After the rafting we went elephant riding. Oh yeah that was
really sweet, we got to sit on top of the elephants head on a little wooden
saddle thing (if you could call it that) and then hike up some slippery
mountain. Some of the trainers were like, really mean to the elephants, hitting
them on the nose with this big, scary hook thing while others (ours too!) were
really gentle. Our guy had a very serious relationship with his one, he gave it
bamboo to munch and they exchanged kisses and he rarely ever hit it, and only
smacked in gently with bamboo on its backside.
After all this we caught the bus back to town. What an adventure! Mind
you, I wouldn’t do it again. LOL.
When we returned from out trek, we rented out a nice hotel
for a couple of nights to treat ourselves. We got a call from our Uncle Simon
who wanted to catch up for dinner the next day. We also met Simon’s girlfriend
Ma Li who is absolutely lovely. She taught me lots of Thai! We went for dinner
at the gorgeous place by the river all lit up with candles and everything. The
food was delicious! That was the best Thai food mum and i had ever experienced.
Mmmmm my mouth waters just thinking about the flavoursome soups and prawns
and...
The next day we decided to visit a bit Buddhist temple up on
the hill called “Doi Suthep”. It really is quite beautiful, with golden statues
and Buddha’s everywhere, I took quite a lot of pictures. We walked int a
smaller temple, with a very big golden leafed Buddha. The monk offered to bless
us and give us good luck. He sort of shook this water on our heads and said
thinks in a sort of ancient Thai language. Then he wrapped a piece of white
cord around our wrists and then said good luck for you. SO we were now
officially blessed by the monk and said our thankyous and did our “Waii-ing”
(putting your hands in an almost prayer like position above the ridge of your
nose as a sign of respect for the monk) and put some money into the donation
box, which is common courtesy of entering
a temple. The whole temple is decorated with mosaics, and golden
statues. We saw some nuns (monks are only men, women who devote their life are
called nuns) we greeted in the traditional way and did our “Waii-ing’”. SO that
was a great experience, and really made me think alot about Buddhism.
