CHIANG MAI
While I was waiting for my train at Bangkok train station, the police/guards blew their wistles really loud and all of the sudden everyone in the station, including all the tourists as we just copied what the Thai people did which was standing up facing a huge poster of the King, then the Thai Anthem was being played, at the end everyone sat down again and everything was back to normality again, it was the most peculiar experience. You see big posters of the king wherever you go in Thailand.
I arrived in Chiang Mai about midday the following day and had time to have a walk around the town which had a nice feel to it, the old town is built inside a moat and is small enough to walk. There are lots of amazing temples everywhere, apparently there are over 300 temples in Chiang Mai.
I started my stay in Chiang Mai with a three day trek up in the hills, we were a group of 8 people, we started our trip with an elephant ride. The first days walking was not very long but hard work as it was some very steep hills, and I didn't feel in a very fit state, especially as I had managed to catch a cold and developed a cough. We arrived at camp and we stayed in a bamboo hut built on stilts, we all slept in the same hut on the floor with some thin matrasses. The camp site was in a beautiful setting with the river running just below our hut. We all had a swim when we arrived from a hot and sweaty walk, or in my case a quick dip as it was freezing but very refreshing. We then had some lovely Thai food that our guide had cooked for us before the campfire was lit and one of the guides got his guitar out and started playing and singing, it was a great evening. The night was freezing and not the most comfortable so I didn't have much sleep, but after a quick wash in the refreshing river and breakfast I was fine again.
The rest of the trek was more walking through some beautiful hills and along the river, coming across wonderful waterfalls. We visited a village where the Karen Tribes lived, Karen is the largest hill tribe in Thailand about 300,000 Karen people live in Thailand. This was really an interesting experience, they are such a beautiful people. The trek ended with bamboo water rafting, our raft tipped over and I got completely soaked, we were shrieking with excitment, especially when we went through some fast and white water rapids.
Today I have been busy cooking Thai food all day. We first visited the market to buy the ingredients, before starting our cooking, we cooked dishes such as Pad Thai, Papaya salad, sweet and sour soup, stir fry, Thai Green Curry and Sweet sticky rice with mango, it tasted wonderful but we were all so full up and it felt like we been eating non-stop all day. This is my very short and quick visit to Thailand and I would love to come back and explore more but tomorrow I am of to cross the border into Laos.
