Wow. So much has happened since the last time I wrote and it would take me hours to write all of the amazing experiences and details down. I am going to try to keep this brief and focus on my favorite moments, although even that is very difficult to do.
First off, Chiang Mai is such a wonderful, fun, and artsy city and we had such a great time here. A big part of our stay there was consumed by the Songkran Festival which was such an amazing experience, even if we did have to prepare to get wet whenever we wanted to leave the hostel. It was so great to see everyone there celebrating and having the time of their lives. Everyone in Chiang Mai, and Thailand in general, was so welcoming and generous and I can't wait to go back there before I head back to HK. Nanc and I made the mistake multiple times of going and changing and then wandering the streets again, getting wet every single time. But I didn;t even care because I was so wrapped up in the joy and happiness of the festivities. The first day we were in Chiang Mai was spent walking the streets celebrating the new year and staying cool under the hott sun by getting drenched in water. We joined in and had a great time sharing laughs with many of the locals, and travelers as well.
We spent our second day just outside of the city at a farm/cooking school learning how to prepare and cook various tradition Thai dishes. Before we left the city, we gartherd around our instructor at a market while she informed us of many of the different ingredients used in Thai cooking. We took a train out to the farm (although it was just part of the ëxperience" because the same driver/bus that dropped us off picked us up at the other end) and it was a beautiful farm and cooking school set in the countryside. We got a tour of the farm and got to pick and eat many of the vegetables while she was giving us a tour. Then we spent the day with our fellow "students" preparing and cooking delicious meals. We cooked spring rolls, papaya salad, pad thai, 3 different types of curry, fried rice, tomyum soup, and finished the meal off with multiple desserts, my favorite being the friend banana and coconut. We somehow managed to eat a six-course meal in about a four hour period and by the end of the day we were all stuffed!
The following day was the grand finale of our Thailand adventures. We spent a magical day with the Elephants and trainers at Patara Elephant Farm just outside of Chiang Mai. At first stop on the farm, we got to meet two mama elephants and their baby girls. It was the first time I had been that close to an Elephant and I was SO excited and speechless because of their size and beauty. It was so amazing to see the interactions between the trainers and the elephants, and I would become even more amazed a bit later on when we got to see ALL of the elephants and their one-on-one trainers interacting with one another. The elephants are so well trained and respond so well to whatever it is the trainer tells them to do. When we were first meeting the elephants, they told them to spray us all with water from the river and sure enough, we were all soaked within seconds. It was amazing!!!
We got a nice shpeal from the owner of the farm about his efforts to restore the health of his elephants and how his farm is run. Some of the facts that he threw at us blew us all away, one of them being that the elephant population in Thailand has been just about divided in half, just in the past 40 years! 40 years ago there were 6000 elephants living in Thailand and now there are only about 3,200. That is a dramatic decrease in such a short amount of time! He gave us each our riding attire, which was a shirt handmade by women in the Carin tribe, which is the only tribe in Thailand that cares for and trains elephants and has for many years. They we were off to meet our elephants!
My elephant's name was Bang and she was 7 years old. She was such a beauty and had such a funny, stubbornly sweet personality. Our guide that assigned us our elephants told nanc, behind my back ofcourse, that he has given me the "crazy elephant that doesn't listen,"and not to tell me. Thanks! I was ready for it though. And she was not crazy and she listend great! That I could tell anyways! Bangs trainer was great and the three of us got along so well. We were a good trio and it made for such an amazing and memorable day!
We were introduced to our elephants and "made friends"with them by feeding them a basket of sugarcane, tamarind, and bananas. Everyone knows that the best way to make friends with someone is to feed them delicious treats! Well, the elephants very quickly responded and very quickly became friendly with each and every one of us. The trainers taught us how to inspect the health of our elephant and told us the handful off commands that we would need to remember throughout the day. Then, we were ready to mount our friendly giants and ride them off in to the rainforest to a hidden waterfall where we would all swim with one another, bathe our elephants, and eat lunch.
There were three ways to get up on to the elephant and I chose to be lifted up via Bang's trunk. It was very exhilerating and not as hard as I thought it would be. Once we were all on, we started our journey through the jungle. My trainer and I (I feel so bad because I forget his name! He was amazing and so nice!) shared some great conversation and funny stories about our homes, families, and friends. The trainers are such hard workers and they all definitely seem to have so much fun with one another. When we made it down to the waterfall after about an hour and a half ride, the elephants knew exactly where we were and were extremely excited to jump in the water. Bang was very patiend and listened to my trainer so I could get off before she rushed into the water to cool herself off. We got to swim by ourselves and also swim and bathe the elephants. They are such gentle, playful, and easy going animals and it was so special to get to interact with them on such an itimate and close level. We then ate a delicious, traditional Thai picnic in a bungalow overlooking the elephants playing in the water.
Nanc and I were so lucky to not only have such great trainers for company, but to have a great group of people that we were sharing the experience with for the first time as well. There was one family from Germany and one family from Madrid, and Nanc hit it off with the Europeans reaalllll quick!
Nanc and I flew to Bangkok together on Thursday and went our seperate ways. She was off to the U.S. and I was off to Cambodia to meet the family. SO exciting to have a little family reunion on this side of the globe! We have had a busy few days here in Cambodia and I will definitely write about it soon. This post is already way too long to add to and I'm about to fall asleep at the computer, so I think I am going to call it a night. Off to a floating village on a lake early morning so have to get some rest! i will also begin my solo adventure tomorrow which is very exciting! Everyone is headed up to Vietnam and I will stay here one more night and then make my way down through Cambodia in to Vietnam.
I will post again when I can find a computer! Cheers to all, and Happy Easter!
-S
