Beautiful, lovely Chiang Mai. It is a lovely walled city with a moat. I kid you not and on Sundays there is the Sunday Walking Market and all the nights of the week there is a night bazaar. I decided in
We hopped of the train and onto the back of a truck and went directly to Awana sleep and swim. For 600 baht we have a lovely room, like really nice. The swim is more of a paddle but that is ok. We are a small stroll from the moat and the Thae Pae Gate. We spent the first day wandering about and seeing what the town was like. We arrived on a Sunday so we had a look at the Sunday market. We went for food and then went in search of a bar. We ended up in a rock bar with a cover band made up of the bar owner, his son and a guy in his late fifties playing lead guitar, wearing leathers and a wig of curly hair. There also seemed to be a large gang of urban cowboys, hats ‘n’ all! We chilled there for the evening, drinking rice whiskey and cheering on the band.
The next day we decided to book a jungle trek. We looked at our options and booked a two day/one night trek at a cost of 1400 baht each. We met with one of the guides that evening, Mr. Ku, and he answered some of our questions and lent us small backpacks. So we chilled at a Muay Thai match, ate and packed that evening. The Muay Thai night was mad. It looked like a lot of hugging and kicking to me during the earlier pairings and the first ladies match was very poor. but as the skill level increased the matches became more interesting. There was even a fun match where 4 boxers were placed in the ring, blindfolded and one of their trainers was placed in there without a blindfold. The whole purpose was for the boxers to take swings and kicks if they felt anyone near them, even if it was the trainer. The trainer would just randomly come up and thump them or spin them around or something. There seemed to be a good friendship between all of the boxers and the hung about the stadium afterwards chatting to people.
The next morning we hopped into the back of the van with Sabrina and Stefane from
We were shattered and sweaty when we got there let me tell you. We knew we would be staying in huts but it did not occurred to me that there would be no electricity. The place we stayed was right over the river and was made of bamboo and wood. The owner was not Lahu but was Akha and was a very happy lady. We were told that there were about 50 families in the village and that it is only accessible by the track we used or the river. The nearest school was 6km away and many of the children stayed in the school during the week. The tribes’ people marry very young, from about 15, and one of our assistant guides told us he is 17, married and his wife was expecting a baby.
Some of us went for a swim in the river to wash off some of the sweat and then waited for dinner as we were wrecked.
Dinner was cooked over an open fire in one of the huts but was lovely.
Our guide brought out a guitar and a sing song ensued. I went to bed before it finished but Ter and some of the men stayed up and had a few beers.
It was kinda cool going to bed by candle light in our groups hut but we were basically on thin bedrolls with thin blankets and it was actually cold.
I got very little sleep because of loud rain and was not appreciative of the gang of cockerels that started their dawn chorus at 4am. Ter slept quite well after his beers.
While we had our breakfast of boiled eggs and toast we watched our bamboo raft being constructed. We then went on an elephant trek on Thai elephants. They are smaller tan Indian and African elephants. Apparently the Lisu are the people with the best voodoo to control the elephants. The trek was a little scary for me at times because 1. We were going under low lying trees; they contain large insects and 2. The track was steep at points and elephants can slip, apparently. I would just like to assure you that Terry is both a good seatbelt and insect hunter ;)
The elephant kept stopping to eat and at one point tried to fell a tree!
We then changed and put our bags into plastic bags for the bamboo rafting trip. We have no pictures of this as the likelihood of the raft tipping and us losing our camera was high.
The three men had to assist the skipper by using poles of bamboo to help steer the raft. Us ladies sat down. We had to get off and walk at one point as the rapids were too dangerous for us ladies!
All of the men folk were overboard at one point or another.
We all got soaked as the raft was often so far under water that I was mid-chest in the river. Fun! We did not tip over but we were all looking forward to a shower!
Ter and I went to a shopping centre that evening and went to the Pizza company chain, which do very good pizza. We then went to see Eagle Eye which was alright, defo better than
We have been to the night market a few times. It is good but huge with a good few food options including the usual McDonalds, Subway and Burger King.
Ter - So siobs not feeling well today but she still soldiered on and went to a massage course she’s been dying to do since she read it in a book before we left. While she was doing that I had a stroll around the old town, more wats, heat and sweat. I ditched the walking tour plan and went for an iced coffee instead. Reading a book and listening to my iPod – reminded me of college – similar circumstance too, nothing to do but waste time. I gave in to the wife’s demands of shaving but I got some Thai lady to do the honors – it was a pretty poor job but I got a haircut as well for 200baht so not too bad – no photos yet but keep an eye out for the new look – its exactly what I asked for ‘A haircut’ nothing fancy. I spent the latter half of the wait drinking a beer watching the world go by while trying to get a wooden cube back together stoopid wooden puzzle beat me but not until I had missed Siobhan walking by to meet me back at the hotel. I caught up with her twenty minutes later when she walked back towards the message place.
As Ter wrote I did a Thai reflexology course, which is actually just foot massage, but I enjoyed it. Ter got a hair cut and a very poor shave. It was very bad; he had a lot of hair on his face. When Terry did not turn up at the hotel I was, of course, as cool as a cucumber. I was calmly wondering how long I could reasonably leave it to start calling hospitals! I was not feeling very well so we went and had great burgers in Mikes and then headed to a bar so Ter could have a beer.
We ended up playing pool with sisters Bim and Bam and then going to a brilliant Reggae club with them! On the way we passed a cart selling fried insects. Terry had a mixed platter while I tried not to heave. Apparently they are lovely as long as you do not mind tentacles between your teeth. We eventually decided to go home as we had an early start for rock climbing in the morning!!!
We did not go rock climbing in the morning, I was not hung over but I was still unwell. Terry, however, hugged the loo bowl for a small while.
We had another lie in and then went to pizza hut. It was really poor. If you are ever making the choice between pizza hut and Pizza Company I advise Pizza Company all the way. We went to The Zohan, which is only ok. I feel like a student but I love being able to go to the cinema whenever.
We then went on an impromptu shopping trip and bought a couple of bits for our gaff!
We are doing a lot of strolling about the city and chilling, tis lovely.
We met with Bim and went to the lake with her. It is actually a reservoir with lots of open huts around it. Thai people go swimming there and spend the day there chilling, eating and having a few beers. We went to the bar for a few drinks and then strolled about the night market. I was not feeling well I went home and Ter went for a beer.
Bim brought us to Doi Suthep and we wandered about the grounds for a while. Then Bim brought us to a restaurant that she used to work in that mainly serves vegetarian and organic food. I was stilling feeling a bit unwell so I decided to go to the doctor for a blood test. I went to a local clinic and it was really good but I had to wait about two and a half hours to see the doctor and come back the next day with a sample. Everything was perfect and it only cost350 baht including the lab results, which only took an hour.
The next day we decided to head to Ko Tao.
