August 4th, 2009
Aug 3rd–Best Day Ever!!
We had just the best day EVER! Certainly one of the top days since we have been here in Thailand. Last Friday we were wandering around the Old Walled City and made our way into a small Wat that we happened across. A couple of us were not dressed properly to go in the temple so out of respect we all decided to just sit at a table in the yard instead of going in…A nice looking Thai lady came up to us and started asking us questions about where we had been and where we are from etc…this is not new–we get approached everywhere we go for any number of things, but this lady was nice, so we continued the conversation. As it happens she is a private tour guide and this is her way of drumming up customers (shock surprise). So anyway, after some amount of conversation, it gets around to what we might like to do while in Chiang Mai. She offers to take us on one of the tours we were considering booking through the hotel. She (along with her husband who drives) would take us to the Elephant farm up north and anywhere else we would like to go for 500 baht, plus the price of the admission tickets. She is able to get Jackie in for free, so this ends up being a way better deal than the hotel tour and it would be private (AND we LOVE private!) So in the Thai way, we give her 500 baht and she puts her name and phone number on a sticky note and assures us she will pick us up from our hotel on Monday morning at 8:30am. What do have to lose we ask ourselves??? Only the 500 baht (that would be $15 USD).
We were up bright and early and ready to go when she got here (of course she showed up!)…so we piled into her van and started our adventure. We went up to Mae Thang Elephant park, a government run facility, very well run and a very happy place for the animals (unlike some of the other elephant camps we have seen here). When we got out of the van, we were able to see several baby elephants and feed them. Our first activity was an elephant trek. It was a 1 hour trek into the jungle and criss crossing a big river. We went through several hill tribe villages. The kids were on one elephant and Troy and I were on another. Our elephant had 2 babies trailing along the whole way–they were very cute and very naughty. They kept begging for sugar cane and bananas from us and breaking trees and snitching new sugar cane plants from the edge of fields that we passed. There were tribe people who would stand up in rickety tree houses selling bananas and sugar cane for 20 baht for us to buy and then feed the elephants on the ride. BUT according to the elephants thought every treehouse they passed needed to feed them and they should just get a treat whether we paid or not…they were very insistent that they be fed, so pretty much every place gave them something. The trainers were very kind to the elephants, which was nice to see. The ride was fantastic and peaceful–amazing–I will remember it forever. It is hard to put into words…After the elephant rides, we were dropped off in a hilltribe village and we rode ox carts back to the camp…also fun, but VERY bumpy!
Then we came back and watched the elephants take baths in the river and they sprayed us with their trunk fulls of muddy river water. Sounds horrible, but it was fun! The elephants then did a show where they showed off their tricks. There was one who could drop kick a soccer ball with his trunk and then kick it with his back leg…Now this would come in handy for Jackie’s soccer team! There is an elephant who can paint, her name is Suda…We knew about this elephant before we came and it was Jackie’s plan to get one of the pictures for her birthday present…so right after the show, we secured the purchase of the painting that we saw her draw. There were many others at the camp that we could have gotten, but it seemed special to get the one that we saw her paint.
We had lunch at the camp–it was very good for a buffet lunch. Mango sticky rice and everything!! Then after lunch we were treated to a peaceful ride down the river on a bamboo raft. This was interesting and once we were sure we were not going to drown out there and we relaxed, it was a nice way to conclude out trip. Riam picked us up at the raft drop off point and asked us what else we would like to do. We decided on a trip to the Monkey School.
Other than all the monkeys being chained up (as apparently they are dangerous), it was neat. There was one baby one that people can hold and play with…so we did that and got some pictures. The show was cute–very interactive with the audience, so we got lots of fun pictures there. It is amazing how smart monkeys are!!
After that we went to Doi Suthep, the most famous temple in Chiang Mai. 306 steps to get into it! Beautiful place and the absolute best view of Chiang Mai. Hopefully the pictures reflect this…
Riam and her hubby brought us home after that–I can not believe we got all this for $15. I am sure that could not cover her gas to drive us all over the place like she did. IN addition to her and her husband’s time. This is the one thing I will not ever understand…
She is going to take us to Chaing Rai on Wednesday, which is 300km to the north of here. She will pick us up at 6am and we will be back late (probably around 8pm or so). She says the shopping there is very cheap–I can hardly imagine it being cheaper than here, but we are saving some of our market energy for that trip. Not sure HOW it could be cheaper?? Something to do with cross border shopping (Laos and Myanmar are both up there) and I think those counries have even lower cost of living than here…
