So as I said in my previous blog, we were allowed to leave school at 3:15 instead of 4:30. We were to walk quickly to our apartments and grab our bags as our taxi driver (Mr. Chicken) would be picking us up at 3:30. When we went to leave it was pouring rain, again! We called a cab to pick us up at the school, but waited ten minutes and it hadn’t showed up yet so we ran home in the rain! The downpour had let up a little bit so we didn’t get as soaked as the last time, but we were still really wet! By the time we got in the cab it was about 3:45. We were flying from the Don Muang Airport which is only supposed to be an hour drive from the apartments, but we left during rush hour and it took us over two hours to get there! Thankfully we had left early enough and still had 50 minutes to check in and board the plane!
We were all starving so we grabbed some Burger King at the airport before we boarded the plane. Our flight was only an hour long, although it felt longer. It was a smaller plane and was really loud and rough. I did not feel safe at all! They handed out “supper” which was a tuna croissant and chicken flavour coated peanuts... YUCK! The smell of people eating the tuna thing made me feel sick! I was so happy when we landed and got out of that plane!
When we landed in Chiang Mai we went straight to get our luggage. We waited and waited and waited.... and then they turned the luggage belt off where our bags were supposed to come from. We had a minor freak out and then someone who worked at the airport pointed to another belt where our bags were continuously going around and around! Thank god! Once we finally got our luggage straightened out we went out to find a taxi to take us to our hotel. There was a taxi stand right outside of the airport which booked us a taxi for very cheap (120 baht, approx. 4 dollars) and we were on our way. We stayed at the Imm Hotel Thaphae, it was very nice and very CLEAN! The hotel was in the central part of the town so we could walk to all sorts of shops and restaurants. There were small flat screen TV’s on the walls in our rooms, and we realized we hadn’t turned a TV on since we got here a month ago! We found one English channel but there wasn’t anything good on, so we attempted to do some Thai karaoke! We then went for a walk to look around the hotel. We found an “Entertainment Room” where there was a couch, really comfortable bean bag chairs and a big screen TV. We hung out in there and talked for a while and then went to bed around 11:00, as we had to be up at 5:00 the next morning!
Saturday, June 11
We had 18 hours of adventures today! Here it goes...
Amanda, Jill & I woke up at 5am. Yuck. Tori wasn’t feeling well so she stayed in bed for the day. When we woke up we got ready and grabbed breakfast at McDonalds before a van picked us up from the hotel to take us to the rainforest to go zip lining at the Flight of the Gibbon!! It was an hour drive on VERY narrow roads to get to our destination. On the drive the guide showed is an episode of the Amazing Race where the contestants were zip lining at Flight of the Gibbon! When we got there we had to sign insurance forms so their company wasn’t responsible if we got injured (this made me a little nervous) and then we got geared up and ready to go! We walked to the first zip lining platform and Amanda went first out of everyone in our group! Then it was my turn.... it was AMAZING!! It was so cool to be up in the jungle with nothing but trees below me! The scariest part was coming to the end of the line because I thought I was going to hit a tree, but the guide caught us at the end every time. After the first line I couldn’t wait to go again and again and again! I never wanted it to end! We did a couple of short lines and then one that was 800 meters long, I loved it! It cost 2600 baht (approx. $86 CDN) which seemed a little expensive but it was SO worth it. We felt so safe while we were up on the lines, the guides always made sure we were hooked up to something so there was no way we could fall! Our guide’s name was Mr. Cash. He was so much fun and was always joking around. There were two lines where you could go with a friend. We were sad because there were only three of us, so he let us go together! The first time it was a line from tree top to tree top, but the second time was straight down to the ground from the top of a tree! It was really cool, and so fun to do Amanda & Jill! He made our adventure so much fun! We also got a “Flight of the Gibbon” t-shirt with our tour price... but nobody else did on the tour!
We zip lined for about 2 and a half hours and then took a van to a set of waterfalls. It was a tough climb up a whole bunch of really steep stairs, but we made it... and then came right back down! When we got back down a van took us to a neat little restaurant for lunch (which was also included in our tour price). The food was so good, we had chicken, potatoes and vegetables. There was also a three man band playing cool music while we ate! Once we finished lunch we got back in the van for the hour drive on narrow roads back to the hotel! We arrived at the hotel around 2:00pm.
Next stop... Tiger Kingdom! When we got back to the hotel we went up to the room to check on Tori and see if she wanted to come to Tiger Kingdom with us. She still wasn’t feeling well so she decided not to come. We got McFlurries and hopped on a tuk-tuk (which we found out is actually pronounced “took-took). When we got to Tiger Kingdom we had to choose what size of tigers we wanted to see. We chose to see the smallest and the biggest! It was 840 baht (approx. $28CDN) to see each size for ten minutes each. The smallest tigers were 2-3 months old and they were absolutely adorable! They were very playful but cuddly at the same time. The ten minutes went by so fast, we weren’t ready to leave when they told us to! Next we went to the biggest tigers which were 20 months old. They were very calm and either laid in the grass or walked around a little bit. The guide showed us how we could lean on the tigers for a picture, but I obviously wasn’t paying attention because I attempted to lay right on TOP of the tiger, and the guide started yelling “NO, NO, NO, DANGER, DANGER!!!” Oopsie, thankfully I didn’t get eaten! The ten minutes with the big tigers went by quickly too, and again we didn’t want to leave! We then went into the souvenir shop where we bought post cards, magnets and t-shirts! Once we were finished shopping we took our tuk-tuk back to the hotel. The tuk-tuk driver that drove us to Tiger Kingdom waited for us while we went in and then drove us back to the hotel! When we got back we went to Starbucks for a snack and a drink (don’t ask me why we were still hungry)! I had my very first frappacino and Jill & I shared a big piece of carrot cake. They were both delicious!
Adventure #3... we went back up to our rooms to shower and get ready to go to the Chiang Mai Cultural Center for a Dinner Theatre with Traditional Dancing. Tori STILL wasn’t feeling well so she had to miss out on that too. It was fun to get dressed up and straighten my hair! It had been so long since I had straightened it that the girls said I looked like a totally different person! A van picked us up at the apartment at 6:45 to take us to the Cultural Center. We stopped at another hotel to pick up more people and it was Taylor and Oneyda from BU! It was only a five minute drive to the Cultural Center. When we arrived we checked in at the counter and then took some group pictures while we were all dressed up. Once we finished taking pictures we went into the restaurant/hall area. There were a whole bunch of seating areas set up on the floor for people to sit to eat their dinner and watch the dancing. The principal at our school made the dinner reservation for us and our seats were on a platform at the front of the stage, we felt so important! The waiter brought us a tray of food which was DELICIOUS. There were all different kinds of pork, chicken and vegetables, and we got sticky rice in a little wicker cup/basket type thing. Whenever we finished something from our tray the waiter would re-fill it immediately. It was awesome service!
While we ate, there were Traditional Thai Dancers performing on the stage in front of us. It was very neat to see that aspect of their culture. It reminded me of Ukrainian Dancing (not that it was at all similar, just the whole idea of traditional dancing). There were all different kinds of dances: one guy did a dance with knives, and a group of girls did a candle dance. Those are just a couple examples. After about an hour of dancing they invited the audience to come up and dance on the stage with them... of course we went! When we finished dancing we were escorted out of the building to an outdoor theatre where we watched another hour of dancing. They had little kids doing the traditional dances as well, it was so cute. The whole evening cost 550 Baht (approx. $18) and it was SO worth it. The only problem of the night that all three of our cameras died within 5 minutes of each other!
When the dancing ended we took the van back to the hotel where we ran in to charge our cameras for ten quick minutes. We then took a tuk-tuk to a night market to do some shopping! We had about two hours of shopping but it went by SO fast and we didn’t even get through half of the market. We bought quite a few things (I don’t feel guilty anymore since I don’t have much time left to buy cheap things, haha). We took another tuk-tuk back to the hotel around midnight. When we got back we got ready for bed and went to sleep as we had to be up early again the next morning! As you can imagine, I slept SO good.
We have done a lot of awesome things since we have arrived in Thailand, but I would say that this was the BEST day I had so far, I wouldn’t have changed a thing!
Sunday, June 12
Another early morning... we woke up at 6:30 to get ready to go on an Elephant Trek! We got ready and went down to the hotel lobby for breakfast. We then checked out of the hotel as we would not be back before the check-out time. Thankfully the hotel allowed us to leave our luggage behind the desk while we were out for the day.
Our tour guide picked us up in a private van at 8:15. It was about an hour drive to the elephant training center. On the way to the elephant grounds we stopped at a butterfly farm. It wasn’t what we expected. There weren’t very many butterflies, but there WERE a lot of beautiful orchids. We then stopped at a small market along the way. It was mostly a food market, but of course I found a pair of sandals to buy! In the food market they had all different kinds of insects to eat!! It was really gross! After the market we went straight to the elephant training center.
When we got to the elephant grounds we had to walk across a very long, rickety, scary bridge. As we were crossing the bridge we saw a group of elephants and their trainers getting ready for the elephant show! We made it across the bridge and went down to a little area to watch the first part of the show. Just so you know, the elephant show was not like watching a circus. It did not seem like there was any sort of animal cruelty, the elephants seemed happy and the trainers were very nice to them. First we watched the trainers bathe the elephants in the river. It was really cool, they would roll in the water and spray their backs with their trunks as the trainers scrubbed them! We then moved to a grand stand type area where we watched the elephants perform the duties they were used for in the past. They had logs attached behind them and dragged them to dig trenches, and they worked as a team to roll and pile huge logs with their trunks. For the big finale an elephant held a paint brush in his trunk and painted a picture! They only showed the elephant painting the one picture, and Jill was lucky enough to be able to buy it!
After the elephant show we walked over to another area on the grounds where we got on the elephants! We rode them through the jungle for about an hour and a half. On our journey we stopped at an old village where there were locals selling their hand-made products. The girls & I bought cute matching hand-made bracelets. The huts in the village were made from bamboo and leaves, and the guide said that’s what some of the actual houses are made out of. We then got back on the elephants to go back to the training centre. The trek through the village was so nice. It was cool, calm and peaceful. On the way back we went up the Ping River. It was amazing to see how the elephants walked against the current. When we got back to the training centre we met up with our original guide. She told us that the training center was in the movie Rambo! We thought that was pretty cool.
Once we were finished at the training center we loaded up into the van and headed to a beautiful resort for lunch. We never did get the name of the resort, but it was so quiet and peaceful and we had an amazing view of the mountains. The food was also very delicious. Once we finished lunch we got back into the van for an hour and a half drive back to the hotel. All four of us slept the whole way back... we were exhausted!
We got back to the hotel around 3:15 and called a taxi to take us to the airport. We had a little bit of time to kill once we got checked in at the airport so we walked around and looked at the little shops, and got ice cream of course! The flight was a little bit rough and scary and they had the disgusting pork buns again. Amanda and I chatted the whole way so it went by really quickly! When we got back to Bangkok we got a taxi from outside of the airport and prepared ourselves for another two hour cab right. However, this taxi driver took some sort of short-cut detour and it only took an hour! We got back to the apartment around 7:30 and then went to the Big C to get groceries for the week and then came back to unpack and get ready for bed!
Many people have said that the bugs and mosquitoes are really bad up north around Chiang Mai so the girls and I loaded up with bug spray for the weekend. However, we didn’t see a whole lot of mosquitoes. We actually haven’t seen a whole lot of mosquitoes at all since we have been in Thailand, which is very nice!
This was by far the best weekend I have had so far. We had a couple long days and were exhausted by the end but it was totally worth every penny! My camera was very busy this weekend too... I took 520 pictures and 17 videos, not to mention the pictures we took as a group on Jill & Amanda’s cameras!
No comments:
Post a Comment