Day 10
Goodbye to Siri House... We will be back for sure! Chiang Mai is an amazing city with wonderful food and people!
We flied with Bangkok Airlines at 12.30 in the afternoon.
This flight was really expensive, but we got free food at the Bangkok Airlines Lounge before take-off. Of course I stashed some popcorn and rice crackers in my handluggage. That's me!
We booked a bungalow at Weekender Villa at Lamai Beach. It had really good reviews on Tripadvisor, but when we got there the bathroom was really moldy. The whole room smelled. It was OK for one night. We immediately put on our swimming gear and took a dive in the warm ocean and the (clean) swimming pool.
After that we went for something to eat at the village and when we got back we planned our stay at another hotel at Mae Nam Beach, at the other side of the island.
Day 9
Last day at Chiang Mai. Tomorrow we'll be flying to Koh Samui.
We visited Wat Doi Suthep. The most beautiful temple around Chiang Mai. At least, that's what travel guides said... It was sooo crowded with tourist hasslers who want money to take your picture, so you couldn't take its beauty all in. Wat Doi Suthep is located on a hill that oversees Chiang Mai city. Beautiful view.
At the Saturday market at the center we bought some souvenirs for our family back home and ate many different things. I accidentally ate a fried bug too. I did not order that one, it just happened to be in my dumpling.
We visited a beautiful temple where a school concert was going on. We stopped there for an hour to look at the kids in their traditional Thai robes. The girls who were waiting to perform their dance were happy to pose for a picture :-)
Time to go to sleep!
Day 8
A friend recommended a visit to Elephant Nature Park. It's a care center for rescued elephants. Instead of making money out of them they ask for volunteers who pay to come and help to keep the park up and running. The elephants are fed by the visitors, but the park also needs to be cleaned, the elephant kitchen needs to be run and lots of other jobs need to be done.
Most of these elephants have an awful history: circus, abuse by owner, car crashes, land mines, etc.It's a good thing those animals end up here to get a second chance instead of being exploited again for tourists pleasures like elephant riding.
One elephant really got my attention: Meadow. Her both hips were broken because she was forced to mate. They tied her up so she couldn't move and had the male elephant climb her. Male elephants can get very aggressive while mating and because she couldn't move the weight on her hips became unbearable I just can't believe how some people have such a lack of respect towards animals. These stories break my heart every time! We fed her and gave her a bath at the river. She has a very hard time to walk. Our tour guide told us that she learned to live with it. Her 'accident' happened about 10 years ago. She's amazing!
Another thing that amazed me was how they care for each other. They make friends within their herd just like people. Elephants who need extra care, attention and love are looked after by their friends. They defend the one that's sad or sick. One elephant had a miscarriage about 6 months ago. Two elephants approached her to take care of her because she was so sad. It was truly touching, this story.
After feeding the elephants we had lunch ourselves. After that we visited the clinic and washed both elephants who had to stay there for medical treatment. We also did some work in the kitchen by washing some pumpkins.
We got a tour around the whole domain to meet with all the elephant families. We got to take a look at a two month old. We couldn't get very close. The family protected the baby very well. At one point we even needed to run, because the auntie came closer and closer.
Not only elephants have their home here. Cats, dogs, waterbuffalos and other animals are also sheltered here. Dogs and cats can be adopted.
Every animal in this park is being looked after. They give them medical care, food and lots and lots of love. Certainly visit this park. Give your money a purpose instead of riding an elephant for pleasure. These ellies are not being cared after!
It was a fantastic trip and certainly the most 'money well spend'-attraction so far!
Day 7
We woke up at Bau Tong Lodge. Compared to the location of this hotel -in the middle of a street full of pubs and girl cafés, if you know what I mean- and the dirty bathroom, we've slept fantastic! It was so quiet!
We started our day with a massage by naughty girls. I know what you're all thinking, little pervs, but you got it all wrong. No happy endings for us! We got a massage from Thai inmates... These women are learning some skills to reintegrate back to society. Becoming a masseuse is one of them. The prison opened a salon where they can practice. A one hour massage cost us 180 BHT. That's about 4,5 euro.
First you have to get dressed and put some sort of robe on and then they wash your feet. Their massage techniques are really impressive. They use their whole body. After your massage you get a Thai tea.
They really know what they're doing and you have to put aside that they're actually doing time. They're really friendly and gentle. If you're planning to have a Thai massage, do it here! It's a great initiative!
There's also a small restaurant where you can eat or drink something. You also get served by inmates.
A very unique experience!
After our massage we checked in at Siri House again. We got the cat room this time. Just my cup of tea!
We asked Pat to call us a taxi to take us to Tiger Kingdom, probably the most controversial attraction of Thailand. You can get inside a cage here with tigers and they won't harm you. Some say the tigers are drugged, others are convinced they're not. I'd like to think that with my vetnursing background, I would be able to tell if there are drugs involved or not. I wanted to go and look for myself instead of reading the reviews again and again.
I was really excited at first. We started at the little tigers and worked our way up. We had to wait for a few minutes, while watching other people playing with the cubs. When we got to go in there my heart was racing, until I sat next to one that was sleeping and the caretaker pushed me into waking him. I didn't like that. We could pet all the cubs, one by one, but my excitement made room for disappointment and unbelief. How could these beautiful creatures be locked up in here to pleasure tourists? Why don't they teach them to be tigers to release them back in the wild? WHY DON'T THEY EDUCATE PEOPLE ABOUT THESE ANIMALS?? Not a single word was told about their natural way of life, why Tiger Kingdom is what it is and how they train the tigers. It's just a show to make money.
We went on to the next cage: the small ones. Those were quite playful and ran around the whole time. It wasn't easy to get a picture with them.
The medium ones were just laying in the sun, watching each other. Many people would get the impression they're drugged, because they're not active, but every hour/half hour they don't let anyone in the cage and the caretakers play with them. It's like a kitty at home. They don't seem drugged at all if you see how they're jumping to moving leaves and such.
Our last stop: the big cats. They were more active than the medium ones. They were constantly running around and playing with each other. The caretakers needed to get them away from each other so the visitors could pet them. I could sit next to one big tiger. He farted.
My conclusion about Tiger Kingdom: You can't stay away. Your curiosity takes over. I think that's why it still exists... But think about what would happen to the tigers if nobody shows up anymore... They can't be released back into the wild!
About the drugs: Animals can't be that active when drugged AND it's hard to find the right dose for animals to tranquilize them. I don't think a right balance between 'sleep and play' even exists. If there is, you need to take various factors into account. Weight, are they sober or did they eat,... Every tiger would have a different dose. I can't imagine the staff holding on to a log and weighing the tigers every morning before opening. One dose doesn't even last for a day. They should get it a few times a day to hold on to the same effect.
If there are some old fellow-students/teachers who have another opinion or want to point out something I forgot (I've been out for almost two years now), please DO!
I once said that if I could pet a big cat, I would die in peace, but I have to rethink that statement...
After a good shower and reviewing our visit to Tiger Kingdom, we went to see a Thai Boxing Game. Great to clear my mind.
Thai boxing is real fun! It's not only boxing, the fighters put up a show before they start.
I voted for blue once, the rest of my faith was in red. Blue won all the fights! Unbelievable!
Day 6
Thought we would be doing a 10 to 15 km trekking, but only did 6.
We think our tour guide named Birdie had a hangover... He was a funny man though and knew a few things in Dutch like: "Ma joeng!", "Mooi hier hé!" and "Verdoeme"!
My fear for the spiders in the woods dissapeared along our way up the hill, only until the caterpillar came along. It stung me when we were almost up. I screamed through the whole forest with a few accidental swear words. It felt like someone had poured a kettle of boiling water over my leg. I thought it was a plant at first, but when Birdie saw the blisters it had caused he said it was the caterpillar for sure. He gave me an anti allergic cream and by the time we were back at our van, the blisters were gone and the pain was too. Heavy pain but short. That's good, because I feared I would be in pain for a few days!
After the walk we visited the orchid and butterly farm. This wasn't anything special, but was in our trekking pack.
After our trekking we had to look for a new room. Siri House didn't have one for us that evening, but we were more than welcome for our last two nights. We immediately booked those to be sure.
We went to Bau Tong Lodge at the center of Chiang Mai and booked a room for 600 BHT. After taking a closer look to the bathroom it appeared to be a dirty place. The wall is all covered in mold and smells a bit. It will do for this night, tomorrow we go back to Siri House.
Day 4
We got a warm welcome at Siri House yesterday. We needed a bed very badly after our bus rides. Pat kept asking about our plans in Chiang Mai and tried to help us by giving us a stack of brochures. We were super tired yesterday but went to the Sunday Evening Market anyway. Glad we did it! A mix of locals and tourists, very crowded, but great for souvenir shopping! I didn't bought anything though. I'm scared I won't be able to close my backpack...
Our first day at Chiang Mai: First impression confirmed. Although they say that Chiang Mai is the second most crowded and busy city after Bangkok, it's totally different!
People are very friendly here and taxi/tuktuk drivers don't hassle you all the time. They don't follow you around, they just knock their horns and drive by.
Siri House is a 15 to 20 min walk from the old city. We could take a taxi, or 'red car' is how they call it, or tuktuk, but prefer to go on foot. Stretch our legs, because my boyfriend wants to do a trekking through the jungle. I have to mentally prepare myself for this trip. I have no problem in walking this far distance, I'm trained since our trip to Wallonie a few weeks ago. The problem is: my arachnophobia Jungle is full of spiders, isn't it?! I can't stop thinking about it! But I have to be strong and positive! I can do this! Although I can't stop thinking about the catapult I should have bought at the evening market yesterday...
We slept in today and had breakfast at 10am. We started looking at some brochures Pat gave us and the map of Chiang Mai so we could plan our stay. We immediately booked two more nights at Siri House.
We started our day around 2pm at a tea house Pat had recommended us: Vieng Joom On. If I would start a tea house, this is how I would decorate it! Super cozy and typically tea-like! Expensive tea for 'normal' Thai though when we got the bill, but totally worth it! I had a rose bud ice tea and my boyfriend had a honey ice tea. Jum! They had small pastry to go with hot tea so I had my boyfriend promise me we'd come back here our last night at Chiang Mai. If you hadn't noticed, I'm a tea and dessert freak. Can't live without!
On our way to the travel agency to book the trekking we passed a few temples and went to take a look. I wasn't sure if I was allowed to go in there, because I was wearing really short shorts, but apparently there was no problem.
It's quite a long walk to the center, so every shop with handbags we cross, I take a quick look if I can find the handbag I saw yesterday. Many are look-a-likes, but not THE ONE!
We arrived at the agency but it was closed. Weird, because everything in this street was open. But this was the only agency that organised the trekking he wanted. We walked around for a few hours at the center, came back and it was still closed. We bought a wooden game for 190BHT on our way: Othello. We played it when we got back at the hotel and booked Elephant Nature Park for Friday and a cooking class for tomorrow.We'll choose some easy dishes so my boyfriend can't make up excuses anymore for cooking with food from a jar!
Day 5
Woke up to have breakfast at 9am. The chef who'll learn us to cook Thai will come and pick us up at 1pm.
We'll have to go to the center first to get some money at the bank and to get some musquitospray for the trekking tomorrow. We managed to book through email, but need to go by the agency for our payment. On our way there we passed a used bookshop and bought a Lonely Planet. We also passed a shop with embroiderd accessories and clothing and found a bag that beats the other one. This one was embroiderd and with a leather finish. My God, I've never seen a bag more beautiful, until I looked at the pricetag... 13000 Baht. 300 euro's?! I've never bought a bag in Belgium that's that expensive! I'd like to think I misread and that it's 1300. Maybe I'll go back and take a look on Thursday... The embroided dresses were'nt that expensive...
We got back in time for the chef to pick us up. His cooking school is named: I DiD
First we visited a local market and got some information about all Thai ingredients. We got to know all different chillipeppers, the difference between some sorts of rice, ... I really liked this visit. We were the only tourists here, so you could see the real Thai people and their ways. I took some great pictrues, after asking if it was OK.
We went to the chef's place. We could choose 4 different dishes.
- Starter: Thai Chicken Wearing and Fried Canape with Chicken Spread.
- Soup: Tom Yum Goong and Thai Spicy Chicken Coconut Soup
- Curry: Massaman Curry and Northern Thai Curry Noodle with Chicken
- Dessert: Sticky Ride with Mango and Siamese Red Ruby
My boyfriend did really good for a dummy! Everything was tasty, but the soup was really too spicy for me! I should have used less chilli. We got a little recipe book to take home with us. It was a nice surprise!
Now we're back at the hotel, writing postcards and updating my story.
My boyfriend wanted to go to a Thai Boxing game, but we'll postpone it 'till Thursdaynight. We need to get up early for our jungle adventure...
Day 2
After our stay at O'Nidra House in Bangkok, we went straight to Hua Lamphong Train Station. O'Nidra House is very clean and 2km away from the bus station. You can book double rooms, but there's no private bathroom. Bathroom is very clean though.
Before we left for Thailand there were railway constructions going on. Trains to Chiang Mai would start riding again on the 1st of November. Perfect timing for us! Except when we got at the station we were informed that the constructions were extended until the end of November. That was quite a bummer, so we stayed at the train station for like an hour, asking around at the information points if there were busses or trains that were replacing the missing lines to Chiang Mai. Surprisingly, nobody could tell us more about that in English. We weren't able to log on at the wifi hotspots, so we had to search for a café or restaurant with wifi. We managed to find a café across the train station where we payed for an hour of internet.
We found some night busses riding to Sukhothai (historical temples) and Chiang Mai. We took the metro to Mo Chit Bus Station and booked the night bus to Sukhothai for 360 Baht (approx. 8 euros) for each ticket.
Night busses aren't as comfortable as a bed, of course, but are OK if you take VIP or 1st class. We got a blanket and some water, a juice and a potato bun on the bus. We drove for 7 hours and arrived at the bus station at 5.30am.
My first impression of Bangkok: filthy smelly city and certainly not a part of the land of smiles! People aren't friendly at all and can hardly speak a word of English! People always try to get money from you. I hope the North will be better.
Day 3
At 6am We took a taxi jeep to the old center together with a few other tourists. We rented a bike for 30 Baht to explore the historical park. If you're planning to go to Thailand, make sure you visit Sukhothai! It's magnificent. I you ever played Tomb Raider on PC or Playstation 1, you'l feel like Lara Croft on a bike. The scenery is just the same as the game with all the temples, the trees and plants. If you visit Sukhothai, visit early in the morning! There aren't many tourists that visit the park as early as we did and I would definitely recommend the peace and quiet.
We gave back our bike at 2pm and went for something to eat.
We went back to the bus station to book a bus to Chiang Mai. For 240 Baht we drove 2nd class. 2nd class isn't as bad as the internet says. We got airconditioning and if you're a tourist you can definitely be sure of having a seat. If you're local you aren't. I was VERY surprised on how things were planned for that busride. We bought a ticket at 2.40pm to leave at 3pm. When we got on the bus with 2 other tourists there were not enough seats to put us on. I got outside and asked the bus driver if something went wrong with the booking. His assistant went inside the bus, we followed and he went to some locals. They got up and went to the front of the bus. At first I thought they didn't pay to get further than that stop, but when we got at the second stop 6 more people got on the bus, but no seats. The French couple did the same as I did: complaining to the bus driver. His assistant rushed onto the bus, went to a very old lady and literally grabbed her out of her chair (she didn't even had the time to take her hand luggage). He pulled her to the end of the bus while she had a hard time to walk. I saw what was going on and stopped the man. I said I didn't want to old lady to sit in the back of the bus (there were no seats there, it was just a little step where she could sit on) and offered her my seat. You have to know that the busride would take up to 5 hours! The assistant got a bit frustrated and waved his hands to me that I needed to shut up. I got really mad about this, blocked the pathway and said with a very strong voice that she could have my seat. The old lady didn't understand what was going on, she looked quite confused, so I pointed at my seat and nodded. She thanked me and got in my seat. The driver shaked his head. The woman of the French couple still didn't got a seat, so we had to stand up. She was really mad and she was right. This was truly a rip-off! The bus driver's assistant went to get his list and stood there for a few minutes, shaking his head and counting the seats. He was obviously faking his 'confusion'.
The next stop a few people got off and I had some room next top my boyfriend and the French couple also got a seat. The whole busride there were locals coming on and off the bus. They all had to stand up or were banned to the tiny room at the back.
I would never recommend this bus agency, but but I have a feeling that all 2nd class rides are like this. We don't have the name of the agency in English, but I have a picture of my ticket. The agency has its own booth at New Sukhothai bus station.
We arrived at Chiang Mai at 8.30pm and went straight to our B&B: Siri House. Pat, our hostess, is a very nice lady and gave us a map with some information about Chiang Mai. The Sunday market was till going on 'till midnight, so we went straight to there. Many people here, both local and tourists, but definitely worth checking out for souvenirs. I wanted to buy a nice handbag for myself, but another women bought it just before me. It was the last one :-(.
My first impression of Chiang Mai: clean and more friendly than Bangkok.
We booked a bungalow at Weekender Villa at Lamai Beach. It had really good reviews on Tripadvisor, but when we got there the bathroom was really moldy. The whole room smelled. It was OK for one night. We immediately put on our swimming gear and took a dive in the warm ocean and the (clean) swimming pool. 
