Day 12
We checked out at Hutcha Resort as fast as we could (awful breakfast btw) and checked in at The Hammock next door. Our room is really nice and clean, we even got towels and a totebag to take with us to the beach. We got a garden view room, nice and quiet. The beach is right in front of the hotel and they've got a porch with hammocks and everything looking over the beach. Even throughout the garden you can chill in a hammock.
We immediately booked a second night and a trip to Ang Thong National Marine Park for tomorrow. We'll be doing a hill climb to the highest point to have a spectacular view over the +-40 islands in the park and we'll be visiting the Emerald Lagoon.
Exciting! But first a day of relaxing at the beach! Tonight we'll go for diner at Talay Café. We went for an drink there yesterday. They have all these lights and candles on the beach with romantic wooden tables. Should be a romantic dinner :-)...
Day 11
We checked out at Weekender Villa and got a taxi to Mae Nam Beach.
When we checked in at Hutcha Resort everything went wrong. We didn't get the room we booked on Booking.com. The receptionist said it could be that the pictures were wrong and that the hotel only had maintenance control over its own website and not the information on other websites. We both knew this was total bullshit and demanded the room we booked on sight. She got two keys and showed us the room we thought we had booked and told us we couldn't have the superior villa. She could upgrade us to another room though. She walked to another room and showed it to us. It was OK, but still not was we should have got. We wanted to place our bags but then she said we couldn't get THAT room. The other room was the same but was on the whole other side of the resort. When we got there it was obviously the 'complainersroom'. It hadn't been cleaned for at least a month, because everything was covered in dust. The outside bathroom had leaves on the floor and when we got on our terrace we had a lookout on the dirty and smelly part of the river. We didn't get why she gave us this room, because the resort was totally empty! Maybe 10 to 15 bungalows had guests.
We decided to make the most of it, put on out bathing suit and ran to the beach. When we had just placed our butts in the chairs it started pouring rain.
After 10 minutes my boyfriend decided to just go ahead and dive into the ocean. He would get wet either way. I decided to wait a little longer under the umbrella, it would stop pretty soon. I started to play a game on my cell and when I cared to take a look at my boyfriend, I couldn't see him! After a few minutes I started worrying. It was still raining. Another 5 minutes passed by and that's when I really started panicking. I got up, left all my stuff behind and started running along the beach, looking for him. After a few minutes I found him. FIEUW!
I was soaking wet so I took my clothes off and went into the sea. I left all my holiday sorrows behind and just enjoyed this feeling I never had before. The warmth of the rain together with the warm ocean water can't be described. I had a moment of inner peace and that's something I've never had. It was just a short moment, because my boyfriend began to bother me with questions about our next moves.
After our swim and a talk with a German guy who stayed at the hotel next door and recommend to stay there, we went for something to eat and a romantic walk along the beach. I only drank cocktails so our way back to the hotel took a bit longer.
We also booked a room at The Hammock, next door. Rooms look VERY clean!
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.
