Smile House Boutique Chiang Mai

... through it. Even the dust kicked up by the front riders was a joy to rocket through, shaking it off my sunglasses (which came in handy for slapping leaves and grit away from my eyes too).
Once in a while we would fly through a picturesque shallow stream throwing up water galore ("YEEEEHAAAA!!"), and you bloody noticed those because the tyres lost a lot of grip for 20 seconds or so while they shook off the residue ("WOO-ooo-OOOF*CKIN ELL I NEARLY CAME OFF THERE!!!"). I ...

... twisting its way from the Tha Pae Gate to the river front. There was lots of floats with girls on carried by young men, dancers, fire performers and musicians. It was really stunning. Unfortunately we didn't bring our camera so you will have to trust us when we say it was beautiful.
The festival went on for 3 nights which were mostly spent by people lighting lanterns into the sky, or Loy Krathongs into the river. We witnessed many westerners join in on the lantern lighting and ...

... had a great day but I did nearly burnt my eye brows off!! The only down side to my cooking experience was that when i got back to our guesthouse i was throwing my guts up and continued to do so for the next few days!!!

Over the next two days we did very little as I was still sick. All we did was go to a few night markets that I loved and leon hated.

Tonight we left Chang Mai and caught the night bus to Bangkok.

... was easily convinced to continue to stay out by everyone I was with, even though I had to wake up at 9 am the next day for my jungle trek I had booked. As each hour passed, I knew it was going to get harder and harder to wake myself up the next morning and hike all day through a jungle. Again, myself, not being the smartest person in the world, strolled in around 4 am and took my "nap" before I was to get picked up for the ...

... our he*ds bobbing *nd the vibe *live. After the fun, c*me the inevit*ble goodbyes, which were especi*lly h*rd when it c*me to S*r*h, Emm* *nd J*mes. We h*d sh*red some memor*ble times together, through * little blood, plenty of swe*t *nd then * little te*r in our eyes *s we w*ved goodbye to them for the very l*st time. They were off to Austr*li*, we were off to explore L*os.


XXX

... to their trunks rather than putting it in their mouths as the mahouts do – to avoid losing a hand I guess!

We learnt about one of the elephants, Jokia, who was blind. She was heavily pregnant but forced to do logging work regardless and one day gave birth while working. The baby came out in the sack but slide straight down a hill and as a result died. The elephant became depressed and one day decided it just didn’t want to work ...

... sour mustard leaves and chili which was freshly prepared in the back.
What fascinated me was the fact that the street was virtually a small Shan quarter inside Chiang Mai with some having worked hard to get a reasonable income. I did not miss the opportunity to ask for the local Poi Sang Long festival, as the time just falls in the time of my visit. Again, Ajahn Chaichuen had the trump cards. In a dinosaur of a pickup truck which I believed to have been all discarded (window ...

... more education on elephant treatment, training, and how we can help. Very inspirational. Dinner was followed by a Thai lesson taught by Pom, number 2 in charge at the park. She has been with Lek from the beginning after working as a mahout at a treking camp and becoming discouraged by the violent treatment of the elephants. She is a small tribal woman who speaks several languages and knows how to walk though ...

... like I was walking on air, awesome. In the evening we eat in the lantern lit night market before heading to a bar complex that surrounded a Thai boxing ring where amateur fights take place. There must have been 8 or so bars around the ring covered by a corrugated roof and the fighters brought round a tin after each fight for people to give money, to see the two guys who had just tried to belt each other into 2010 walk around ...

Thursday, February 08, 2007



Evil Jellyfish
Current mood: depressed

I got stung by a swarm of tiny jellyfish alll over and I am very miserable. At first I just wanted to go home but it should heal soon. I have to wear long pants and long sleeved shirts to avoid looking hideous but I'm in Chiang Mai now in the North (alot colder) so it should be ok. I missed out on swimming all day today and yesterday in the Andaman sea.
Chiang Mai, Thailand timrie