Secret Garden Chiang Mai

... went to hospital cause I had just been back from a trek and the symptoms ticked all boxes of malaria and dengue as well. Thank god, that wasn't the case. The hospitals are pretty good here and to be honest cleaner than the ones I saw in London, super efficient, drive you back home and, now hold your breath, even phone you the next day to check on your well-being. How cool is that. Well, lived on next to nothing for the past 5 days and really was determined as ...

... the Irish girls that we met that night had no such luck,<br>their Guide was some kinda hard core mountain goat type, who had them<br>Climbing up and down every Mountain in sight, they were all from<br>Kerry apart from one Cork girl, and they were a ball of laughs, it<br>was them who give me the info to go to Vang Viang Laos...that night<br>was about one of the most uncomfortable nights i have ever put in,<br>what with having to sleep under the same Mossy net as some German lad<br ...

... br>The Setting<br><br><br> Chiang Mai, with an altitude of approximately 310 meters above sea level, is situated approximately 700 kilometers from Bangkok on the Mae Ping River basin. Surrounded by high mountain ranges, the city covers an area of approximately 20,107 square kilometers and is the country&#8217;s second largest province. Chiang Mai borders Myanmar on the north, Lamphun and Tak ...

... br><br> Het lijkt misschien alsof elke minuut van de dag hier op en top plezier is maar weliswaar ga ik niet in op de talloze keren dat ik al verdwaalde, de onverwachtse stortbuien, mijn 70 muggenbeten of de vele communicatieproblemen tussen de bevolking en mezelf. Financieel overleef ik hier met 10 euro per dag dus als je er enkele maanden van tussenuit wil is deze regio een haalbare optie en 'tis moeilijk om je niet te laten bekoren door de vriendelijke bevolking, lekker eten, etc.

... saying that, the elephants seemed happy enough and when you shout 'boon boon' they put their well trained trunks up to receive bananas that we bought for 20 baht. The ride was very surreal. We would have liked to have had a little time to just watch them in their habitat but were unfortunately rushed off as quickly as we had arrived and onto the next destination. <br><br>Said destination was the start of our trek where I adorned my newly bought trainers (4 ...

... a half a mile away. I wait there until I think Shane is finished. I give him 20, and no luck. I give him 20 more and find his bald head smiling at me from the median near the border.<br><br>We pulled into Chiang Rai at about 6:30PM and with a little confusion from an erroneous map we find the guesthouse. Tucked away in the middle of Chiang Rai, a nice little garden with a fountain and cheap rooms. We split a double bed room for 180 Baht. $3.00 American each. I had ...

... to do then we set of. It was me mark and ben in a raft plus a guide. Even though the other groups had a lot more people we were flying wen we got in sync with the paddling, although the guide didnt seem to keen to race. At one point we got completely wedged between two rocks and the boat filled right up with water which was funny. Got through that and then watched everyone else get stuck there as well. One of the guides was a bit of a joker so decided to completly turn his boat ...

... 4km long. This quickly got boring, and we decided to head onto the more rural roads and find some good beaches. This was fine at first, but then we hit some really nasty 'roads', and believe me, mopeds are not built for off roading. However we made it everywhere we wanted to go in one piece, just about. I only had one scare when riding along a path about 1 meter wide I lost my balance and had to jump off the side, and catch the bike before it ...

... aboard the elephant, my feet tucked behind the grey, flapping ears, knees bent above her giant skull, one of the french guys and the japanese chap behind me on the seat, we were led into wilderness. over hills, across the river further along the track, through tall palms and low shrubs, over rocky ledges and under a canopy of jungle sky. rocking from side to side and counterweighting my body on ascent and decline, i gently patted the elephant's head whenever she stopped to ...

... is in your hands. This results in gratuitous service where they are only too happy to show you around to rooms air conditioned like meat freezers with linen sets that cost more than your whole months worth of lodging. The Four Seasons is a great place to do this. It hosts a lobby the size of Rhode Island and a beautiful fake rice farm setting where the "farmers" spend every minute ensuring that that every blade of every rice is meticulously pruned to its ultimate ...