Thaton River View Chiang Mai

... only one other guy from Malta staying there. Nice guy by the name of John, who was coming to the last days of his travel around the world. One day he was arranging patches of flags of all the countries he had visited and we kinda decided to start our own collection as it's a nice souvenior that doesn't take up much space and is easy on the eyes.

Our Patara bus driver was to pick us up at 7:30 am the next day. It was about 10:30 pm, the night before that ...

... for health and breeding. Currently the camp has 70 elephants.

After wards we had a buffet lunch at the tiger sanctuary followed by a visit with the tigers. Mmmm....wasn't too sure about the tigers when medical insurance is included in the price of the ticket to visit one on one with the tiger. My heart was beating the entire time I was in the cage. The visit is supervised but we all know the king ...

... our seats into bunk beds with reading lights and curtains, genius! Not that I can say I got much sleep with the constant rattling of the train, but at least I was comfortable!

Finally at 6.30am I arrived in Chiang Mai, the second largest city in Thailand. At this time of the morning I struggled to find anything open so wondered the streets in search of any life. I stumbled across one guest house and explained that I only had 6 days up here and ...

... et qui savent qu<il y a une province canadienne au Canada.

A titre de dernier rituel, nous avons mis une feuille d<or dur les pieds d<un bouddha, ce qui, semble t-il, doit porter chance au voyageur.... J<aurais du lui en mettre plus qu<une epaisseur parce que, une heure plus tard...nous voici en passe d<essence a l<exterieur de la ville. J<ai donc eu droit a mon premier tour de toeing-tuk-uk (nous avons fait 10 ...

... and then dropped dead.



On that spot, legend goes, the temple was built in 1383. Doi
Suthep is actually named for a legendary hermit, named Sudeva,
who lived on the slopes. Before this, about 1,000 years ago,
it was still known as Doi Aoy Chang (Sugarcane Elephant Mountain).

... to Doi Suthep. First off, we have to explain about the songthaews, or shared taxis. Red songthaews are basically the yellow cabs of Chiang Mai, and besides the obvious color change, their only real difference is that passengers ride on two hard, wooden benches in the back of a covered pick-up truck with no seatbelts and only the most natural of air-conditioning. To top it off, 15 people squeeze into one vehicle with the hot, Thai sun beating down on ...

... how I could get out of town the next day, as I was planning to go up to Pai, a small town 3-hrs north of Chiang Mai. Earlier I was told busses would be running during the holiday, but today was told that they were shut down. I think it's just an easy answer to tell the Westerners everything is closed. Finally, she changed her story again and told me I could buy a ticket at the bus terminal directly. Not being able to figure out if I needed to get it in ...

... was no need for me to drag anything around with me. The next day started our trek...We all met at the guesthouse at 8:30, piled into the longbed truck, and off we went. Since we were headed a few hours from Chiang Mai the trek involved a lot of driving and only one full day of hiking but, as it turned out, that was more than enough because of the oppressive heat. We drove for about an hour or so, maybe a little more, before we made our first stop for elephant ...

... share!!! :0) The other Spanish guy (who looked like Dave Grohl) had to explain to them about sharing the food, I really dont think they liked it.To behonest though they would never have finished it all there was soooo much food and then to finish watermelon and pineapple... mmm good. I think Mr.George enjoyed his lunchtime beer.
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This afternoons ...

... About 40 elephants in the camp of varying ages. After the show we took an ox cart trip up the road to a village and looked at their crafts. Then the highlight of the day, a ride on an elephant through the jungle and across the river back to the camp.

A nice buffet lunch followed, then a 4 km trip on bamboo rafts down the river back to the bus. A stop at an average butterfly farm and an orchid farm on the way home completed a great day out. Back in town it was Starbucks for ...