Travelin' Thailand

For Chinese National Day vacation we received one full week of vacation from school.  We decided to finally visit Thailand, a destination that so many foreigners seem to love visiting.

To save money we ended up having to travel a tricky route that required us to be flexible.  We left Shenzhen at 11:30pm in route for Bangkok.  However, this was not our final destination.  Pazi really wanted to visit an elephant camp in northern Thailand.  This required us to fly to the city of Chiang Mai first before seeing Bangkok.  Unfortunately, because we flew into Bangkok so late, we had to wait until 6:00am to leave for our Chiang Mai flight.  Since it was pushing 2:00am when we arrived from Shenzhen, we roughed it and rested at at the airport until morning. 

The time between flights actually passed rather quickly and after our one hour flight, we landed in Chiang Mai.  Located about 435 km north of Bangkok, Chiang Mai is a very important city in Thai history dating all the way back to 1296.  Due to its location, the city had great importance mainly because of its status of being a one time capital and its trade route location.  Now, many centuries later, Chiang Mai is a tourist hub welcoming over a million visitors yearly to visit temples, shop the hundreds of market stalls, eat at the tens of superb restaurants, and take in the sublime natural scenery of the cities outskirts.

Just A Wandering
Our first day required us to find a place to stay. We found a nice hotel with a prime location that cost us a bit over 800 baht (less than $30 US).  After dropping off our gear, we decided to take it easy and simply wander our first day.  Doing so had as taking in the sights of Wat after Wat (temples), smelling the aromas of food from all over the world, and seeing the beautiful people.

After cruising around town,  we were so hungry after only snacking on little things all day. We decided to have a hearty meal that night.  We ate Middle Eastern cuisine at a wonderful little restaurant called Jerusalem Falafel.  The food definitely had our taste buds going and Pazi devoured an amazing Greek Salad while Adan munched on his lamb pita wrap.  Great stuff!

When we exited the restaurant we noticed a lot of commotion going on just down the street.  In turns out this was the location of the Chiang Mai weekend night market.  Over four hours we browsed endless rows of vendors.  Never in our lives did we see so much for sell.  Adan's father would have been in heaven as the shopping stretched over six full city blocks, and even spilled over into four way intersection crossroads!  We dickered and dealed until we said no more.  We needed to get up to see the elephants the next morning.

Amazing Elephants
During our wandering the day before we ended up meeting a young man no more than 19 years old named "Git."  This guy promised to show us all that Chiang Mai had to offer and for a fraction of the price.  Since we really dislike tour groups we figured why not.  He was a legit driver and we bargained until we reached a compromise.  He promised to pick us up at 8:30 sharp in the morning and he didn't fail.  In fact, he escorted us to a early 2000s BMW that we would be using all day.  Things were off to a good start.

After a 90 minute drive, we arrived in the lush jungles north of Chiang Mai city.  We turned off a main road and before long we began driving on dirt paths.  After another 20 minutes we reached our elephant camp.  We paid our entrance fees and waited with others to see what would happen.  The show began with our group watching the elephants and their caretakers taking baths in the river.  It was pretty neat to see the elephants submerge themselves in the water, then get up and shoot water at us with their trunks.  One lady got drenched.

After that we sat in a bleachered area as the elephants danced, performed with musical instruments, played soccer, and even did painting.  Pazi loved the painting so much that she bought one, and felt good as the money went to improving the living conditions of the elephants.  Lastly, we took a trek in jungle riding on an elephant.  It was awesome.  Our guide was great and let us take lots of pictures and ride right on the neck of our elephant to get a real up close and personal experience.

After we finished this, we had a buffet lunch of several different Thai dishes.  We ate soups, noodles, spring rolls, and various other things.  It was actually pretty good considering it was made for several tourists.

The last activity for the day was a bamboo raft river "cruise."  This seemed pretty boring the first five minutes.  The trip had us seeing lots of green vegetation, but not much else.  Then as the river opened up we began to see other elephant groups and villages.  Within a couple of minutes it began to drizzle and then shower heavy rain.  This continued for another 20 minutes as we got soaked.  Finally we reached the end of our trip and sought shelter.  Git was waiting for us so we jumped in the car to head back to our hotel after a eventful day.  We laughed and laughed as we rode back to our hotel thinking how the river cruise began as such an unmemorable event but finished as something we would never forget.

Wat Doi Suthep and Long Neck Tribe
Since our previous day went well, we hired Git again for another day.  Our two activities included visiting a Karen Tribe Village and seeing Chiang Mai's most famous temple--Wat Doi Suthep.  On this day however, Git was not able to borrow the BMW and we were relegated to using his Tuk Tuk.  It was no problem as riding in the open air is tolerable in Chiang Mai and our distances for the day were rather short.

The village we visited for the Karen Long Neck Tribe was interesting.  This group is a fusion of cultures originating in Burma, but migrating to the Thai border when military unrest broke out during the 1980s.  The brass coils the women wear are first placed on the neck at around the age of 5 years old.  Then as the girl grows and matures, more rings are put on.  As to the reason why the women wear the rings, it is not truly known.  Many hypotheses exist.  However, the women themselves say it is a sense of cultural identity and beauty.

Our visit did not last long.  The village was rather small.  Each female, ranging in ages 5 to 80, had their own small home that doubled as a storefront where they sold hand knitted scarves.  We visited with a few of them and their English was fairly good.  They were very kind, yet reserved group of women. 

Next, we made our way to Wat Doi Suthep.  Git drove us to the bottom of the small mountain this famous temple is on and showed us the buses we would need to take to go up.  Since the trip is about 8km up on a winding round, there are no tuk tuks allowed up.  We parted ways with Git and hopped on the first bus available.  Once we reached the top we needed to climb 309 steps up a dragon lined stairway to reach the main chedi, or stupa, of this temple with a history beginning in the year 1383.

The time we spent at the temple was great.  We enjoyed seeing the ornate halls that filled this temple.  Also, we watched devout Thai Buddhists make their offerings.  Lastly, the views from up above looking down upon Chiang Mai city were wonderful. 

Later, after our temple visit, we went and toured workshops that made Thai silk, handmade paper umbrellas, and local handicrafts.  It was fun, but unfortunately the costs of these items was unreal.  We had no desire to pay double, sometimes triple the price for these goods.  We ended our day with a nice Indian meal at a restaurant called Le Spice, a fusion eatery of Thai, Indian, and other ethnic foods.  It was a nice meal and at a good price of about 120 baht, or $4 dollars.  Wow.

Doi Inthanon National Park
The last day of our Chiang Mai trip was spent visiting the Doi Inthanon National Park.  For this excursion there was no way going around it--we had to join a tour group.  However, when we cut a deal to pay 300 baht below the lowest price that we saw a man the day before haggle for, we were content.  Our journey began at 8:00 am and would last us until 4:00pm that afternoon.  Since our time was limited to just one day, we saw the highlights of this park that opened in 1954.

We ventured to the peak of the mountain top trying to get a glimpse of the incredible views of nature and along the way visited two beautiful waterfalls measuring over a hundred meters each and visiting the King's and Queen's Pagodas.  These two beautiful landmarks were built to commemorate the 60th birthdays of both the King and Queen in the years 1987 and 1992.  Sandwiched in between all this was a set lunch of Thai curry with chicken, salted fish, steamed vegetables, and white rice.

Unbelievable Bangkok
From the title you might wonder what we mean when we use the word "unbelievable," however it is what it is.  Our short time in this city was truly unbelievable.  The amount of people that cram the city sidewalks at night--unbelievable, the amount of traffic and emissions--unbelievable, and the horrible public transportation systems--unbelievable.  But at the same time, the shopping here is equally unbelievable, as is the array of restaurants from all over the world, and the charm of the Chao Phraya River that runs through the heart of the old city--all unbelievable.  Bangkok is definitely hard to describe.  

Our time in this city was short and consisted of visiting temples, taking river boat rides, eating great food from Thailand and abroad, and of course shopping.  Although the Temple of Dawn was very nice, and the famous Reclining Buddha was enormous, the highlight of here for us was the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaeo.  Its history dates back to the 18th century and since this time has been the home of every royal family.  Each hall and stupa in this complex has been constructed with amazing detail and the finest materials.  Gold, jewels, and sequenced mirrors all ornate the brilliant buildings throughout the palace grounds.

Home Again
After just a few days in Bangkok, it was time to leave.  The travel back to China required us to arrive in Hong Kong.  In doing so we saved a lot of time and money.  It helps when we have Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong airports, all international, to choose from.

Overall, Thailand was a great trip.  We really enjoyed are travels visiting both north and central Thailand.  Both areas had many unique things to offer.  We have a feeling we will be back to Thailand again at some point in time.