Side note-Casey has kindly pointed out to me that I have made some spelling/grammar errors. The wifi here has been spotty so I have been quick with posting and not proof reading. So my apologies for the spelling/grammar errors :) Also Suzi asked what the weather has been like- It has been between 65-75 here so its been very pleasant. NO HUMIDITY :) In the morning its a bit colder but warms up by the afternoon.
So we did this 2 day tour of Chiang Mai starting on Friday morning. It was a private tour, so just the four of us with a tour guide which was really nice. So Tong, our tour guide, picked us up at 8:30 friday morning. Tong was AMAZING. We will be writing the best review on Trip Advisor for hime because he was so incredible. Not only did we learn so much from him but he was so funny and welcoming.
So first on the tour was a stop at Tiger Kingdom. WE GOT TO PET THE TIGERS!!! It was kind of crazy. We first were with tigers that were probably 4-6 months old. They love belly rubs (just like bear:)). They had baby tigers who were only 16 days old. We didn't get to pet them but they were very adorable. I first thought that maybe they sedated the tigers or something so they were calm around humans but I learned that every tiger we were allowed to pet was born in the Tiger Kingdom and trained by humans. We watched a couple tigers play with each other which was a lot like dogs play. Pretty cute. We then went on to the adult tigers which are HUGE! Their paws are insanely big. Don't worry pictures will be coming up.
Next was the Monkey school. To be completely honest, I was not super impressed. The monkeys did a lot of cool tricks and Emmy actually fed a baby monkey but it did seem like they were treated very well which was off-putting (to me at least). We then ate at a local restaurant nearby and we did not eat pad thai!! I know, shocker! The tour guide actually ordered for us. He ordered a dish that is unique to Chiang Mai, which was yellow noodles with chicken curry. I have never had anything like it. It was delicious!
After lunch we headed to the "lost city." I cannot remember all the details of this because I was very tired at this point but this city was found I think maybe 40 or 50 years ago? There was an old temple and Buddha there and when it was found, the Buddha's head was broken off. Apparently an american soldier from the Vietnam war bought it in a market (side note-this Buddha head is HUGE) and then sold it to a company in Chicago who will not sell it back to Chiang Mai. So they built a new Buddha head. The body is the original but the head is new. It was a very interesting learning experience.
We then headed to a market so Tong could get supplies for dinner later. We walked around the market a bit and it was very apparent that tourists never come to this market. I got a couple weird looks haha but it was cool being somewhere very local.
We headed up to the national park (the largest one in Thailand) and met with a guy who was a part of the village we were staying in that evening. He took us trekking through the woods to get to the village. Now to be honest my words can give our experience justice. This was incredible. It was like seeing one of those really cool pictures of thailand and being like "it would be cool to see that in person." That was the whole walk! The pictures I am posting will give you a little more of an idea than I could. We arrived at the village and it was such an experience. All the houses were made of bamboo and up high (almost like tree houses). This was my favorite part of the whole trip and it is so hard for me to convey my experience to you guys but I am going to try. We got settled into the place we were staying which was also kind of like a tree house. Then Tong made us dinner. The kitchen he used was not a normal kitchen. It was a fire pit in the middle of the bamboo house. The food was the best food I have had yet. He made us chicken soup, morning glory with rice and pork mixed with pig intestine (yes I tried it, and it was delicious). The best part of the dinner was eating with the family we were staying with. They were part of the Karen tribe so they spoke a different language than thai. They did not speak any english so Tong was our interpreter but it was incredible learning about their culture and they have such a sense of humor. We thoroughly enjoyed spending time with them. After dinner we sat around a fire outside with a couple beers just chatting. It was the best night I have had here so far. Like I said my words cannot give my experience justice. Just know- it was awesome. Here are some pictures from the first day:
So Day 2 of the adventure- We started our morning off with a delicious breakfast. He made boiling rice which was a lot like porridge and had chicken and onions in it with some spicy chili. So good! Then some fresh pineapple and oranges. Our first stop of the day was at the tallest waterfall in thailand. It was gorgeous. We met a woman there who made bracelets and necklaces out of watermelon seeds! They were pretty amazing. Next was an hour long drive to the elephants. This was quite the experience. We rode the elephants around the forest to a river. (I rode the biggest elephant) We then got to bathe them. Now bathing the elephants sounds really cool and it was buuuut there are some things you just don't think about. As we get into the river the first thing Emmy's elephant does is poop and pee ...which is not small at all. Casey and I were downstream of this so we are basically standing in a river of elephant poop and pee. Then Casey was scrubbing the elephant in the back and the elephant poops on him hahaha (highlight of the day). Needless to say we took very long showers that night. There was a moment on the elephants where I turned to Casey and said "we are riding elephants in Thailand!" WHAT?! so crazy! We stopped for some lunch after the elephant adventure and then did some bamboo rafting. Could have lived without bamboo rafting. It might have been a bit more fun if it was hotter but it was not quite hot enough to be sitting in water for 45 minutes, plus this was the same river with elephant pee and poop. Once again-took very long showers! Our last stop of the day was the biggest temple in Chiang Mai. There is a great story behind this temple but it would take a lot of typing to tell you. There are 306 stairs to get to the top ( Casey and I are very out of shape). Once we were inside the temple we were blessed by a monk which was a very spiritual and heart warming experience for me. After leaving the temple, Tong took us to our hotel and we said our goodbyes. Needless to say it was an amazing two day trip.
Now a small story for my Aunt Suzi- Later that night we decided to got to the walking market which is a very popular market in Chiang Mai. At this point I am very tired but decided to go but just for a bit. This walking market was PACKED. I could barely move. After about 15 minutes, I couldn't take it anymore. I was tired and irritable. So we got the name of our hotel from Emmy and decided to head back. Now you would think that in a market on one street there would be a side street you could turn at to get out - NO- there is not! By about the third side street we tried I was almost tears because I was so exhausted. We had to walk through the whole market to get out which too about 45 minutes. When we finally got out we weren't really familiar with the street we ended up on. Every Tuk Tuk we stopped did not know our hotel so walked a bit and finally found a Tuk Tuk that kind of knew where we needed to go. As he was driving, he was using all of these side streets that Casey and I were not recognizing and all I kept thinking was "great, its dark, its late, we are in a foreign country and WE ARE LOST" You jinxed us aunt suzi! haha We ended up at our hotel safe and sound though! Quite the adventure.
