Elephantastic!

Erith says:

Yesterday we went for an elephant tour and it was so fun! Our first stop was a bushwalk and there was another group. When we got to the top there was a little village where you could buy goods. I got lots of nice things and there were other things too. There was a crossbow and it was 5 baht for 2 goes. My first shot was terrible and I probably hit a chicken, (not really :-) but my other two shots went into the fruit. Once we got back, we had a big drink of cold water because we were dehydrated.

Our second stop was the elephant ride that went for one hour. First we bought bananas and sugar cane for the elephant, who kept putting her trunk back for more. I thought the elephant ride was really fun, because I'd never done it before. Then we drove back a little way to have lunch. We ate with a spoon and a fork, like normal Thai people do. I had rice and a curry. We got photo frames with us on the elephant. After lunch we went to another village where they were weaving scarves, sarongs and table cloths. We saw lots of animals there, like dogs and chickens and some pigs. We stayed there for a while and then walked up to a waterfall. We swam and had fun there for about an hour.

Then we went rafting. I thought rafting was the second best out of all we did that day because we had a funny driver and stopped at a tire swing and a rope with a piece of wood tied to it that you you swing on and fall into the water. That was the best day that I've had so far!

Today we hired a scooter and almost got lost, then came back to the hotel and started blogging. Now we're just about to go into the pool. It's very hot here, but just a bit too hot. Tomorrow we're going to fly to Italy and I hope that will be a lot of fun!

Marcus says:

Well, we went on the elephant ride yesterday and it was a blast! We had signed up for a tour and I had suspected that it may have been a bit dodgey, as we got it from a small shop and she gave us a receipt with no price written on it. Being somewhat powerless though, I have found that trusting Thais has been a sound strategy - I haven't felt that we've been taken advantage of yet.

We were picked up in a very nice, brand new 15 seat van, though there were only 12 of us including the driver and the guide. We drove for about an hour - maybe half of that getting out of the city and surrounding suburbs and the other half through beautiful farmland turning into lush jungle as we progressed. The tour guide was perfect - her English was functional but not exhaustive, so we weren't subjected to endless witty remarks delivered for the hundredth time. Our first stop was a small parking lot off the road with a trail leading into the jungle. We hiked for about half an hour up quite steep hills in temperatures that must have been at least mid-thirties, then eventually ended up at a Hmong village - a tiny little place where they sold very nice handicrafts for a pittance. Nice bangles and earings were about 50 baht (A$1.50), pillow covers, bags, etc.

Erith has proved to be quite a shopper - she has been hard to stop once she gets going. It looks likely that we'll have to post a package back to Australia once we get toItaly, as our bags are now critically overflowing. I'm considering ditching the only jumper that I brought - in temperatures like this, it's hard to consider needing it. Erith was quite flushed by the time we got back to the van, despite having kept her hat on and drinking water by the bottle. I was a bit worried that she could drop from sunstroke and miss the rest of the day, but she recovered during the short trip in the van to our next destination.

The next activity was the elephant riding. Erith and I shared an elephant, with us sitting in a seat and the handler (wrangler? jockey?) sitting on the elephant's head. The elephants are surprisingly mobile, getting through narrow paths and handling steep inclines without problems. The ride was an hour long, with about 8 different points where you could purchase bananas and sugar cane to feed your elephant. We bought one bag, but quickly realised that it was more hassle than it was worth, as the elephant spent all of its time with its trunk pointed at us looking for food. Our handler looked like Mowgli from the Jungle Book and was quite kind, using words instead of the tool that looked like a socket wrench with a hook welded on the back of it to direct our steed. It would all have seemed rather timeless if not for the fact that the jockey behind us spent the whole ride on his mobile phone. It was very cool - we both enjoyed it a lot and it was far better for the fact that they didn't make the elephants play soccer, wear hats or do other miserable party tricks that exploit them.

Next stop was lunch at a little roadside open air restaurant. Boiled rice and a few simple dishes with veggies and chicken - nothing fancy, but very nice. After lunch, a visit to another village where they did some nice weaving, but we were starting to feel shopped out. We walked from there to a nearby waterfall, where everyone went in either in clothes or bathing suits. The water was beautiful and cool, but the rocks were very slippery. I broke the ice by landing gracelessly on my butt - after that, everyone must have felt they could follow suit without embarrassment, so almost everyone took a spill over the course of the next hour. Erith found a good place to slide into a pool, so did that about... I don't know... 75 times?

Next stop was rafting down the river for an hour on rafts comprised of 9 lengths of bamboo about 8 metres long, making for a raft about 900 mm wide. Because we had 10 people and everyone wanted to stay grouped, Erith and I got one to ourselves, with just a young guy with virtually no English steering it. There was another pole, so I was up in a flash and Erith was on her feet in a minute or so as well. Erith spent much of the time scooping small red fruits out of the river and throwing them at our guide, who was splitting his time between splashing her and singing Thai pop songs. Neither of know the first thing about Thai pop, but we were pretty sure that he was singing it badly. He was a nice guy though, and when we noticed a rope swing over the river, he was happy to pull over for a play. Erith and I had a couple of goes each, the jumped back on the raft. Further down was a tire swing a couple of metres above the water and on a branch stretching well over the river. We had to stop again for a couple of swings - it went well out toward the middle so was a lot of fun. How wise was it to swim in the water? Dunno - probably not too wise, but it's now 20 hours later and we're both fine, so I'd say we got away with it. Besides, how many rope swings over a river can we be expected to pass up? The river was very scenic and peaceful, and every once in a while you'd round a bend and there would be a couple of elephants on the bank. There was a warning sign once - "Danger - stay out of the elephants". We were only too happy to comply.
Erith was falling asleep on the ride home and I was tired too. It had been a big day - very full, very interesting and it fulfilled one of the objectives of the trip. The cost? For the two of us, a total of 1,300 baht - about fifty dollars. We got back to the hotel and washed off the filth that we'd accumulated through the day, then went for dinner nearby and off to the Night Bazaar as per usual. Erith was looking for a birthday present for her mum, so we set off on what is becoming a familiar circuit. Then back to the room and early to bed.

This morning, we went out to rent a scooter and spent the day exploring. We got one nearby - it cost us about 9 dollars for 24 hours and took less than 3 dollars to fill. We found our way out of the city by getting off the freeway as quickly as we got stuck on it, then following a small, quiet road flanked on one side by a railway line and the other by a small but narrow river that obviously had fish in it. There was a man in it up to his chest with a throw net and further down a couple of boys with cross-bows. We went through a few small towns, sticking to the back streets and quiet roads between them, before deciding to head back to Chiang Mai for lunch. We had to do a couple freeways, but eventually found our way back. Getting to the hotel was easy, despite the fact that the streets all look alike - one of the only English signs is for the Night Market, which surrounds our hotel.

This afternoon is going to be a lazy one by the pool and maybe another ride on our scooter. I have a white helmet similar to those worn by the US police and with my sunnies, I look a bit like the liquid guy out of Terminater 2.

Batteries are dead in the camera, but photos tomorrow, technology willing...