07/02/2011
Arriving in Chiang Mai we had to get a red sawngthaew which is effectively a small truck that you sit on the back of to town then found a hostel. We were so early that we had to wait til people had checked out to get a room. SUCH a nice guesthouse though- Libra Guesthouse. It is run by the nicest family Dao espcially- she helped us all the time speaking great English and cracking jokes. We wadnered around the city a lot, feeling very hot. We saw the market, the moat around the town and the 'touristl little square' with a Boots, McDonalds and Starbucks!! They've infiltrated the world! It was great to wander the town, and we ate some great Pat Thai and green curry, yumm! We met some Canadians a girl called Alex and two guys Lee and Brent. We spent the night with them drinking, then I went home to try to Skype John and they continued on to a club called 'Spicy'--- I shall say no more.
As the guys were all hung over I went for an Oil Massage- which you have to go naked with a little towel for! Eeek... really good though except she wasn't very tough on me like the Bangkok Thai massage had been. We then spent the day eating and not doing very much, wandering round a bit. That night we drank with Nu (our future guide and the Canadians previous guide) and he wanted to see the Irish bar as he'd never been. He tried his first Guiness - he wasn't too keen- and the Canadians gave him thi sdisgusting shot. Great guy!!
The next day they persuaded us to go on a trek as they raved constantly about it. This was up in the National park to the village where Nu lived (our hilarious guide). This was a 5 hour trek up practically vertical mountains and then back down again, over and over. This meant great views but very painful legs!! I am so unfit! You pass through 4 viallages out of (I think he said) 8 villages that still live in this national park. Nu had some stories, apparenlty the army lay traps along the border with Myanmar to kill or mame anyone who goes over as it is an illegal boder crossing mainly transporting Opium. So everyone who is in the park is watched by villagers as there is always someone on guard to check for soldiers to see where traps are. There was another Canadian in our group, Regan, not so nice. Just very awkward with his social skills and views on life. Made for some interesting chat. We did meet some awesome girls from England- one Yorkshire (yes!) the other London- we thought about trading travel buddies! The villages we went trhough were lovely, very small, all on stilts with cows underneath, chickens running wild and gorgous babies! The final village where we slept had a purpose built stilt buidling for us. We slept on the floor with a thin bit of paddingand a mosquito net, funnily enough we didn't sleep very well- but this was mainly due to it being abolutely freezing at night. Before bed though, Nu and his friends and cooked us the the best dinner and then we sat round a camp fire whilst he gave us Rice Wine (disgusting tasting spirit- 50% DANGER) In the morning the elephants arrived. They were supposedly free elephants but owned by the village. One was chained though which I din't like, apparently he runs off so they chain his legs to control him when they walk with them. Siophan and I shared an elephant. I, after 5 mins, moved to ride bareback on the nect, they have very spikey hairs. Such huge amazing animals though. We rode for an hour down and through the river, our elephant was hungry so kept eatingalong the way, at one point she climbed up the back a little to get the tree and I thought we were going to fall off. Then we bamboo rafter down the river. I steered a lot at the end as Nu decided! It was good fun especially on the more rapid parts. Then I got thrown in and everyoone went in. Unfortunately this was the end of the trek, :(, we had some more yummy food and got the TukTuk back to town- which was a really long and dusty ride!
Feeling pretty tired, the girls and us went for a pedicure to make our feet better after the hike. This was so good. We were leaving that night so we just relaxed a bit.
We headed off on our night bus to go to Laos- and Nu booked and paid for a TukTuk for us to get to the bus station- such a star!
The night bus was amazing, blankets, water, buscuits!! They know how to travel, such a good sleep. We got to Udon Thani and had to get another bus out to Nong Khai. The second was a very rickety local bus with sunken seats- not deliberately sunken! As we were really tired by this point we decided to stay in Nong Khai as the Lonely Planet said it was a great place, and it was right.
Arriving in Chiang Mai we had to get a red sawngthaew which is effectively a small truck that you sit on the back of to town then found a hostel. We were so early that we had to wait til people had checked out to get a room. SUCH a nice guesthouse though- Libra Guesthouse. It is run by the nicest family Dao espcially- she helped us all the time speaking great English and cracking jokes. We wadnered around the city a lot, feeling very hot. We saw the market, the moat around the town and the 'touristl little square' with a Boots, McDonalds and Starbucks!! They've infiltrated the world! It was great to wander the town, and we ate some great Pat Thai and green curry, yumm! We met some Canadians a girl called Alex and two guys Lee and Brent. We spent the night with them drinking, then I went home to try to Skype John and they continued on to a club called 'Spicy'--- I shall say no more.
As the guys were all hung over I went for an Oil Massage- which you have to go naked with a little towel for! Eeek... really good though except she wasn't very tough on me like the Bangkok Thai massage had been. We then spent the day eating and not doing very much, wandering round a bit. That night we drank with Nu (our future guide and the Canadians previous guide) and he wanted to see the Irish bar as he'd never been. He tried his first Guiness - he wasn't too keen- and the Canadians gave him thi sdisgusting shot. Great guy!!
The next day they persuaded us to go on a trek as they raved constantly about it. This was up in the National park to the village where Nu lived (our hilarious guide). This was a 5 hour trek up practically vertical mountains and then back down again, over and over. This meant great views but very painful legs!! I am so unfit! You pass through 4 viallages out of (I think he said) 8 villages that still live in this national park. Nu had some stories, apparenlty the army lay traps along the border with Myanmar to kill or mame anyone who goes over as it is an illegal boder crossing mainly transporting Opium. So everyone who is in the park is watched by villagers as there is always someone on guard to check for soldiers to see where traps are. There was another Canadian in our group, Regan, not so nice. Just very awkward with his social skills and views on life. Made for some interesting chat. We did meet some awesome girls from England- one Yorkshire (yes!) the other London- we thought about trading travel buddies! The villages we went trhough were lovely, very small, all on stilts with cows underneath, chickens running wild and gorgous babies! The final village where we slept had a purpose built stilt buidling for us. We slept on the floor with a thin bit of paddingand a mosquito net, funnily enough we didn't sleep very well- but this was mainly due to it being abolutely freezing at night. Before bed though, Nu and his friends and cooked us the the best dinner and then we sat round a camp fire whilst he gave us Rice Wine (disgusting tasting spirit- 50% DANGER) In the morning the elephants arrived. They were supposedly free elephants but owned by the village. One was chained though which I din't like, apparently he runs off so they chain his legs to control him when they walk with them. Siophan and I shared an elephant. I, after 5 mins, moved to ride bareback on the nect, they have very spikey hairs. Such huge amazing animals though. We rode for an hour down and through the river, our elephant was hungry so kept eatingalong the way, at one point she climbed up the back a little to get the tree and I thought we were going to fall off. Then we bamboo rafter down the river. I steered a lot at the end as Nu decided! It was good fun especially on the more rapid parts. Then I got thrown in and everyoone went in. Unfortunately this was the end of the trek, :(, we had some more yummy food and got the TukTuk back to town- which was a really long and dusty ride!
Feeling pretty tired, the girls and us went for a pedicure to make our feet better after the hike. This was so good. We were leaving that night so we just relaxed a bit.
We headed off on our night bus to go to Laos- and Nu booked and paid for a TukTuk for us to get to the bus station- such a star!
The night bus was amazing, blankets, water, buscuits!! They know how to travel, such a good sleep. We got to Udon Thani and had to get another bus out to Nong Khai. The second was a very rickety local bus with sunken seats- not deliberately sunken! As we were really tired by this point we decided to stay in Nong Khai as the Lonely Planet said it was a great place, and it was right.
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