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11/15/13 - 11/22/13
Chiang Mai is known for its many temples and its laid-back atmosphere. And it does not disappoint. I had came here for the Lantern Festival and I left a fan of the city. It does have many fantastic temples and the atmosphere is relaxing enough, that I stayed three days longer than I expected too. It was also my first foray into Thai culture, which is quite fascinating.
The first day I was there, I just walked around to a few of the temples, and had my first taste of Thai food. The one thing that has stood out the most in all of Southeast Asia in the various fruit shakes. I know we have them at home, but they seem to be on every menu in SE Asia and they are sooo good. I had a banana shake on my first day in Chiang Mai and fell in love. If anything is going to make me gain weight here, it is all the damn shakes I have been having! Thai food is absolutely excellent as well. Pad Thai and noodle soups with vegetables and pork can be found everywhere and not only are they really good, but they are dirt cheap. On my first night in Chiang Mai, I had dinner for less than $2!
Besides the Lantern Festival, there were several different activities in Chiang Mai that were absolutely amazing. One of the most amazing experience of my trip had to be Tiger Kingdom. Tiger Kingdom is a tiger sanctuary in Chiang Mai. The tigers are raised in the facility around humans and because of this, they are very comfortable with humans, and in fact, think of them as part of their families. I went to Tiger Kingdom one afternoon and had the awesome experience of not only petting a full grown Bengal Tiger, but also laying down next to it! It was awesome and terrifying at the same time!
I went to see the tigers with several people from my guesthouse, including an American woman named Treasure. Treasure and I teamed up and braved the tiger cages together. She took my camera and I took hers and we were each others photographers. I have to say that she took some really good pictures and videos for me. I hope my pictures of her were good, as well. The first cage we went into were with the younger, smaller tigers. Of course, they were only relatively small, as in they were the size of a medium-sized dog. A lot of people think that the tigers are drugged, but it is very apparent that they are not, because they were quite playful. They basically acted like a very large house cat, chasing after and wrestling with each other, and chasing after things you put in front of them. For example, the large tigers would chase after tree branches with leaves on the ends.
Treasure and I took turn approaching the younger tigers and laying down next to them and petting them. The only rule we had to follow was that we had to approach from behind and we couldn't touch their heads or front paws. So, we did just that and had a great time. However, then we had to go into the cage with the full grown bengal tigers! We had to wait for about 45 minutes to do this, but it was worth the wait.
Entering the cage with the large tigers was a little terrifying. There were six full grown tigers in the cage and all of them were at least six feet long, from head to base of the tail. They were huge! They didn't really pay much attention to any of the clusters of people in the cages with them. They were very playful, like the smaller ones, and were chasing each other around. There was a pool in this enclosure and so they kept jumping in and out of the pool. At any given time, there could be four or five tigers sitting in the pool. You could see it in their eyes and how they moved, when they were going to pounce on one another. It was great fun to watch them wrestling around.
Then came the chance to actually pet one. One was sitting right next to the pool, so I was able to approach from behind and pet him. He was busy eating some leaves, so he didn't seem to notice me, but he also didn't seem to mind. Unknown to me, though, there were a couple other tigers behind me in the pool. One decided to jump on the other one, which gave a big splash in the pool. At the last second, I felt the water hit me and for a second I thought I was about to be mauled by a freaking tiger! Treasure took a picture of me at the precise moment the tiger pounced and of me running away from the pool! There was also another terrifying moment, when one of the tigers starting walking straight towards me. I could see its green eyes staring right at me and for a second I froze in place, not exactly sure where to go. It just walked right by me as if I wasn't there, but it certainly freaked me out for second! We finished up with the large tigers, by laying down next one. She just laid there, like it was the most normal thing in the world. Treasure and I took turns and then one of the caretakers took my camera and took pictures of Treasure and I together with the tiger. The whole experience was absolutely surreal and honestly one of the coolest experiences I have ever had!
Another amazing adventure I had in Chiang Mai was learning to become a Mahout. A Mahout is an elephant trainer. I got to learn what and how to feed an elephant, how to ride an elephant and what the commands are for the elephants. Again, this was another tour set up by my guesthouse. This time I went with five Colombians. They were the nicest people and we all had a good time. First, we went to the market to buy some bananas to feed the elephants. And then we made the long journey into the jungle to the elephant sanctuary. They gave us some special Mahout uniforms to wear, which consisted of dark grey billowy cloth pants that buttoned at the knee and a cloth v-neck shirt that consisted of purple, pink and black vertical stripes, that was a little tight on me. We took our huge bags of bananas and were able to feed the elephants, which ranged in sizes from massively huge to a little baby elephant that was only two weeks old. Of course, the baby was still the size of a very large dog. We weren't able to feed the baby, because if was still blind, being so young, but all the rest were glad to relieve us of our bananas. They were very greedy too, because someone would give them one and as soon as they saw someone else with a banana, they might drop the one they already had to get another one!
A few were chained up, though, which I thought was sad, but it was explained that they were not quite comfortable with humans just yet and so it was for theirs and our protection.
Next, we got the chance to ride on the elephants. They taught us how to get the elephant to raise its front leg so that we could step on it to get up on its back. Then we had to grab it on the back of its ear and hoist ourselves up. On the bigger ones, you had to grab some of its skin and climb and scramble your way up to get on top. And don't worry about hurting them, because their skin is so thick that they barely feel you grabbing them. Once you are on top, then you ride right behind the base of its skull with your legs right behind its ears and your hands resting on the top of its head. You use your legs to steer with certain voice commands. It's really fun riding the elephants and too me, was actually more comfortable than riding the horses in Mongolia.
After a few practice rides, we then rode them through the jungle to the river. It's surprising just how nimble elephants are. The trails we were following seem quite narrow for animal that large. At times, I felt like it was too small, but the elephants were very stable and sure footed. Going downhill was a bit of a trip, because you're sitting right behind its head and when you go downhill you feel like you're going to fall off over the front of it. After a nice walk through the jungle, where my elephant kept wanting to stop and eat grass or larges branches, we waded into the river. We followed the river a little ways and then we got to a point where we could bathe the elephants. The elephants lowered itself into the water and would lie on its side and you had no choice but to bail into the water with it. They would lie on their sides and squirt water all over themselves with their trunks. We would help out by splashing water on them, as well. Finally, after they were done bathing, we took a group photo with the elephants and then made our way back to the sanctuary. Finally, they taught us how to make some healthy food for the elephants, which we made and fed to them again. We then said our goodbyes and headed back to Chiang Mai. It really was an unforgettable experience.
Chiang Mai is a really cool town. I did a few other activities while there, but the Lanterns, Tigers and Elephants were the highlights of my stay there. They were unforgettable events and I am glad I had the opportunity to experience them.
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