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After a bus, a river crossing from Laos to Thailand, an hour wait at a travel agents, loads of us pilled in the back of a Mitisubushiu Warrior car, another bus and tuk tuk we finally arrived in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand! The journey took us nearly 24 hours to get here but was worth it. The Hostel is more like a home than anything else, Spicy Thai, and Noom the manager is the nicest person ever! Me and Vic didn't go out the first night as we are still not drinking and we were tired from the epic journey getting here! But most nights he organizes meals or bowling or just things to do and takes everyone there in his warrior car! Apparently he has a wife and child but he must never see them as he's always working at the hostel! You even get free breakfast and tea with fresh milk which is a treat! I took full use of the free cups of tea as its been ages since I had a nice cuppa! Didn't quite beat the tea my Mum makes me though when I moved back home earlier this year….
On my first day in Chiang Mai, me and Vic went for a walk and did a bit of exploring. I didn't realize the place was so big, as I think it's actually a City. There's Starbucks and burger king and shopping malls all around the place.
On my second day a load of us went on an elephant trek which was so cool! Vic loves animals so did loads of research on different treks you can do and which is the best for the elephants, so we decided on an elephant friendly trip! You get to ride them bare back which is much better for them than riding on a chair, which most trips offer. The day was sooooo cool! When we arrived they made us wear these clothes that made us look like hippies; baggy trousers, baggy tops and a head wrap!! The pictures are hilarious; we all look like 70's throwbacks!! The morning consisted of meeting the elephants and feeding them bananas and sugar cane and stroking them. They are bigger than what I thought they would be and their skin is so dry and tough! We could see some of the elephants in the distance just roaming around the forest and rubbing themselves against trees to scratch themselves. So glad we chose this trip as they are treated really nicely and not cruel in the slightest. The instructors made 2 of the elephants do a couple of small tricks like lie down and kiss humans with their trunk but that was it. We didn't want to go somewhere where the elephants were forced and trained to do tricks as it's not what they should be doing. After lunch we got to ride the elephants. Me and Vic shared the same elephant who we named Nelly. I was initially at the front, but even struggled to get on the poor elephant as they are so big! I was so scared to being with as there is a little rope to hold onto and obviously I've never rode an elephant before! I kept thinking I was going to fall off but I didn't, thankfully! We walked on the road with Moobs and Tiff and their elephant and the instructors took pictures for us. We then went into the jungle for about 5 minutes which was scary as we went up and downhill - I was holding on for dear life! After that we swapped over and I sat on the back which was even more uncomfortable! Nelly kept going off into the side of the road to east more leaves the greedy b*****. I kept talking to her and telling her to stop, but don't think she was listening somehow! We then went in the river with the Nelly's and gave them a bath which was so cool! They seemed to really enjoy having a bath as their skin is so dusty and thick! It was such a fun day out and well worth the money!
The day after a load of us from the hostel went to Tiger Kingdom, which Noom drove us all there! Such a nice guy as he waited around all day whilst we were with the tiger's then drove us back to the hostel! I had heard mixed reviews about Tiger Kingdom as apparently the tigers are drugged to make them be around humans easily. But I had also heard that the place in Chaing Mai is the best and most tiger friendly of all the tiger kingdoms in SE Asia so I went anyway!
It was pretty cool to see big tigers up close and personal and lye next to them and smile for the camera, but at the same time they are not in their natural environment and they really shouldn't be this sleepy and calm if they were in the wild. I think it was worse as yesterday we were with the elephants who were in the own environments and not in cages all day every day. I'm kinda glad that I went, but at the same time I wouldn't go back again or really recommend it to anyone.
Leaving tonight for the sights of Bangkok which should be an experience! Me, Vic, Nina and Mubs are all going Bangkok so should be fun! It's an overnight bus which gets us to Bangkok by tomorrow morning J
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mum and dad |Great charlotte but glad that my tea is still the best!! xxxxxxxxxxxxx