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We left Bangkok at approximately 6pm on Tuesday evening and boarded probably the most awful bus so far. Great news seeing as we were going to be spending an entire night on it. The air con appeared to have completely broken down, the head rests were infested with grime and dirt and the seats were about as comfortable as sitting on a bag of potatoes. We settled in as best we could despite the conditions and the coach set off for Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is right up North in Thailand so the journey we were told would take 11 hours. However, the bus stopped about 74 times at various shops and stations. Laura also got very worried as we have read that some bus companies go through people's belongings and she could hear lots of banging around in the luggage compartments every time we stopped. And towards the end of the journey it seemed the bus had to climb a rather large hill, which it struggled to do. It actually took about an hour to travel 5 miles and at several points it seemed the poor beast may just give up and roll back down the hill. So with the various stops and the failing coach the 11 hour journey turned into 13 hours and we arrived in Chiang Mai at 7am on Wednesday morning. When we arrived we were all booted out at a petrol station just outside of the city. We were told that there was free transport waiting to take us into the depths of Chiang Mai. All of the passangers were then seperated into groups of nationality! We were ushered into the back of a Jeep pickup truck with about 10 other Westerners and taken to a charming little hostel called Nice Place 2. Hmmmm, it all seemed very dodgy as we were not taken into the city but instead to the Jeep pickup truck drivers own hotel. We were greeted by a man who thrust tea and coffee into our hands and then started rabbiting on about a number of treks and trips we could go on, and if we booked them with him we could get discounted rooms. It seemed even more dodgy as the man was extremely desperate to get people to stay at Nice Place. We didn't want to give him the satisfaction of staying there and booking trips with him so we decided to set off down the road in search of somewhere else to stay. However, it was 7.30am, we were absolutely knackered and we had just gotten off of one of the most uncomfortable trips so far that half way down the street we turned around and went back to Nice Place 2. In the end it seemed very reasonable. There was a small swimming pool, we had a big room with air con and it was a good price. And we also booked two trips just so we could get the discounted rooms!
We were very tired and so as soon as we were shown to our room we lay on our beds and fell straight to sleep. When we woke up it was about 12 so we went for a wee walk to explore Chiang Mai. We didn't really get that far into the town as it was hotter then a heat wave in hell and we had been told it was cooler in Chiang Mai than Bangkok. That was a lie. We went to an internet cafe and whiled away the hours there. At about 4 we left and suddenly it seemed that a huge tornado was thrown upon us. The sun retreated back amongst the clouds, leaves swirled up around us like giant tentacles of doom and a huge sign on a wall flew into the air like a monstrous parachute trying to engulf us and swallow us forever. We ran as fast as our legs could carry us all the way back to Nice Place 2, arriving shortly before the biggest thunderstorm opened up over Chiang Mai and proceeded to cut out the electricity and nearly flood the entire town. After that had calmed down we thought we would go and try out the night market. We hopped into a tuk tuk and were dropped off in the centre of all the action. There were so many stalls scattered around all selling practically exactly the same things. We were drawn in by the jewellery stalls and spent about half an hour at each one purchasing about 64 new bracelets each. Laura has become an absolute expert at bartering and 100 baht bracelets were brought down to a mere 10 baht as a result of her skills! We bartered the night away and then returned home as an early night was in order due to an early start the following day.
We rose at the early hour of 7.30am, had some brekky and then got on a minibus for our first tour known as the 'one day trek'. We were a bit apprehensive after the incredibly hard trek we experienced at the longhouse, but after being told we would only be doing half an hour of easy trekking we decided to go for it. Our first stop was an elephant farm where we would be riding the delightful beasts. Our helpful guide told us that the elephant seat would only hold two people so we would have to be split up but we kicked up a rather a large fuss! So they formulated a plan that meant we would have to go without a guide perching on the elephant?s neck, and that one of us instead could sit there. We also had to buy several bags of bananas as we had to feed the elephant during the trip as an incentive for it to carry on walking. We jumped on the magical creature, Laura and Nyima in the seat provided and Martha on pure elephant neck. We were led through forest and river, our greedy elephant stopping every other step for a banana which we had to place on its trunk so that it could pop it into its mouth. It was fabulous and we loved every single minute of it. We even stopped to see a 4 month old baby elephant which is probably the cutest baby animal we have ever seen, albeit the largest! The one hour sped by and before we knew it we had to get off and say goodbye to our monstrous friend. But we were whisked away on the minibus of delight to out next stop, a tribal village. We stepped off the bus and about 493 young children ran up to us asking us if we wanted to buy a bracelet. Well actually all they said was 'Hello, 5 baht' whilst thrusting handfuls of bracelets in our faces. They were so adorable how could we resist?? Martha was sensible and only bought one, Laura bought about 4 and Nyima who was overwhelmed by the young-uns ended up with about 69 stuffed in her pockets! We had a mooch round the village and watched the tribal members hard at work weaving scarves and the like before being ushered onto the minibus for the next leg of our adventure. We were taken on our short drive and then dropped off at the start of a pathway into a wood. The start of the dreaded trek. We descended a million steps and our brains thought of the horror at having to climb back up them. At the bottom of the steps we rounded the corner and stumbled upon a luxurious lake and a delightful waterfall tumbling over the cliffs. We were given about 45 minutes to have a splash around and so, sweating like pigs, we happily stripped off and dived into the rocky pool. We frolicked around for a while and then, when our guide said we were moving on, grudgingly got out and set off again. But instead of climbing back up the mountainous steps we went a different way, clambering over rocks, crossing rivers on a single plank of wood and pulling ourselves up large hills. But it was a 1000 times easier than our previous trekking experience, we were so happy! At the end of the mini trek we came across another tribal village... and Nyima was delighted to discover that this particular tribe originated from Tibet! They were selling jewellery so to show our support to the Tibetan community we obviously purchased a few more bracelets! We moved on from this tribe and the minibus picked us back up and we were taken to have some lunch. After lunch came the bamboo rafting. We didn't really know what to expect here but we were excited none-the-less. We were taken to a river where people were sailing past on long strips of bamboo tied together. It was three to a boat so luckily we could all stick together again and we boarded our ship and set off. We had a little man at the front of the boat steering with a big stick of bamboo and we had to take it in turns to be the steerer at the back. Martha didn't take to this too well and at one point was nearly thrown of the raft as the back of it careered into a protruding tree trunk. She only just ducked in time. It seemed in Chiang Mai that they were still celebrating the New Year because at every turn there was a young child hiding below the surface of the water, ready to jump out and attack us with bucket loads of delightfully clean river slosh! And even the occasional fully grown adult joined in! We sped on down the river and suddenly came to a ten foot water fall. We thought 'ah, this must be where we get off' but oh no... we were going down it! Our bamboo raft creaked and groaned in protest but the current pulled us down and we plunged into the depths of the river! Luckily we did not capsize and our raft made it in one piece. And after an hour of being soaked by hoards of children, plummeting down gigantic waterfalls and dodging many a tree trunk we arrived back at the start where our minibus and dry clothes were waiting for us! We boarded the bus for a final time and were taken back to Nice Place 2 after an amazing day! We are all in agreement that it is probably one of the best days we have had so far! And it wasn't to end there. When we got back to the hostel we were asked if we would like to go and watch some Thai Boxing and seeing as we didn't manage to fit this in in Bangkok we happily accepted the offer! We popped out for a bite to eat before and stumbled across an Irish pub. We went in and as you can see from one of our pictures, we ordered good old English feasts, fish and chips and a fry up! They were heavenly!
We let for Thai Boxing at about 9pm and arrived at the venue. We took up our nearly front row seats and waited for the show to begin. We have read and been told that Thai Boxing is extremely violent and that there is blood-a-plenty! The first two contenders came on and we decided that we would cheer for the weaker of the two. Who then got knocked out after three rounds. We were actually quite disappointed though as all they did was knee each other a bit and occasionally throw a punch! But the second two contenders appeared and they were only about 10 years old! We couldn't Adam and Eve it! And they proceeded to engage in a full blown fight, after which the poor blue corner boy was knocked out and had to be carried from the ring! And the third match was probably the funniest thing we have experienced in our lives. Three young boys entered the ring and they were blindfolded. We didn't really comprehend what was going on but when the music started it all became clear. They were brought to the centre of the ring and then they just started throwing their arms around wildly, occasionally connecting with each other and with the ref. It was funniest when one child was standing on his own and just blindly waving his arms around without a hope in hell of hitting anything! We got a video of the hystericalness but we are still figuring it out how to put it on the website! Unfortunately we didn't manage to see any blood but it was still a bloody good night and we are very glad that we experienced the old Thai Boxing!
The following morning we had to be up even earlier at 6.30am as we were going on another 'trek', this time to see some longneck and big ear tribes! We headed off and were first taken to a butterfly and orchid farm. We were given about 45 minutes there but we actually needed about 45 seconds. We went into the butterfly enclosure expecting to see all colours of the rainbow fluttering around but seriously, all we saw was brown. And once you have seen one orchid you have seen them all! We left the farm and moved on to some caves, which took about an hour to get to. They were great fun and we spent our trip inside taking really stupid pictures, as you can probably tell from our albums! We then drove for another hour to have some lunch even though it was only 11.30 and we were not hungry in the slightest! Still we ate merrily and then drove for ANOTHER hour to a viewpoint on the third highest mountain in Thailand. Then after a short 15 minute drive we arrived at the tribal village. There were four tribal groups in the village, the big belts (who surprisingly wore big belts), the Akha tribe who were from Tibet much to Nyima's delight, the big ears tribe (who wore earrings so that their earlobes stretched to the size of Africa) and the longneck tribe (who wear a metal coil around their neck so that their shoulders get pressed down to give the illusion of a longer neck). We also found out from our guide that the long neck women start elongating their necks at about the age of four or five. They start with only a few rings weighing up to half a kilo and then every four years or so they increase the number of rings! The more wealthy the woman is the longer her neck will be, it is also seen as being beautiful amongst the tribe. The people of the long neck tribe however only have a life expectance of about fourty to fifty years due to their harsh living conditions and diet. We walked around the village and the inhabitants were only to happy to pose for pictures and let us try on their traditional garments. We tried on a mock version of the longneck womens rings around our necks. These rings were only the length that a young child would wear in the tribe and whats more it was cut in half so that it only went round the front of our necks and tied with string at the back! We only wore this aparatus for about two minutes however our necks were aching from the weight and the rings dug into our collar bones! We don't know how those long neck women do it! We also spied a few more jewellery stands and couldn't resist the temptation! After about an hour we had to get back on the minibus and begin the three hour journey home. We did stop off at a small market on the way back that sold really old, gross food and poor, live fish that were flapping around in a half full bucket of water. We got home at about 6pm and went out for pasta!
At Nice Place 2 it is very hard to actually have a lie in we discovered. We were quite lucky that we had to be up early on the first two days as there was absolutely no chance we would have been able to sleep in. It seems that a bus arrives from Bangkok every morning like ours and the Westerners are brought to Nice Place 2 and given the same talk that we were given. And then someone decides to get out a guitar and sing and whistle to some random tunes. And then the annoying little girl who is the daughter of one of the maids decides to cry for an hour. And then someone puts on some loud hip hop music. This is all at around 6.30 with mesh instead of glass for windows, so basically, sleep in the morning is impossible. So we were a little bit annoyed that our first chance at a lie in for days was rudely disturbed! We had booked the bus to leave on Saturday and it was due to leave at 1.30pm so we packed out bags once we had woken up (or been woken up) at a ridiculously early hour, had some food and boarded our bus to Pai, which is a hippy community we have been told about? roughly three hours from Chiang Mai. We will write from there! xxxxxxxx
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