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Chiang Mai is fantastic!
We arrived here on sunday morning, and travelled by night train (I've never done it before, but what a great way to kill two time-consuming activities - sleeping and travelling - with one stone!) The train was great, I felt giddy and like I was in a ferry cabin again going to Brittany, just like when I was little! (Chiang Mai and Brittany may differ in a lot of ways, but rainfall-wise they seem quite similar!)
And that brings us onto the washout of last night. Off we trot, down to the famous night market, and within minutes it's the most torrential downpour I've ever seen! But we still manged to have a little wander, buy a brolly (and a cheap dress for me....with a "rain discount!"), and dash back to the hostel to change into dry clothes (aka new dress) before heading out for dinner.
Today we planned our excursions. The city is beautiful, but there are also loads of activities within one-day-excursion reach of here. So, tomorrow we're off to the Elephant Nature Park :-D (www.elephantnaturepark.org). It's a conservation centre that supports the elephant hospital and strives to make sure that working and retired elephants are treated well. I'm actually quite shocked at the lack of animal welfare out here....in Kanchanaburi we were constantly hounded by tour operators to visit various animal parks where animals such as elephants, tigers and monkeys are forced to perform unnatural and uncomfortable "shows". And in Bangkok, Khao San Road was treated to "city elephants", two poor creatures who were forced to stand in the packed-out, noisy road and obviously scared of camera flashes and drunken backpackers mauling them. So, we decided on Elephant Nature Park, as it's a great way to see the elephants and donate money to the cause simultaneously.
We've also booked a day trip for Thursday, which we will spend in the jungle canopy!!!!!! (www.treetopasia.com). How exciting! We get to launch ourselves off platforms onto zip lines, nature-spot, and learn about rainforest life.
So, before all this adventure begins, I decided to treat myself to a little luxury today. I went into one of those boutique shops that I would only dream of going in back home....the ones which have only one garment in each style, and there are no sizes or price tags. Within minutes I was being helped into dresses by two ladies, who then pinched fabric, pinned it down, drew lines and took measurements. And my totally unique, made-to-measure, 100% Thai silk dress will be ready to pick up in 2 days! Yippee!
So, it's off out to enjoy the fab night atmosphere again now.....with raincoats, just in case!
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