I have been meaning to update this for awhile now but just haven't given myself the time to sit down as I have been on the go and my internet time has been spent planning the next legs of the trip. . Bangkok was fun to start off with but left things to do and see there for when I return after the northern leg of the trip. I did end up taking the river ferry to Wat Pho (a wat is a buddist temple) where they have the famous giante reclining buddha. It was very neat. I also went out one night on Khao San road with some random people I meet in the street and it was fun comparing travel plans. Things you do when you travel haha.
I left Bangkok on the night of Sunday, Nov 28 and took the overnight bus to Chiang Mai which is the cultural city of northern Thailand. It is more chilled out than Bangkok and has an older innner city squared off by moats. I meet a Canadian girl named Amy on the bus we hit is off and hung out the whole time I was in Chiang Mai. It's like we have been friends for years which is so crazy! We stayed at this hostel called Mojito house just inside the old city and sampled the local food and the huge night bazaar. Amy had already been to Chiang Mai before and returned to do a meditation course so we split up part way in teh week and I went on a 3 day trek in the jungle. It is very touristy as everyone does it but still fun. We started off by going elephant riding and I rode on the head with the elephant's ear flapping at my legs. It was fun but I felt bad for teh elephants as they just walk in circles all day and get hit by their mahouts (trainers) when they don't follow the other elephant in front.( On a side note I am thinking about going to a elephante rescue place near the Cambodian border to help out but that won't be for a while now. I think will be rewarding.) After the elephants we started a long hike up in the jungle to the Lahu village. In the hills inteh north there are lots os hill tribes and we stayed overnight at the Lahu village. The views from the village into the jungle valleys and the stars at night were amazing! Best part of the trek. The next day we trekked to 2 waterfalls and spent the night at the jungle camp. ON the 3rd day we went white water rafting ona class 2 river so not very much white water at all . Than we tried our hand at bamboo rafting which was neat. All in a all a good trip.
When I returned to Chiang Mai, I found out that Amy had returned form meditation school due to bed bugs so we proceeded to hang out again. We went to Muay Thai fight one night and it was hilarious. They seat out at bars around a ring and "Ladyboys" (Thai drag queens) serve you drinks, food. etc while you watch the fight. The fight was actually really good and when they land a kick it really makes a good slao sound and leaves a welt. We watched about 8 fights in total from Usa vs Thai boxer to 2 teenager girl to a teenage boy vs a little person. In the intermission the "ladyboys" sang choreographed songs. Hiliarious!! They even had sashes say Mis. Australia, Miss Chaina and Miss Potorico (actually spelt Potorico on the sash lol). A Muay Thai fight is definitely something to be checked out when in Thailand.
On Sunday, Dec 5, a national holiday in honour of the King of Thailand's birthday, Amy and I took the minibus up the 762 curves north to Pai. Pai is this laid back, hippy town where you rent scooters and drive around for the day. Everyone stays in bungalows around gardens on the edge of the river. Pai is also where Thai's come on holiday so Sunday night the town was full of Thai tourists and everyone was celebrating the king by lighting Thai latern that fly up into the sky like a helium ballon. We meet up with two Dutch gals who were on my trekking trip with me and the 4 of us rented scooters on Monday and scootered around Pai. I had my own scooter and was a little scarry a first driving on the other side of the road and driving one for the first time but I sorted it out in the end and felt comfortable on it. We took a lot of back road to a waterfall, a land crack and hot springs. The hot spring are 80C so Thai people boil eggs in them So funny! The area around here being in the foothills of the Himalays is all jungle and just beautiful so being able to see it all by scooter was wicked.
Amy left this morning to head back to Bangkok on to Malaysia as her visa runs out but we are making plans to meet up again at New Years for a Halong Bay boat tour. I am off on a night bus to the Chiang Kong which is the border of Thailand and Laos and will cross into Laos tomorrow and take the slow boat (2 days boat ride on teh Meekong river) to Luang Pra Bang.
Well, now you are updated and I apologize for it being so long but you can get up to a lot in a week. Will report again in a week or so after more adventures. The trip has been awesome so far and I am really enjoying myself. Hope everyone is happy and well. Much love. xoxo
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