Yes my Asian travels have started! After having a few days in Hong Kong I head to Singapore (sorry no blogs).
My journey to Chiang Mai started early on Sunday, 21 November. Given I don't have a monthly salary anymore I thought it was best to take the train to the airport rather than a taxi.
After last minute packing I left Gaynor's and Mal's, where I've been for the past two weeks, and walked out into the humidity. I am super pleased I'm not carrying my pack otherwise I'd been needing another shower!
I finally arrive at the airport and find the line to check-in is unbelievable long. No wonder they say to arrive 2 hours before departure. Of course if I was flying a oneworld carrier I wouldn't need to be lining up.....but let's not go there. After lining up for an hour I'm all checked in and have to go straight to the gate for boarding, which unfortunately is very delayed. "If you have time to spare fly by air". This is so appropriate for me today. All I hope is that I don't miss my connection to Chiang Mai.
Once on-board my opinion of Thai Airways increased ten fold - the friendly of the staff are great, I've only ever received the same level when flying business class. The caterers had obviously made a small faux pas with the meals for business class however this worked in my favour as I got the last business class meal. Made up for the mere checking in.
Prior to our decent we were all given an orchid, a lovely gift. I'm super impressed with Thai Airways and will look to fly them again.
I had just over an hour in Bangkok, had to clear customs then head to the domestic airport. All very easy and by no means was I the only person doing it.
The flight to Chiang Mai, on a mother of all birds, took just over an hour. I was so surprised we were on such a large plane given it was very empty. On arrival into Chiang Mai I had butterflies in my stomach, I am super excited to be traveling again. My neck got a work out in the taxi as I was trying to take it all in.
I was advised at check-in that I was on the club floor, this means breakfast, afternoon tea and cocktails every day. A lovely surprise. I had close to an hour before cocktails and used this time to prepare for my day trip tomorrow.
This weekend is the Loi Krathong Festival which is a festival on the night of the full moon. Paper boats are set alight making the sky come alive.
The view from the lounge was amazing, made better by the paper boats in the sky along with the numerous fireworks going off.
I was feeling very tired but knew 7pm was far too early to go to sleep so instead went for a walk around the streets near the hotel. Given it's a Sunday (and the festival) the main roads around the hotel are closed, makes walking much easier and when I got sick of looking at the market stalls I high tailed it to the street.
I was woken in what seemed like the middle of the night with the air conditioning going off and on along with the lights doing the same. After 10 minutes I can reception and was advised there was an issue with the power. Definitely gave me a fright!
Monday morning I was up the earliest I've been in quite awhile, but I know it will be all worth it! After a quick breakfast I headed down to the lobby and within a few minutes was collected for my day at the Elephant Nature Farm.
After collecting all of the passengers (8) we set off to the farm which is about an hour out of Chiang Mai. I'll definitely be the first person to say I don't like long road trips however this one allowed me to see much more of Chiang Mai than I would on foot.
I knew we were getting close to the farm when I noticed a herd of elephants grazing in the wide open paddock - what a site! I'm not sure I'm going to be happy leaving at the end of the day and I haven't even got there yet.
After having a briefing and being told the do's and don'ts we went for a walk and came across a couple of elephants just hanging out. I cannot explain how awesome it is to be so close to this amazing animal - my heart rate was definitely high!! Then it went even further when I got to feed and touch one - wow wow wow.
The Elephant Nature Farm buys elephants, from mainly around Thailand, that are injured in some way - one had stepped on a land mine, another had been so badly beaten it was blind, another lost it's mother after 8 months of life. Every single one of the 34 elephants had it's own sad sorry.
By this stage it was feeding time for everyone, they know the drill so well they are waiting for you to begin and we couldn't seem to give them enough to keep up with their protests of more food more food.
The elephants have separated themselves into a few herds, one has 2 baby elephants (both under 2 years) and is feed and bathed at a different times to everyone else. This pleased me as it meant I got to see everything again :).
The babies are super gorgeous, I'm wondering if Thai Airways would allow me to take one home with me???
After we had fed both groups it was time for our lunch and bonding with our groups. We seemed to have a great group, all very keen on travel so many a tibits were shared.
Now for the fun part, bathing the elephants. Yes we got into the river with them and threw buckets of water over them. Again an amazing experience, made especially special when the elephant decided to use it's trunk to wet itself as well and sprayed us - priceless!!
I could go on and on but of course it would mean a very long blog! I cannot say enough what an amazing experience it was, I only wish I went for the overnight or even better the week long stay!
On getting back into Chiang Mai we were hit with very heavy traffic, it was the final day of the festival and parade so there were people and cars for Africa.
After enjoying cocktail hour I showered now I realise you don't want or need to know about this, however I have to tell you it wasn't as easy as a b c. After running the water for 10 minutes it was still not hot so I rang engineering and a good 30 minutes later I was clean. Talk about a mission!
I headed out to meet Lee and Laura, who I'd met on the trip today. They have just spent a couple of months traveling around Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos so I wanted to pick their brain.
Walking to the restaurant they were in proved rather entertaining but also quite scary. To begin with I had to walk between the floats in the parade (entertaining) then through people letting off fireworks left right and center (scary!!). I was shocked there seemed to be no rules to this and people had no issues with setting them off into the crowd. Extremely dangerous if you ask me!!
Walking back to the hotel was just as scary, I picked up my pace and weaved my way through the fireworks and paper fountains.
Tuesday morning started off with a run before breakfast. I had another interesting experience with the shower and had engineering in my room again.
Tomorrow I'm off to Chiang Rai for three nights and after researching how to get there (3 hour bus) I asked the concierge team to purchase the tickets for me. The 300 Baht fee (for taxis) saved me a couple of hours.
Finally time to explore Chiang Mai, boy it was hot and humid.
It was great to be wandering streets, taking everything in. I was surprised that there wasn't that many people around, locals or tourists, given Chiang Mai is one of Thailand's largest cities.
I happened to stumble across Wat Chedi Luang, which was one of the three places on my hit list. This large temple complex comprises of a large chedi in partial ruins, a large lying gold Budda and a small wat for praying. This is the second Wat I've been in since arriving in Thailand and I already think I've seen enough, I've obviously overloaded on them on previous trips to Thailand.
Nevertheless I push on to my next sight. I am surprised I'm the only one on the streets a lot of the time, I guess it really is the winter season (how it can be winter when its still over 30 degrees is beyond me!).
On arrival at Wat Phra Singh I notice straight away while it's the most visited temple in Chiang Mai. Who knows where all the people have come from, I definitely didn't see them on my walk. Another big complex, I enjoyed walking around looking at the vast difference in architecture. I loved standing just staring at the monks walk by, I'm sure it's not polite but very fascinating for me!
I was rather surprised how small the "city centre" was given Chiang Mai is one of Thailand's largest cities. The "city centre" is surrounded by moats with 5 main gates entering and exiting. My hotel (backpackers for some....) is situated outside of the "city centre" and opposite one of the night markets - definitely feels more busier around the hotel than inside the moat.
After unsuccessfully trying to locate my third site to visit I decide instead to just wander and see where I end up. Thankfully I don't end up on the other side of town!! By this stage the mid day sun is out in full force so I begin to head in the direction of the hotel. I get stopped by a couple of tuk tuks offering their service but decline, after a few minutes I'm wondering why. A tuk tuk driver must have read my mind and within a couple of minutes I'm in his tuk tuk. My first ever ride in one - ye ha! I was a little disappointed the seat was quite high so not good for checking things out, a bit of a let down but hey got me back to the hotel quickly.
I spend the rest of the afternoon and evening at the hotel, after having afternoon tea I have a couple of hours at the pool. So relaxing!! After the heat of the sun said goodbye I head inside, and low and behold it's cocktail time :)
I have a couple of hours reading and researching for my time in Vietnam. Lots of organizing needs to be done....this can wait another day :)
Wednesday morning I'm up early, need to book some flights before I check out. After a few small speed bumps I give up on getting to Vietnam and instead book two internal Vietnam flights.....will deal with getting to Hanoi later on. Now time to swallow down breakfast and finish packing.
After checking out I get a taxi to the bus station, my first experience of taking a bus in Thailand and I'm rather nervous. Just hoping when I say goodbye to my suitcase there will be a happy reunion with it in Chiang Rai. I noticed there are quite a few buses to Chiang Rai, some with air conditioning the rest without. Thankfully I'm going with the a/c bus. After bidding my suitcase farewell I'm given a bag tag and get onto the bus. I'm surprised there is a "bus stewart" showing everyone to their seats, which are big reclining seats. Am wondering if we will be served drinks and a meal....am thinking I'm dreaming. I sit back and wait for the 3 hour journey to begin.
Within a few minutes of departing Chiang Mai we are given a video to watch and presented with a bottle of water and snack, I'm very impressed!
Thankfully the three hour journey goes quickly, I occupy my time by playing on my iPhone and trying to sleep.
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