Our first night in Chiang Mai, Angie and I went to the Sunday Night Street Market. Basically the main street where all the guest houses are in Chiang Mai as well as the little side streets gets turned into a huge Market. You can buy millions of things there from souvenirs, crafts, arts, clothes, etc etc. There were lots of great things to buy for very cheap but Angie and I decided to focus more on the food. We ate fried banana rolls, coconut waffles, chicken satay, potstickers, dumplings, noodles, ice cream, fruit shakes, and more! It was amazing. Afterwards we went to a bar to try and meet some people but ManU vs Liverpool was on and the patrons, mostly Brits, were rather distracted. :P. Yesterday we awoke to go on our Trek to the Hill Tribes. For around $45 dollars a group of 4 of us (Angie and I and a couple from Paris) started our journey with our guide "B." We hopped into the back of the pickup truck and first drove to ride Elephants. They are magnificent creatures...Ours kept on putting his trunk up and spitting on us as he wanted us to give him some bananas. We bought some for him and he happily walked along as long as he was getting fed every 5 seconds. Afterwards we drove to where we would begin our hike. The hikes were long and pretty intense both days.. Lots of uphill, down slippery hills, walking across wooden planks over the river (Glad I have insurance) for a long amount of time. Good thing we were all in pretty decent shape. We first stopped at a waterfall and Angie and I swam in the water underneath the water... It was great, so refreshing after a long hike. We than continued on our hike to the Hill Tribes. The Hill Tribe we visited were the "White Karen" people who are mostly of Burmese decent. I don't know how they can possibly live up in the middle of nowhere, but I guess it is pretty nice in the country side away from all of the pollution. We stayed with a family and they cooked us amazing food. However, they weren't very friendly. We felt as if we were just there as a business as the only time they ever talked to us was when they wanted us to buy something from them. They had tons of dogs, chickens, a boar, and an incredibly annoying rooster who disturbed our already unpleasant sleep (basically just on the floor of a fort). It sure was an experience! Another experience Angie and I are getting used to are squat toilets. The ones we used on our trek are basically just little basins in a fort. There is no flush of course so you have to fill up a bucket of water to wash all your icky stuff down. It was pretty difficult at first but now we are almost professionals Haha. When we woke up this morning we hiked for an extremely long time. We finally ended our hike and got to go Bamboo rafting which was tons of fun. The guys steering the rafts had quite the laugh as they splashed us with the cold water. When we got back to Chiang Mai we both showered and tried to scrub all the dirt off of us. We just ate dinner and finished having the most amazing massage of our lives. You can get massaged really cheap here (2 bucks for 30 mins) but we decided to splurge a bit more and go to a more professional place for the huge price of (8 bucks for an hour)... Oh how great it was. We aren't really sure what we are doing tomorrow but it is our last full day in Chiang Mai. The day after tomorrow (the 13th) we will catch the train back to Bangkok and than on the 14th we will take a flight down to Surat Thani and than the boat to Koh Phangan... the famous island where the full moon parties are held!!
Will update again later... Hope all is well with everyone! I miss everyone lots and send you all my love..
Krista
Coconut Waffle with Banana? Yes please.
Sunday Street Market in Chiang Mai
My foot getting massaged. A regular occurrence.
Us on an elephant!
On our trek- not so sweaty yet
My face demonstrates the enthusiasm that I am feeling before I use this toilet
Crossing streams, and rivers on makeshift bridges... Next up- lakes and oceans!
White Karen lady. They use beetle nut to clean their teeth.
I love elephants!!!!:) what is beetle nut!!??
ReplyDeletesorry just overly exsited!!!!! it must be hard to squat to go to da washroom and go.....oh what ever!
LOVE,your best sister:JENNA
Looks like you did the same trek as me, my guide was called 'O' though, not 'B'. That's strange that the tribes were not nice to you, they were very nice to us and sat with us the whole time. How did you feel about the way they treat the elephants though? :(. I hope you are liking Chiang Mai, it was my favorite for sure...best food. Where are you staying??
ReplyDeleteThat is so interesting, you are such a good writer. I know how you feel about the toilets, it reminds me of camping with Grandpa.
ReplyDeleteLove, Grandma
jenna did you really write that yourself? hahaha. I didnt think they were mean to the elephants.. but at the same time I know they are not probably treated that well. I would have liked to go to a conservatory instead but just didnt have the time. We are staying at Gap Guesthouse.. It was in the Lonely Planet its really nice! Like a jungle... little open air area... lots of art.. Its great.
ReplyDeleteHi Krista, good post, very interesting. Yes Jenna composed & posted that all by herself. It looks very neat, I don't think I'd like those toilets too much either, mind you I guess you get a good quad work out at the same time. I love your pictures, they are great!! I bet this area will be a real contrast to the beach scene! Enjoy the rest of your time there.
ReplyDeleteMum xox
Yes I did write that myself!
ReplyDeleteLove,Jenna
P.S......wait I need to do my homework....bye!