Elephants, Tigers, and Tribe People? OH MY!

Chiang Mai--the "Most splendid city of culture." I do agree the culture here is more unique than that of other Thai provinces. They have their own traditional Chiang Mai dishes, unique herbs, vegetables, and spices as well as a much more laid back lifestyle compared to a city like Bangkok. With 4 nights ahead of us we wanted to get the most out of this cultural city.


Our first day we rented bicycles and rode around the old city. As Thailand's second largest provience, everyone is either driving motorbikes, tuk tuks, taxis, or vans which makes riding along with and crossing any street to be pretty daunting. Stopping for pedestrians at a cross walk seems like more of a "suggestion" rather than the law. I've had one too many close encounters with speeding cars, and now know that it's probably not crossing the driver's mind that they shouldn't do 50 mph in a small 2 way alley with hotels lining the street!
Regardles, biking was fun and we rode along the river which had overflowed due to the non-stop terrential rain storms which flooded all the shops/restaurants nearby. We rode through ankle deep water watching shopkeepers pack up sand bags and sweep out water, soon to have to do it all over again when the next storm was to hit any minute.

Our second night we attempted to learn and create our own Thai dishes at the Baan Thai Cooking School. We were taken to the local market to learn about the various vegetables, spices, and noodles from our much-too enthusiastic teacher. Once back we chose and prepared 5 Thai dishes and indulged ourselves afterwards in each one of our finest Thai creations. Being able to make the food exactly how I like it made this a night of the best Thai food :)

The next day we went on an all day trek. We drove an hour outside of the city to the Maevang Elephant park. Now I've seen elephants before (at the zoo) but nothing can ever compare to seeing an elephant up close with no bars or enclosures blocking. Their huge mass and beauty create a real majesty to them. Brett and I were on a mama elephant and her baby liked to stay close by so he guided us on our tour through the jungle. They took us through some pretty tight and sketchy paths not understanding how our elephant was going to scale that mountain with us still seating on top. Well, I guess I shouldn't underestimate an elephants ability because she got us up and down with much poise and grace. The little one (you can see in the pics) is still getting used to his walking legs as he struggled to make it up a couple hills, considering he was guiding the hike we knew that if he got stuck, we all were stuck.

After elephants, we visited the Karen hill tribe. The moment we walked up we were surrounded by at least 10 children shoving hand made bracelets in our faces, all saying the same thing over and over again with the ultimate look of despair, "Hello, 5 Baht, Hello 5 Baht." I felt like I was thrown to the wolves, no one else in our group was getting hounded like I was. Well, need I say, an armful of bracelets, 10 now smiling faces, and a scornful look from Brett that I was not to buy another bracelet, everyone was happy! I also bought a beautiful hand woven silk scarf from a local weaver that is woven so delicately I will be lucky if it isn't in one big ball of yarn by the time I get home!


After the tribe we went on an hour walk in the pouring rain to a waterfall, which has been the most impressive we have seen, but it had lost its beauty due to the muddy water rushing down the face (there are no pics bc our camera died). Afterwards, we were supposed to go bamboo rafting but couldn't because of the weather so our tour guide, who called himself Handsome, bought us some beers and we hung out with the elephants a little longer.


Our last day in Chiang Mai was spent with the tigers. We bought a package to see the smallest cubs (2-3 months) and the big boys (20-22 months). We arrived at the "Tiger Kingdom" and Brett mentioned,"Brooke, do you think you are allergic to Tigers? You know they are cats." Me thinking, oh shit! I don't have any allergy medicine on me, but as long as I don't touch my face I should be fine. Well I HUGELY underestimted this, they had us laying all over the tigers, putting our face in their fur, letting them jump on us (these are the small tigers BTW), I had managed to cover myself in rashes, on my face, arms, and legs. Eventually I said I didn't need to lay on them, I felt too stupid to say I was allergic so I let them think I was just afraid. This was definitely a lot of fun and a cool experience. The cubs were the cuttest thing you could imagine and the big tigers were the most intimidating and scariest thing you can imagine. They do not drug the tigers, so the reason they let you in the cages with them is because during the day is when the tigers sleep (they typically sleep 18 hours per day) and they are used to being around humans so they don't mind the petting and photos. We got some great photos and this is an experience that goes down as one of the coolest things I have done.

For our parting dinner we decided to go all out and spend the money for something nice; an appetizer, 2 glasses of red wine, 2 beers, 2 entrees, and 1 coffee we spent a hefty $50! Nothing could compare elsewhere. It was a good treat and we were sad to leave but ready to continue on our journey to Chiang Rai.

Pics in Picasa:  https://picasaweb.google.com/109084938812843609271/ChiangMai?authuser=0&feat=directlink