Chiang Mai

The weather in Chiang Mai is a bit cooler than in Bangkok especially at night, the humidity drops and it gets quite pleasant. The Night Bazaar downtown is huge it covers the same area as the Arndale Centre with stalls selling everything you might need. Getting down there was rather funny as Sheila has not quite mastered the art of getting in and out of a Tuk Tuk but hey life’s an adventure and by the time we left she was an expert. There are rows and rows of reclining chairs out in the square where you can get a Thai, neck or foot massage, we opted for the foot massage and spent the next hour relaxing as the sun went down. This was followed by a lobster dinner which was huge, we were just about to abandon hopes of getting more meat from it when the waitress dissected it and got nearly as much meat out of what we thought was finished. The only trip we decided to go on was the big whammy of ox carting, elephant riding and liver lafting. First there was a show to display the elephant’s talents, one of these was painting and if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I would not have believed it. The elephant painted a picture of an elephant holding some balloons with its trunk, the painting was inevitably being sold for a large sum of money. The elephant ride being the highlight of the day. It’s really strange riding atop an elephant, the motion is swaying and rolling and your muscles you don’t usually use are definitely exercised. The video below will give you an idea. Going down steps to the river was scary as you get thrown forward and it’s uncanny how the elephant picks its way through the rocks, bundles of bananas and sugar cane are eaten in one by the elephant on the ride. Back at the camp a baby elephant had been born at three o’clock that morning and it was still a little unsteady on its feet but by the time we had finished the ride it was wandering round the pen. The ox carting was a bone shaking experience and we were glad when it was over but the river rafting on bamboo rafts was very good. At one point the raft got stuck on a rock and at another a water snake was swimming along the bank. An opportunity was given to take over the poling at some point and a kid of about 9 on the raft in front tried his hand, unfortunately he somehow ended up falling in the water and a missed chance for me to earn £250 on You’ve been framed. All in all a really good day out and we were really tired by the end. We are off to Phuket today and 5 days of R&R.