Internet access at last! Our hotel's computers have been down for a few days so we just found this internet cafe, where all I had to do was have a coffee and I got free access... lovely!
I will pick up where I left off with our journey on the sleeper train to Chiang Mai. The taxi ride from our hotel to the train station took 45 minutes... to go 6kms. That is the traffic in Bangkok! It was insane. When we arrived at the train station, it reminded me a bit of platform 9 and 3/4! People rushing everywhere with bags in this huge train station. Pretty cool really.
We made our way through the station to platform 5, where we were on the first class carriage. This consisted of a room no bigger than a bathroom, with a sofa that folded upwards into bunkbeds. It was actually quite clean, and nicer than I expected, but I was very happy to be in first class. I sought out the toilet, which to my horror was a squat- have you ever used a toilet like that whilst a train is rocking from side to side!? Craig thought it was VERY hilarious when he ventured to find a toilet and discovered a western toilet literally next door to the one I was used. I was relieved, but very frustrated. Haha.
We had brought our own dinner onto the train, as you are charged quite a bit for a plane style meal. We had gone to one of those crazy Asian bakeries that have all kind of goodies... however, on eating them, we were pretty disappointed that the Thai breads were nothing like Vietnams, and quite gross! Our dinner consisted of lollies from then on...
We were pretty content in our cosy little cabin, but about 8pm decided there was nothing to do but sleep. So we set up our bunk bed and shivering a little in the aircon, tried to get some shut eye. About an hour later a steward came round with blankets, and sheets and pillowcases! He was very surprised that we had set up the beds ourselves as that was his job. We were much comfier with the luxury of a blanket. It was difficult to sleep with the constant rocking and vibration of the train, but all in all, it was better than sleeping upright on a plane. I think we probably got about 5 or 6 hours which was fine.
At about 7.30 we were served a strange breakfast of sandwiches, with cold french fries and a banana. We were supposed to arrive in Chiang Mai at 8 but were delayed until 9.30 (making it 15 hours in our little room!) Safe to say we were very glad to reach the station and get off the train. We bargained with a tuktuk (a little golf cart kind of taxi) to take us to our hotel. They allowed us early check in without a worry, and the hotel is very nice but quite a way out of town. This hasn't been too much of a problem as it has allowed us to keep the weight we lost in Vietnam off by walking the half an hour there and back every day!
The hotel is very oriental style, with wooden beams and a waterfall next to the pool. We have a nice boutique style room with a balcony that overlooks the waterfall- very tranquil but at nice it makes us feel a little as though we are on a boat rather than in a rainforest which is the designed effect!
We braved the walk into town where we were told by some guy (big mistake to listen to him) that the best place to buy tours is the official government travel agency, which he pointed us in the direction of. We booked a one day trek for the next morning that included an elephant ride, waterfall swim, trek into the hilltribes and white water rafting. This cost about $40 bucks each, which is quite a bit in Thailand, especially since in Vietnam our tours were about $10 each. However, we thought we couldn't go wrong with the official agency. But when we consulted our Lonely Planet on arrival home, it informed us that the official tour agency was not at that location- we had been scammed. Important lesson- do not listen to anyone on the street in Thailand! It isn't all bad, because all the companies usually sell you off on the same tours anyway, but it was frustrating to think we probably paid too much.
When back at our accommodation we decided to hit the pool. Whilst in the pool we got chatting with another couple staying at the hotel, a couple from the UK named Libby and Steve. This was a good encounter as we could swap travel stories and ended up spending quite a bit of time together which was a welcome interaction after Craig and I spending over three weeks just talking to each other. It was also good because at this time Craig and I were feeling a little disillusioned with Thailand, feeling that it was not as cheap or as friendly as Vietnam. Libby and Steve had been in Thailand for 6 weeks and they felt similarly, so it was nice to see we weren't just whining!
Craig started to feel ill that night and lost his voice, so we had a quick bite in the restaurant at the hotel, hit the chemist to get him some meds and had an early night. We awoke the next morning to rain, and with Craig still having lost his voice, we postponed our trip to later in the week to give him some time to recover. I really wasn't keen for trekking and elephant riding in the rain anyways. We slipped a note under Libby and Steve's door to see if they were interested in accompanying us to one of the attractions I specifically came to Thailand to see, Tiger Kingdom. They were up for it, so we headed in a taxi out to Tiger Kingdom which was about 45 mins away.
It was one of the highlights of our trip, especially of the Thailand leg. Basically, it is a Tiger Park where all the tigers are hand reared by the Thai people so are relatively tame. The living conditions are not really up to Western standards, but the tigers are well loved and the grounds they live in are clean and maintained, so I felt pretty fine being there. I talked Craig into going for one of the bigger packages, that allowed us to spend 45 minutes with tigers of three different age groups. This cost about $40 each, which for me, was a cheap price to pay for the trip of a lifetime. We started off with the baby tigers- what an AMAZING experience. Getting to snuggle, hold and play with 6 week old tigers was such a joy. They were such sweet little things, almost like puppies but much more exotic. As soon as Craig held one of the tigers, it was clear he did not regret paying the extra money. We then saw 8 month old tigers, which we patted and had photos with, though they were quite sleepy. After that, we were in with the 14 month tigers which are considered 'medium', but to me, seemed HUGE! I was a little afraid of them but they were happy to lie around chewing on bamboo whilst we stroked them and took lots of photos. All in all, we left with 84 photos and I have fallen in love with tigers. What beautiful majestic creatures. I am so happy we did it!
That evening we met up with Libby and Steve again and headed to the Night Bazaar, Chiang Mai is famous for it. At this time I was still thinking despite the tigers, Chiang Mai is a pretty boring town. However, it lights up at night. Hundreds of stalls selling anything and everything line the street, along with music and lots of atmosphere. It was good fun. We purchased a few things, but decided to dedicate most of our shopping to another night when we weren't socializing (which happens to be tonight, yay!) We had some Pad Thai from a street restaurant which cost us about a buck, and was quite nice. It was a good evening, and once again it was fun to spend time with some fellow travellers.
Yesterday morning we were up bright and early for a cooking class that we had booked months ago. It had been recommended to us by a friend of Craig's and is touted as the best in Chiang Mai. However, when we arrived at the venue and saw that our 'exclusive cooking class' that we had paid quite a bit for consisted of us and abou 25 other people, we didn't feel so exclusive. We were taken to the market and shown how to choose fresh ingredients, but couldn't hear much considering that there were so many of us. It was interesting being at a market like that, we saw some very 'interesting' cuts of meat- pigs heads, and all of the insides. Ew!
Back at the cooking school things went pretty quickly. Basically you watched a demonstration, then cooked it yourself with guidance, then ate it. It continued like this all day- not the most relaxing of cooking classes. We also found some of the staff helping us a little belittling. As if we were going to be experts on the first day, really! The food was beautiful though, and even though Craig did manage with the help of one of the staff to accidentally set his noodles on fire, it was a somewhat enjoyable day. The best part was eating the food with fellow travellers and hearing stories from all over the world. The day did convince us even more that we like Vietnam much more than Thailand, as the Vietnamese seemed a lot more professional and courteous than the people we have met so far in Thailand...
Today we are hitting the several markets around town and hoping to spend most of the money left on our cash passports, as it is pretty expensive to empty it once back home. I can't wait! Will fill you in on more soon...
Hope all is well! x
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