This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Jon and I left bright and early on Thursday January 30th for Thailand. We took a car to the airport near Taipei and then flew to Manila where we had about a 6 hour layover before making it to Bangkok Thursday night. Jon’s brother, Bill, and our friend Matt from college flew in from the states to join us in Bangkok Thursday night and then we all flew together to Chiang Mai the following morning. It was fortunate that we decided not to spend any time in Bangkok as there were political protests going on while we were there.
Once we arrived in Chiang Mai, we were picked up at the airport by Nicky from Something Different Tours, the boys got their motorbikes (I rode on the back of Oliv’s bike, one of the other tour guides), and we were off for towards the mountains! It took us about an hour to get off the paved road (they drive on the left side of the road in Thailand fyi) and onto more adventurous terrain. We stopped at a waterfall and had some fun in the cold water, including jumping off about a 25 foot cliff into the water. I was a little nervous to do this as you had to jump far enough away from the cliff but not too far out; I did it anyways though and I am definitely glad I did! Afterwards we stopped in Nicky’s hometown village for a refreshing drink and then headed off up the mountain again. The winding dirt roads got a little sketchier and it was getting dark as we neared the top. Not too far from our final destination Matt had the first wipe out on the motorbike. Luckily he wasn’t scraped up too much (at least at this point in the trip haha) and was back on the bike in no time.
We arrived for the night at a family’s home which consists of a few huts (basically in the middle of nowhere near the top of a mountain in the jungle)! It was so awesome! I haven’t gotten to see the stars since coming to Taiwan since I’m living in a big city, so it was nice to see the natural beauty again. The tour guides cooked us dinner (so much tasty chicken, rice, veggies, and soup) as we got to know the other people that were there. There were two little kids that lived there and I helped the older girl practice her Thai letters; she was so cute! There were also two other couples that were on the tour that stayed with us. One of the couples Helen and Craig were from London and they were awesome! They were on a several month vacation, which sounds amazing! We had a great time and stayed up pretty late by the camp fire. All 8 of us from the tour slept in one hut with a bamboo floor!
In the morning we toasted bread by the fire using bamboo. It continues to amaze me how useful bamboo is; here is a short list of things that I have observed bamboo used for: to eat, as skewers, as a tooth brush, as cups and other various cooking utensils, making huts/houses, scaffolding, bridges, ladders, rafting, the list could go on! Anyways after breakfast I got to try weaving a scarf using a loom that you wrap around your back. The little kids and their mother showed me how; it was so cool! By midmorning we were on the motorbikes again. We did way more off-roading today, which was fun (Helen and Craig were with us today too)! There were definitely some shady parts, but good thing I was riding with an expert! Matt was not quite so lucky. We crossed this one skinny bridge and he made it half way across before he almost went off the edge; however, the guides figured this would happen and caught him and the bike in time haha! Later on we crossed another skinny bridge and immediately after there was a steep dirt trail. Matt made it up just fine until the very top of the hill where he crashed again and got a little more scraped up.
We drove to another waterfall to cool off. Bill and Jon found a spot on the waterfall where they thought it was safe to jump off. Somehow they were able to climb up the side using tree branches and slide across the waterfall to the spot where they could slide down. It looked like a lot of fun, but I was too chicken haha! I’m pretty sure the guides have never done that before because they looked a little amazed. We continued to drive on dirt paths. Bill and Jon did end up wiping out on the bikes going down the same super steep hill, but luckily they did not get hurt.
After more off-roading we stopped for lunch (noodles and pork dumplings). I love Thai food; it’s so good! Next we drove a bit farther down the mountain to go bamboo rafting. We had three on each raft plus our rafting guide. We stood for a little bit, but it was more enjoyable just to sit and relax down the river. There were a couple spots that had some small rapids and one of the rafts in front of us got stuck on a rock so our rafting guide had to go over and help them haha. After rafting we scooted back into town and got dropped off at our hotel. We were very exhausted that night so we found a place to eat and went to bed relatively early.
The next day (Sunday) was one of my favorites. We were picked up bright and early by the people from the Thai Elephant Home. It took us about an hour to reach the elephant farm, which was located in the country side near a river. There were about 15 people in our group and after meeting them and changing into our elephant riding garb, we learned a little about the elephants and the commands we would soon be using. Here is a list of the Thai elephant commands: Maplong = down; Look = up; Hue or Bye = go; How = Stop; Ben = turn
Next we paid tribute to the elephant god at a small temple as the Mahouts do every day, and then they lined the elephants up and we feed them bananas. I was hesitant at first, but quickly realized how gentle the huge animals were and was soon able to relax. We reviewed the commands one more time and then each hopped on an elephant for a short walk around the stable. Once everyone had a chance to ride an elephant we were each paired with an elephant and a Mahout for the remainder of the day. My elephants name was Wan; he was about three years old. It was strange riding the elephants at first. There were a few different sitting positions you could try. One way was to sit farther back on the elephant but it was less comfortable because of the elephant’s backbone. Another way was on the elephant’s neck with your feet hanging straight down. My favorite position was on the elephant’s neck with your feet bent behind the elephant’s ears. Soon I felt like a natural Mahout!
It seemed my elephant could not walk ten yards without stopping to chow down on some grass, plants, or even trees. Elephants eat about 10% of their body weight every day and considering they mainly eat grass, elephants are constantly eating. After riding into the jungle for about an hour we stopped to let the elephants graze and have some chow too. We ate chicken fried rice wrapped in banana leaves and mandarin oranges; like all Thai food, it was very yummy! During our break the Mahouts brought the elephants over to a mud pit nearby and started to give them a mud bath. Mud baths help protect the elephants from the sun and bugs as well as cool them down. We were able to help give the last two elephants a mud bath, but first we needed to get muddy too. We took mud and put it all over our arms and faces! Then we helped rubbing mud all over the elephants. Mud was flying everywhere as the Mahouts would have the elephants suck up muddy water in their trunks and spray it all over everyone! I definitely got muddy from this!
After all the elephants had their mud baths, we road them for about another hour to the river where we washed all the mud off. All roughly 15 tourists, 15 mahouts, and 15 elephants were splashing around in the river. Elephants were spraying water all over people with their trunks’ and some elephants were teasingly submerging themselves in the water and throwing their rider into the river. I got to sit on my elephant’s trunk and he rose me way up in the air two times. This was one of those moments that I will never forget; I had not a care in the world accept for how awesome the day was and I had the hugest smile on my face!
While riding our elephants through the jungle each person had a bunch of bananas in the satchel that we were caring. As soon as I gave my elephant one of the bananas, he would immediately put his trunk back up for another. Sometimes I would reach in my bag to grab my camera and my elephant would think I was reaching for a banana and be ready with his trunk! It was hilarious! I strongly recommend this type of elephant day to anyone who has a chance; it has been one of my favorite days to date. I liked it so much that I bought a picture frame made of elephant poop! I didn’t think it would actually smell, but it does hahaha! Unfortunately I ended up with a rash on my legs where the coarse elephant hair rubbed on my legs all day. It has still not completely gone away yet, but it is much better. A very small price to pay for such an amazing and unforgettable experience!
That evening we ate at the night market with a girl from our Elephant group. This night market has less food and more clothes and nick-knacks than the night markets in Taiwan. We walked around for awhile before finding a place to have a few drinks. Randomly Helen and Craig walked by and saw us! They were supposed to face-time a friend from back home but decided to spend the rest of the evening with us instead!
Monday morning we were picked up by someone from Something Different Tours and brought to Tiger Kingdom, before heading to the airport for our afternoon flight to Luang Prabang, Laos. At Tiger Kingdom we naturally wanted to see both the baby tigers and the largest tigers! First we went to the baby tigers’ pen where there were about five or six of them. We got to pet all of them and lay next to them; they were so cute and little! Next we went to the large tigers’ pen where there were three of them. They were very mellow. We were told to approach the tigers from the back so that they did not think we were playing with them. I got to pet all three and even rest my head on one of them! It was very cool! After we were finished, we headed to the airport for our flight to Laos.
Rachel Belinda Gulbranson 