Chiang Mai - Trekking

We went trekking from  Chiang Mai and arrived in a village fairly early on.  However, it had already been a hard day for some

And it's not just the dogs that work hard

We set off over a proper bridge

Though they weren't all like that

You could go swimming in this waterfall but there was an undercurrent to the right side

So we did the safest thing and had a beer instead

They said it was a trek, more like a gentle stroll in the country

It was pretty

Later on  we rode on an elephant. 

Our elephant was a 2 year old pregnant female (with morning sickness), called Won Ton.  She was well cute and kept putting her trunk up to us and sucking in to and blowing at us to get more bananas.  If she'd fitted in my bag.......

You could see quite far away up high on the elephant.  I even rode on its neck for a bit, which was actually more comfortable

When we got back, we fed them a bit more.  They don't really stop eating and have around 200kg per day

It wasn't quite so cute when they blew mucus all over you!

But on the whole, loved it.  After the elephant trekking we went on a river on a bamboo raft.  No piccies due to water and just as well.   I steered the back for a bit, but the skill is actually with the frontman, or front 15 year old boy in our case who was insistent on his  4 passengers getting as wet as possible and would capsize it regularly to ensure in doing so.  Well funny and loads of fun.

Chiang Mai - Jungle Flight

Hard to tell how high up we were from  these photos, but it was high!

This was an abseil of 40m and they liked to drop you quickly!

Our group consisted of 2 Danes, 2 Brits, 2 Germans and 2 French.  The French were soooo annoying and not doing their country any favours

As  usual, it was hot, hot!

All the safety gear made it a good look

The hairnet  in   particular was quite useful

The longest zip was 300m (not this one), some of the sky stations were over 50m high, the zips went over drops of up to 100m or more and the biggest drop was 40m.  It took a  while for me to get used to it and stop kacking it.

Not very clear  but over the mountains in the background is Burma

Chiang Mai

Elephants are common in Thailand - esp in the north

1st day in Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand.  No beaches, oh no!  So we went to see a 700 year old buddhist temple

Which had a few surprises of its own

We went looking at some temples, Chiang Mai is full of them, a lady approached Paul and asked if he wanted good luck.  The tray she is holding has little cages with small birds trapped inside and if you pay her, she'll release them.  How mean.

Here's another temple, you quickly get bored of them

Hey look, another temple!

Chiang Mai was the vision of 3 kings who built it defensively with canals and walls.  Most of the wall has fallen down but in the 80's there was an effort made to protect what was left and restore a small amount

They have fountains and such, to aerate the water which stops it going stagnant and disease starting.  It's source from from the Ping River which is on the east side of the city

We had our feet nibbled, was very strange.  Felt like bubbles running over your feet.  They eat the dead skin and leave it softer.

We met a German guy, Kai, again who we'd originally met in Ton Sai.  We were at the Sunday Night Market, which Paul loved, though got a bit carried away and started to haggle with the market traders on things he didn't even want

Chiang Mai is like Amsterdam, in that it has canals for defensive reasons.  In their case, to protect against the marauding Bermese.  It has as many temples as Bangkok, but is much smaller.  There's no record of the founding of this, until the 14th century when the local king invited Burmese monks to the area to bring in Buddhism.  They stayed here.

Phuket - 2nd time

Phuket is very big and full of lots of beaches (and tourists)

Here's 3, based around Karon, on the west side

We were on our way to a beach in the south

Where I lost both the sunglasses in my hand and the shirt on my back - not one of my better days