Thailand, Elephants, and an Overactive Imagination

22 January 2013

Today is my first day back in cold, cold Korea after spending two weeks with the Hubby on the vacation of a lifetime.  We went to tropical Thailand for fifteen days...and loved every minute of it.  Well, almost every minute.  Squatty potties were invented by sadistic men whose chief goal and joy in life is to maliciously plot ways for women to get urine all over their feet.

We left for Thailand having completely planned our entire two week adventure, which went surprisingly according to that plan.  Unknowingly, the night before we flew out of Seoul, we booked a room at the same guest house where we stayed the first night we arrived here just a few short months ago.  The nice man who runs the guest house actually drove us to the airport at 5 in the morning as he said it was way too cold for us to stand outside waiting for the shuttle.  Which it was.  Very Cold.  The plane ride was fairly uneventful, except for the presence of a guy sitting a few rows back, who we good-naturedly dubbed Marvin, since his nasal, carrying voice resembled that of the ambitious Marvin the Martian of Looney Tunes fame.  Marvin's dulcet tones kept us awake in spite of the constant thrumming of the engine that usually lulls me to sleep on airplanes.  After touching down in Bangkok, we found the shuttle van that would take us to our hotel, and I was introduced to riding in a car on the left side of the road for the first time in my life.  Once at our hotel, we collapsed, exhausted from a full day of travelling.  Early the next morning, we loaded up in the van again and headed back to the airport to take the Underground (or "subway" for you NYCers out there) to the Hua Lamphong train station.

Clock in the Hua Lamphong train station in Bangkok

Express train

We only spent a few hours in Bangkok...

Walking around one of the many wats (temples) in Bangkok before going to the train station

and then the adventure really began with an overnight train ride to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.  We had reserved tickets in a sleeper car ahead of time and were quite lucky to have the whole little section to ourselves, two upper berths and two lower.

Sitting on the Hubby's bed here, but I slept on the top bunk

We opted for the air-conditioned car over the one merely cooled by a fan and the night breeze blowing in through open windows, but as we would soon find out, when they said it would be air-conditioned, they meant it!  I actually had to put back on the winter coat and scarf that I had brought with me, remnants of the Korean winter we had left behind, in spite of the outside temperature being in the upper 70s to low 80s.

While not the most restful night's sleep I have ever had, I was pleased to have my little bunk bed to doze in as the train chugged along slowly while scenes of gorgeous landscapes full of lush greenery and massive palm trees sauntered past our window.

Thailand countryside at sunrise

Our train as it takes a curve

Once in Chiang Mai, we actually found a tuk tuk (small motorbike contraptions that serve as taxis all throughout the country) with a driver who knew our guest house by name and who happily chattered along the way, trying to convince us to let her be our guide on a trek into the nearby jungle.

Not our tuk tuk, but this gives you the idea.  Also, please note that Tex Mex was to be found in Chiang Mai. More on that later.

We checked into our guest house, a very nice little place owned by a couple who proved to be two of THE most helpful people on our trip, always ready to answer questions and offer advice.  The first day there, we simply strolled along the Old City area, inspecting various wats (temples) and taking more pictures than I'm sure we needed.  At some point, we made our way to a tourist information area and booked a trip for the next day to go on a one day trek, jam-packed with different activities.

The trek day began early in the morning as we were picked up by our driver/guide at our hotel.  We rode in a song-tao, which is basically a pickup truck with benches installed on either side and covered with a metal canopy to shade its passengers from the sun.

In the song-tao

I made sure I was armed with plenty of sunscreen and bug spray as my fair skin always seems to accumulate not only freckles and sunburns but also numerous vestiges from visitors of the buzzing, bloodsucking variety.  I felt nothing if not prepared for the day.  We only picked up two other members to form a small group of five, including our guide.  Our fellow trekkers were two ladies from Argentina, who thankfully spoke English much better than I speak Spanish, although they were both eager to help me dust off my limited linguistic abilities.  Our first stop of the day, we were introduced to a small group of elephants, and although I had expected to be nervous about actually riding the massive animals, my excitement surprisingly far outweighed my fear once I was actually in front of them, and I clambered up into the saddle eagerly.

Hubby feeds the baby elephant bananas.  It LOVED them!!

Us on an elephant!

The path the elephant took was winding and, at times, fairly steep, and she hugged the edge of a precipitous drop-off that I tried to avoid looking at for long periods of time, instead choosing to focus on my faith in eons of an ingrained animal instinct for self preservation and sure-footing.  Even so, as she persistently raised her trunk over her head, expecting me to place a small banana in the cradle the appendage formed just for that purpose, I regretted not having had the forethought to purchase more of the fruit for the duration of the ride, as I had quickly gone through my meagre supply, happily feeding both my noble steed and the baby elephant that accompanied our slow, lumbering entourage.  A small flutter of disquiet emerged in the pit of my stomach, and I brushed aside the notion that she might decide to exact revenge for my perceived stinginess with a misplaced step, resulting in my unceremonious tumble from the seat above her shoulders.  My rampant imaginings of elephant retaliation notwithstanding, the ride up the mountain was absolutely breathtaking, and I enjoyed myself immensely.

Asking for bananas

View from an elephant

(The video is from the zip line cage we were in when we crossed the river after riding the elephant.  It's a little shaky since the Hubby didn't realize the camera was actually recording from its spot hanging around his neck when we crossed.)

When we reached our next destination, the flutter of unease in my belly grew a bit as I realized what our next activity was.  White water rafting.  Those who know me well, know that as a child, I had a rather unhealthy fear of water that may possibly be traced back to a particular swim lesson at the tender age of three or four when I somehow failed to understand the necessity of holding one's breath when being submerged in water, and my swim instructor, one kid on each hip, proceeded to attempt to introduce me and another child to that particular rite of passage. The attempt was not successful and led to about twenty years of a love/hate relationship between me and various swimming pools and beaches.  Now, I can do OK with swimming, but rafting down a river with large rocks that may or not have a date with destiny with my head, hard though it may be, was not a little disconcerting.  After the Hubby was able to to talk me into actually getting in the boat, I braced myself and chanted this recurring mantra that I have.  "You drove a sixteen foot moving van through crowded streets in New York City. If you can do that, you can do this."  Much to my surprise, the white water rafting ended up being my favorite part of the day, exhilarating in spite of distasteful visions of me tumbling headfirst out of the boat into a huge boulder, the large yellow raft covering my weak, but struggling, form as I tried to fight my way to the surface.  Also, I may or may not read way too many fanciful novels.  After the white water rafting, we relaxed, floating calmly along a stretch of the Mae Ping River on a bamboo raft.

The calmer part of the Mae Ping after the bamboo raft ride

Still after that, it was time for hiking.  We ate lunch, pad thai of course, with fresh pineapple for dessert...

Lunch with Andrea and Marcella, our new Argentinian friends

and then we headed up a well worn trail in search of a large waterfall.  It was beautiful, and we tried to take as many pictures as possible to remember it.

Beautiful

We trekked for almost an hour before we finally made it to our destination, spotting a huge spider and the largest termite hill I have ever seen along the way.  The waterfall was also the largest I have ever seen, not to mention the coldest.  The water was freezing, and I was the last to break down and decide to get in, but I did it faster than anyone else.  There was no wading in.  I was in the water within two minutes and promptly got right back out.  But I did it!

Hubby in front of the waterfall

We were pretty exhausted after we made our way back down the mountain and only half-heartedly meandered around the orchid and butterfly garden that was our next stop.

The last detour we made was probably my least anticipated.  Our guide took us to see the women of the Karen Hilltribe, who are predominantly referred to as the "Long Necks."  The reason behind this nomenclature is apparent when you see the ladies.  From the age of five they begin wearing metal bars that are fashioned into coils that snake around the girls' necks.  Every five years, they add more coils, also adding weight to their shoulders to push their breastbones down while simultaneously pulling their heads up, thereby lengthening their necks.  The reason I didn't want to see them was not because I found this practice grotesque or disgusting, I simply felt like bringing tourists by the truckload to simply gawk at the ladies felt a bit too much like exploitation in my opinion.  Granted, they do make crafts and goods that tourists often purchase, creating a stream of income for members of the tribe, but in the words of one of our Argentinian companions, "I do not feel good after."  In spite of my feelings, however, one of the girls voluntarily posed for a picture for me, so I felt like I had to take it as I didn't know if to refuse would be insulting.

This girl is 22 years old, so she's had rings added maybe three times.

Well, I think this is long enough for a single blog entry, so I will stop for today at the risk of boring you (whoever might read this) to tears.  To be continued...