Our first vacation after starting classes wasn't until the middle of July, and we headed up to Chiang Mai with our 4 days off. We took a long rough bus ride to Chiang Mai on Thursday night and got there early on Friday morning. After having breakfast at McDonald's we went to our hostel and checked in. We were staying at Baan Arlhan, a hostel that was like a traditional Thai home with mats on the floor and mosquito nets. It was quite the experience.
We went to the Tiger Kingdom that morning. After signing my life away, we got to see the smallest and the biggest tigers. It was pretty terrifying, but totally awesome.
I also had a bit of an experience while playing with the baby tigers. There were probably about 4 tigers in the one area, and one of the trainers was playing with a rather rambunctious one, but when he left him and turned for a second, the tiger lunged for the next closest thing...which happened to be my butt, hahaha. He latched on pretty good for a few seconds there, and it hurt a bit, but not enough to break through my shorts or anything. Plus I like being able to tell people I've been bitten by a tiger.
That night we ate some Mexican food, then some of us got massages. After our massages were done we were sitting in the lobby for a few minutes and while reading a pamphlet about the massage place realized that all the masseuses were convicted criminals, and that they started this massage place to assimilate them back into the working world. It had been a good massage, we were just glad we didn't know that before we got our massages. After our massages we met up with the rest of the group and did some shopping near the Tha Phae Gate. Our plans to go to the Night Bazaar were changed when it started pouring rain and we just ended up going back to our hostel for the night.
The next day was our elephant day! We got some training on how to give certain commands like Go, Stop, Left, and Right, fed them some bananas, and got to practice on the elephant for a couple minutes, and then after eating lunch we had our ride. Me and Abby were on the same elephant, with me in front and her in the back. Some of the other girls had the elephant trainers on the elephant with them, or at least right beside them walking, while ours was always like 20 metres away, just drinking his Sprite without a care in the world...so when the elephant started going down hills and tried sliding on her butt, almost making us fall off, he was of no use to us. He yelled at the elephant in Thai and we were able to stay on somehow, but the same thing happened at every hill we encountered. Abby's life flashed before her eyes and we were screaming/laughing/crying throughout the whole ride. It was a quite the adventure, hahaha. We also got to give the elephants a bath, which was good because mine and Abby's kept shooting mud at us/itself between it's sliding down the hills.
^This picture was taken before our elephant tried to kill us, which is why we're still smiling. ;)
That night we ate some Mexican food, then some of us got massages. After our massages were done we were sitting in the lobby for a few minutes and while reading a pamphlet about the massage place realized that all the masseuses were convicted criminals, and that they started this massage place to assimilate them back into the working world. It had been a good massage, we were just glad we didn't know that before we got our massages. After our massages we met up with the rest of the group and did some shopping near the Tha Phae Gate. Our plans to go to the Night Bazaar were changed when it started pouring rain and we just ended up going back to our hostel for the night.
The next day was our elephant day! We got some training on how to give certain commands like Go, Stop, Left, and Right, fed them some bananas, and got to practice on the elephant for a couple minutes, and then after eating lunch we had our ride. Me and Abby were on the same elephant, with me in front and her in the back. Some of the other girls had the elephant trainers on the elephant with them, or at least right beside them walking, while ours was always like 20 metres away, just drinking his Sprite without a care in the world...so when the elephant started going down hills and tried sliding on her butt, almost making us fall off, he was of no use to us. He yelled at the elephant in Thai and we were able to stay on somehow, but the same thing happened at every hill we encountered. Abby's life flashed before her eyes and we were screaming/laughing/crying throughout the whole ride. It was a quite the adventure, hahaha. We also got to give the elephants a bath, which was good because mine and Abby's kept shooting mud at us/itself between it's sliding down the hills.
^This picture was taken before our elephant tried to kill us, which is why we're still smiling. ;)
It was a really great day, and that night we went to the Night Bazaar and shopped our hearts out!
We went ziplining the next day, and it was great. Our guides were funny and liked playing tricks on us and making us feel like we were gonna die, but a good time was had by all.
We ate lunch at the ziplining place then they brought us back to our hostel. The lady who runs the hostel brought us to the Doi Suthep park that afternoon as well. We didn't actually make it up to see the temple, but walked around the park a bit and enjoyed the scenery.
We went ziplining the next day, and it was great. Our guides were funny and liked playing tricks on us and making us feel like we were gonna die, but a good time was had by all.
We ate lunch at the ziplining place then they brought us back to our hostel. The lady who runs the hostel brought us to the Doi Suthep park that afternoon as well. We didn't actually make it up to see the temple, but walked around the park a bit and enjoyed the scenery.
That night we ate at a Mexican restaurant that a member of the church had recommended to Lindsey that day, and boy were we ever happy with our choice. It was delicious. We all missed Mexican food a lot and the Salsa Kitchen hit the spot. If you're ever in Chiang Mai and craving Mexican food, this is the place to go.
That night we went to the Sunday market and did some more shopping, then got massages again, because when it's less than $10 for an hour long massage, you get them as often as possible, haha.
We left the next day on another bus ride home. We watched a few movies on the bus and even though everything was in Thai, we were able to figure out the plot lines pretty well. We had all fallen in love with Chiang Mai during our trip and couldn't wait to go back again.
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