Chiang Mai
Best Tea & Toast in Thailand ;-)
11.02.2009 - 14.02.2009
Chiang Mai was a breath of fresh air (literally) after Bangkok. The place has a small town feel to it, unusual in a city that has more inhabitants than Manchester and Birmingham combined! The city is surrounded by a centuries-old defensive wall, originally built to keep out Burmese invaders. Only parts of the battlements are still standing, but the moat remains intact, and forms a watery boundary, interspersed with fountains and footbridges, around the city centre.
The first day we rented bicycles. The bikes were set to a perfect gear that required minimum effort to attain a leisurely pace. Once we got used to the inane traffic signals - Amy had a few near-misses! (don't worry mum my road coordination is much better now!!) - the bikes were a terrific way to see the city.
The next day we went on what they call a trek in the jungle; it was more activity day really. We visited an orchid and butterfly sanctuary, went on an elephant trek, dropped in on a tribe of 'long-necks', went bamboo rafting, visited a waterfall, and went white-water rafting.
The elephant trekking was great fun for us, but not so much for the poor elephants! The tribe of 'long-necks' was an interesting aside - the woman of the village disfigure themselves according to an ancient Burmese legend by artifically elongating their necks using gold bands weighing over 6 kilos. But undoubtedly the activity of the day was white-water rafting! There were 6 boats, each with a team of 4 or 5 people, all racing eachother to the bottom of these frothing, rocky rapids, and trying to get eachother as wet as possible in the process. We loved it, a fully active day in amazing surroundings.
After a few thoroughly pleasant days in Chang Mai we caught two public buses (the last of which was a real bone-shaker which left us sweaty and saddlesore!) to get to Chiang Khong, the Laos-Thai border.
(We have loads of photos but unfortunately the internet connection is impossibly slow. We'll upload some when we can!)
Posted by AmyLou2009 17.02.2009 02:58 Archived in Thailand
Wow guys this all sounds amazing!!!! so happy ur having a wicked time
miss you both a lot but keep updating cos it all sounds amazing and really funny!!!! xxxxx
17.02.2009 by koco1991