August 10, 2009
Thailand
Hi All,
the overnight flights from delhi to mumbai to bangkok were long and tiring. we landed at 6 am. we folowed our gap guide information not to go with a private taxi, and got th epublic one, but her tried to rip us off by not putting on his meter. i refused to pay his inflated price as we knew what the ride should cost. he apologized for 'forgetting' to put on the meter and accepted what i gave him. we have learned that the local drivers are notoious for ripping off the tourists. they inflate prices for rides or tell you an attraction i s closed and want ro tale you to another attractin for a very cheap price when in fact they will take you to a merchant and get a commission from whatever you buy. we were ok, but we heard some stories of people getting taken in this way. our guide is going to write his master's thesis on how the tourists get ripped off. he is really angry about this and the police do not seem to care.
after a nap in our hotel, we check with the hotel staff the cost of taxi and set out to see the grand palace. this is trult the most ornate we have ever seen, with mirrors, vright paint, gold and spires flanked by enormous glittering statues. we saw the emerald budda, the giant reclining buddah,the very big standing budda and all sorts of small buddahs. i made the error of sitting in front of one budda with my feet pointed towards him, very disrespectful. now i have insulted budah in two countries.
we met with our new tour group -15 of us- mostly young british girls travelling on their own. jamie and owen from ireland as well as our tour guide aka albert, are the only makes in the group. we all went out to dinner and began to get to know each other. one girl is from australia and another girl is from ireland. our guide went ot school in los angeles. it is considered best for your children to send them to an english speaking country for education past grade 6. his father took the family on a trip to disneyworld and the day before they were to leave his father told him that he was to stay with a family friend and go to school. poor albert had no idea that his dad had arranged this, but he says that no matter the agem you must do as your parents tell you. at age 14 he moved out with another student and they lived on thier own intil he finished university the came home.
the thai royal family is very popular in thialand and it id the queen's 76 th birthday on wednesday. the whole city is decked out in blue bunting, giant pictures and lights. we will miss this celebration as we wil ne in the hilltribe village by then.
after a great dinner outdoors, we went to a 'lady boy show' where all the 'women' are men who have had sex change operations. these ladies are gorgeous. thailand is very tolerant of the gays and lady boys. they host an international drag queen contest every year. albert's friend is a lady boy. his family business was raising koi fish which can be sold for up to 10,000 each. he told his dad that 6 fish died and he had actually sold them to get the money for breast implants. the dad was not pleased.
the next day we sleep in a s the rest of the group explores the areas we covered on our own. we meet up for a long boat ride through the canals of bangkok. most of the 6 million people live on tjhe canals which are a system of riverways through the city. many of the canals have now been filled in to make roads, but those on the canals still have their mail delivered, their garbage picked up and the bank all come by boat to each dock. some homes have been there for a very long time and ther are some very run down places, but ther are also mansions built by rich people whic are gorgeous. the area is very lush with coconut palms, bird of paradise, hybiscus and orchids.
we stop at several temples along the way and make offereings to the river to get good karma. |I offer to free some sanils to release any bitterness that i have. eels will give you a smooth life.you pay some money and then let this things go into th eriver - bread, fish, turtles, birds too.
we board the chain mai overnight train whaich is a big step up from the china trains and travel through lush area of hills to the second largest city in thailand. i am just going to go back to the hotel as we are meeting at 10:00 for a walk, market, lunch,elephant show and tiger area. you can pay to go in a cage and pet the tiger. we'll see about that. tomorrow we leave on our 3 day treck in the hills, so i hopw i am up to the challenge. you won't hear from me until i get back to chaing mai. we are going to be very basic, sleeping on the ground etc. wish me luck!
Nina
August 14, 2009
The Trek
Hi Again!
Yes! I patted the big tiger and I have the pictures to prove it! I got my courage up by starting in the baby lion cage and moved on to the large tigers. I have asked my kids to use the picture as my obituary picture! As if that was not excitement enough, we then went to the elephant camp where I fed elephants sugar cane and bananas. We watched the elephants play soccer, lift logs and even paint pictures! Dinner with the group at a cool riverside restaurant where the food was great, especially the bananas in coconut milk.
Next day we packed up our small day packs with the things we needed for our 3 day trekinto the northern hilltribes villages. To start, we stopped at a gorgeous waterfall pool and frolicked in the water before getting ready to hike. The hike was supposed to take 2-3 hours, but we did it in 1 and a half because the energetic kids at the front barely stopped to look around. I on the other hand really pushed myself to finish. We have 2 great trek guides who really looked out for us. I got a bamboo walking stick made for me by Luke, the head guide. He just took out his very big knife and wacked a small bamboo branch, stripped it and that made the uphill climb a lot easier for me.
We were all relieved to reach our first village camp, take bucket showers and eat. The guides also prepare all the great food including lots of fresh pineapple and bananas. Our first village was very small and we had a large wooden, leaf thatched house with a communal eating area and another sleeping area. We all shared one large room which had individual sleeping mats, hard as a rock pillows and rough blankets. We played some games and watched the amazing stars. The village has a solar panel which provided us wit h one weak light inthe sleeping room. Even though I was pretty tired, I had a terrible time falling asleep because I was worrying about the next day 5 hour hike. Then stupid roosters started crowing at 4 am and never stopped! In the morning we were all a bit nervous for the day's hike particularily since it was raining hard.The group decided to slow down a bit and enjoy more. It was the hardest physical activity I have ever done! Very steep long uphill climbs, narrow paths along deep valley drops and slippery steep paths down. This time I took two walking sticks which helped me a lot. I was surprised to learn at our stop 2 hours in how many of the others were feeling much the same. We had to keep checking for leeches and many fell on the trail or bumped their heads on low trees. We had to cross the water on rocks or branches. Thankfully Luke or Mon were there to grab a hand when needed. We were working well as a team, encouraging everyone. Luke spotted a leech on my ankle and got it off, so I was relieved. He also insisted that he carry my pack the rest of the way up one steep climb until we got to the top.
But we made it! The rain had stopped for a while and just as we reached the village 4and a half hours later, it started again. We were high in the lush rainforest hills. it was amazing!! We were rewarded with a great hot lunch and then rode elephants up to our next village. I will have to save the crazy details of trying to get on an elephant's back on a narrow steep path by climbing up it's trunk. In my case, being pushed and pulled up its trunk and head! Jessie and I rode together and the elephant guides strolled along behind. Our elephant refused to let any others pass him, so he would occasionally break into a run or vere off on a different path just to overtake another elephant, but it was really thrilling to be up so high with the lush jungle all around.
Our next village had no electricity but we had flashlights and candles. We had a great campfire and played silly games until late. Everyone slept really well that night knowing the hardest part was over. We wre all proud of ourselves and each other. Jess and Jamie were great at keeping me going!
Nina
August 16, 2009
Rafting
Hi,
Our last day in the villiage, we visit a school wih about 200 students. The princess of Thailand pays for the running of this school. There are many students from remote villages who must live at the school. Jess and I give the notebooks, pens, Canadian pins and postcards of our animals to the teachers.
We pack up our cameras and other valuables in a large plastic bag to keep them dry. Our guides and raft captains have built three narrow bamboo rafts for us. 5 people to a raft with Jamie and Owen pitching in to steer through the rapids. It's a great ride, drifting downstream with the rapids every once in a while, gazing up at the jungle reaching high above us.
After lunch, we climb into the truck and head back on winding road back to Chaig Mai. We are looking forward to a much needed hot shower and then head out again for a cultural show and dinner. After shopping at the night market until 11:00, I foolishly agree to go with the young people and Albert to a local bar where I stay out until 3:00 am.
Up at 7:45 for cooking school we first shop at the local market for the food then take the van to the school. We cook 4 delicious courses and enjoy the food and what we can't eat, she puts into little plastic bags for our train dinner. You can get just about anything in a little plastic bag including a delicious fruit smoothie to go.
Another night train where I learn several new card games, and we are back in Bangkok. We sadly say goodbye to our new GAP friends and head to the airport for our Cambodia flight.
Nina