Heading to Chiang Mai

After our 2 weeks were up we headed to Chiang Mai via train. We purchased our tickets from Hua Lumphong THB841 (today's exchange rate £15). We were in the second class sleeper and it was the best night sleep we ever had.

The seats change into beds and the stewards come round to set them up and take them down for you.

I would not advise trying to do it yourself, an impatient man in the bed next to us tried and got his finger trapped and cut it open. A bit risky when the beds are old and rusty and there were a few cockroaches running around. The stewards know what they are doing and are fast at it so just be patient. They sell food on the train but it looked a bit questionable so eat at your own risk.


The train journey took 12 hours through the night and passed small towns built on the side of the train tracks, but the scenery of the countryside was great to see.
Once we got off the train we grabbed a tuk tuk to take us to our hotel. All the tuk tuk's were the same price at the train station so there's no point trying to barter, but it’s still fun to try.

In Chiang Mai there is a main square in the old city which is in the centre of town and the shops run from either end. Will take about 30 minutes to walk from one end to the other. The main gate to the shopping streets, is called Tha Phae Gate. When looking for hotels just set the filter to old city.

We were here for New Year and they had street celebrations, a live band, fireworks and everyone let off lanterns into the night sky. This was held at the Tha Phae Gate. A wonderful atmosphere to be a part of.






We did meet a few travelers who had not booked any accommodation and were just going to look for one once they were there and after looking around there are lots of hostels to choose from in the centre.

Things to do in Chiang Mai:
There are a three markets I would suggest seeing:

• Sunday market (or walking street) which starts at the Tha Phae gate and stretches for 1km. The locals sell handmade products and souvenirs.
• The Night Bazaar market which on Chang Khlan Road sell more designer brands and jewelry etc. 
• Chiang Mia's night food market is one to visit for its traditional Thai food and if your adventurous the deep fried bugs, cockroaches and anything else that moves. It is held on Sri Chum Road.

There are many different elephant rides/experiences in Chiang Mai and you can spend days looking at them all just to decide on one.

We were recommended the tour Ran-Tong and we were not disappointed. They are a rescue centre for elephants which have been used in log moving in rural parts of Thailand. We did the half day tour which cost us THB2400 (today's exchange rate £43) for one elephant two people. There are longer tours where you learn more about the elephants and more commands but we decided against this. The camp is about an hour’s drive into the country from the old city.


 A thing to note about this camp is there are a few steep steps to walk down, but once you’re at the bottom it’s very flat. All the elephants are within a squared area where the trainers lived, fed and bathed them. We were given time to see the elephants, touch them and feed them before we were given a quick lesson in the different commands they respond too.
Don't worry about remembering them they will only listen to their trainers but it’s fun to participate. After the lesson you are given clothing to put on as you will get mucky when you go into the water with them. You got to pick the elephant you wanted to ride and thanks to my partner we got the biggest (and the naughtiest). I sat on the back and held onto a rope which was put around the elephant’s body. Now this is not comfy at all as you’re sat on the spine (don’t worry it doesn’t hurt him) so be prepared to get a numb bum. My partner sat on the neck with his feet underneath his ears to guide him in the right direction.
The great thing about this elephant camp is you ride them bare back. What I didn’t know before is when saddles are used it puts more strain on their backs which results in back pain and sores from where the saddles have been. So we set off on our ride, and the guide was brilliant. You have individual guides for each elephant and ours took our camera and took lots of pictures for us. Our elephant didn’t like to follow the group, he liked to go his own way so we fell behind a little but this was OK as it was all within the camp.



After about 30-40 minutes we were taken to a big pond where you could walk the elephants in (while you’re on their backs) to get a bath, luckily ours didn’t like the water in the pond as they also poop in there so we just gave him a shower which he loved.






After the ride we were given a lovely lunch while looking across the countryside. (any pictures of the lunch?) Now as I mentioned earlier our guide took pictures for us as he advised the pictures taken by the camp are expensive, which they were. A good deed he didn’t need to do, so we tipped him at the end. They don’t have a lot at these camps so if you can help even just a little it is appreciated.


While we were in Chiang Mai we picked up a tuk tuk for the day THB400 (today's exchange rate £7) and went off to see the tigers.

At the tiger kingdom you get to go inside the cages with the tigers (scary I know!). They have big, medium, small and smallest cats. We paid THB1560 (today's exchange rate £28) to see the big, small and smallest cats. It’s not cheap to see them but a great experience. A lot of people worry about them being drugged in places like this and no one can say for sure if they are but you have to remember tigers sleep for 18 hours a day so are very dopey. They were very active always moving around and there are always trainers inside the cages with you.

It is great to see them up close and how big they actually are, their paws are huge! Bigger than my hand.

 

I would not recommend seeing the smallest tigers, although they are very cute they move around a lot so being able to stroke them is hard and also they are not allowed to sit on your knee like the pictures showed so we felt it was a waste of money to see them. Great for the children though as they are small. I would definitely do this again. There are other tiger kingdoms around Thailand.




After the Tigers we went on to visit a crocodile farm called Maerim crocodile show. This cost THB300 (today's exchange rate £5). This seemed very run down, and over crowed with crocodiles. The show began and if you don’t know, crocodiles are fast and these seemed very lethargic. The performer put his head inside the crocodiles mouth and held it there for several minutes. I'm not sure any crocodile would allow you to do this for that length of time if it wasn’t drugged. The performer dragged crocodiles around by their tales and got in the water with them and they didn’t do anything, I am not a crocodile hunter or trainer but I'm sure they wouldn't just sit there. I felt very uncomfortable watching this show and would not recommend supporting it.

Another attraction which is popular in Chiang Mai but unfortunately we didn’t do as the weather was not in our favour is the holy temple of Wat Phra That. It is located at the top of the mountain visible from the centre of Chiang Mai. Most tuk tuk drives will want to take you up the mountain to see the temple but you will need your walking boots as there are around 300 steps to the top and you will need your rain coats as it can get a bit wet at the top of the mountain.

The locals here are very friendly and one stopped us in the street to ask if we needed help, which we didn’t but he was still happy to chat us and he recommended going up the mountain as the views over Chiang Mai are worth the trek. A must for the next time we are there.

We did our first load of washing in Chaing Mai and we found only one coin laundry which was North of the square inside a shop which sold flip flops and next to a supermarket.








The hotels we stayed in are: These were booked via Booking.com

• Jira Luxury Boutique Residence, THB8,400 (today's exchange rate £153) for one week. This was about 15 minute walk to the main square but it was right next to the night market, with very modern big rooms.
• Lyceum Home THB8,000 (today's exchange rate £146) for one week. This "hotel" was a youth centre during the day downstairs. The rooms were old but big but I wouldn't stay here again as I didn't like the fact people could walk in and out. Also the breakfast was terrible, they left soup out in the open from 6am.

Next week we move onto Laos.