Welcome to the Jungle

Watch it bring you to your Sha-na-na-na-na Knees Knees!
After three days and two nights I made it out of the jungle alive (barely).

Day 1: You know where you are? You're in the Jungle, baby.

After visiting the Elephant Nature Park I was a bit weary about riding elephants. But I will admit it was a little fun.

View from atop the elephant

And then we trekked. For 4 hours. Through the jungle.

Jungle (see above)

Since we were hiking through the unpredictable, wild terrain, our guide, "V", made us some sweet bamboo walking sticks with his machete.

V with his machete

And we trekked for hours uphill through the jungle: past the annoying mosquitoes, beyond the enormous spider and the poisonous centipede we finally made it to the top.

To the top!

There we were rewarded with breathtaking views and aching muscles.

I wish my camera could capture the color but this is as close as I came

Hmong Village hut

Day 2: Are we there yet?

Bridge crossing to get to the waterfall

The second day started out fairly simple. Walk to the waterfall: check! Swim at the waterfall: check!

Next, more uphill. Woot. Only 3 hours this time.  

View from the top

Farms

Dairy followed us all day the second day. From the Hmong village to the second village.

Did the damn thing. 

And then we made it to the bamboo huts.



And then there was this gorgeous sunset.

 

Final Day: The School and The End

 

In the second village we stayed in, we were shown the school. The schools, V explained, have students of all ages and from what we were able to see it seemed to be from the youngest, the little boy above, at about five or six up to maybe thirteen or fourteen years old all being taught by one person.

 

 

It was so nice, especially in the context of what I set out to do, to see that there is education for these children even in the most remote locations. In fact, as V was explaining, the Thai government recently declared that all villages must provide education for twelve grades.

The conclusion of our excursion was a brief trip down the rapids and then a quick ride on a bamboo raft. Obviously being surrounded by water meant no camera so no pictures.

Thai Cooking

Thai cuisine is amazing! Phad Thai is by far one of my favorite dishes of all time and lucky for me, Chiang Mai is known for its cooking courses. For 700 baht ($23) I learned how to cook 4 different dishes; Chiang Mai Noodles (red curry), coconut chicken soup, spring rolls and Phad Thai.

Making curry

Chiang Mai Noodles (most delicious)

Look Ma! I'm makin' Phad Thai!

Doi Suthep the Wat on a Hill

I've noticed that much of my time in Thailand has been devoted to looking at Temples but they are just so darn gorgeous. The photos really don't do them justice. All of the historical, architectural and religious importance of each of these temples is fascinating. The final Wat I'll write about (for a bit at least) is Doi Suthep or Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep is located on a hill overlooking Chiang Mail. So not only did I get to see a very important temple, but I also had an opportunity to see the city from a birds-eye view. 

Yep, I sure did walk up all those steps. I might have been a bit out of breath at the top but it was also 85 degrees out so... whatever.

So many people were paying their respects and praying.

And this was the scene from Doi Suthep. That down there is the city of Chiang Mai. 

And these were just plain pretty. 

Lantern Festival and the Sunday Walking Market

To my pleasant surprise, a few days after arriving in Chiang Mai, it was brought to my attention that there was a festival. We stumbled upon it while walking through the streets of Chaing Mai and although we couldn't understand what was happening exactly, we knew it was something exciting.

We had stumbled across the Lantern Festival.

Earlier in the day there was a ... I want to use the word parade but it was more of a celebration in the square. They didn't march down a street they simply danced or played music in front of the temple. 

Each group had a different outfit. 

I loved the long fingers of these outfits.

I couldn't help taking a picture of this little girl. Amidst all the celebration she seemed so put out. Like dressing up for this occasion was the last thing she wanted to do. 

And this poor little guy, too. What you don't see is his friend hitting him (playfully) with a mallet. 

The Sunday Market was littered with Lanterns.

The affect was gorgeous, but hazardous. Especially for the taller Pharang. 

Obviously I was excited about the lanterns. And then this guy had to ruin my sweet picture. Thanks random squatter for photo-bombing. 

The Elephant Nature Park

By far the coolest thing I've done on my trip was to spend an entire day at the Elephant Nature Park just outside of Chiang Mai. To learn more about the organization you can visit their website.
www.elephantnaturefoundation.org
In a nutshell, the organization was stared by Lek (pronounced leak). A Thai woman who has devoted her life to rescuing and rehabilitating Asian Elephants affected by the tourism industry, the logging industry and other abuses. Her goal is to rehabilitate the elephants and re-introduce them to the wild. The foundation receives no help from the government and survives on donations and visitors to the park. In order to spend a day with the elephants each visitor pays 2,500 baht or approximately $85. Best $85 dollars I've spent. Sure I wont be able to eat for a few weeks (joke parents, don't worry) but it was worth it to be apart of the cause ... and to hang out with the elephants all day.

My first Elephant!

So cute!

They just have a bit of space to run around. 

Yep, I am holding a bunch of Bananas feeding the elephants. 

Elephant pondering the meaning of life. 

Bathing the Elephants cause it's so dang hot!

FYI they can bathe themselves too. 

L-O-V-E. 

Dirty Elephants

Massaging the Elephants

Stroking the Elephant. They have these baby hairs all over, and the texture of their skin is like thick, blubbery sandpaper. If that makes any sense. 

So this is Hope. About 5 seconds after this picture he reached his trunk into that little bucket there and then sprayed me. Right in the face. I protected my camera though so no worries. 

The herd! The older elephants are protective of the babies so we couldn't bathe them and we had to wait until it was safe. 

Taking a bath.

Gettin' muddy. 

Climbing the hill. 

The staff person making the mud abandons his post and heads for the hills! The elephant is king of the mountain. 

Baby!

Me and da baby!

Best. Day. Ever. 

Chiang Mai (continued)

Temples, temples EVERYWHERE. There is actually a school in Chiang Mai for Buddhist Monks. I saw a ton of Mini Monks running around with their school books. Turns out, Chiang Mai is a very important place for Thai Monks.
So to continue my story, we decided to look at the noteworthy Wats in Chiang Mai. Now, on a map the square in the center of Chiang Mai looks like a pretty reasonable distance. In reality... well, let's just say it was a lot larger than I had anticipated.

The city center is surrounded by a moat. (No joke). 

So we decided first to stop at a park. I love Thailand's parks.

That's me, chillin' at the park.

After the park, Kallia and I (Canadian I met on the Chiang Mai) made our way to the Wats. The first stop on our Wat tour was Wat Pra Singh formally Wat Lee Chiang. It has been an important Wat in Chiang Mai for 700 years.

Front of Wat Pra Singh

The next, by far, my favorite Temple. It is one of the most important in Chiang Mai and it is very obvious why. We arrived at the perfect time, just as the sun was setting.

Wat Chedi Luang

The entire temple was beautiful but my favorite detail had to be the elephants. There were only a few that are still in tact. 

It is 144 feet wide and 282 feet tall. It was originally the home of the Emerald Buddha which is now in Bangkok in Wat Phra Kaeo next to the Grand Palace. 

Kallia and I noticed a sign advertising "Monk chat" everyday. For some reason I can't remember (probably being raised Catholic) I assumed that the Monks took a vow of silence. "Not true" says the Monk we were chatting with (unfortunately I never got his name). When asked if we, as women, were allowed to talk to them on the street he replied "As long as the Monk can speak English." Har har. So we sat for a while and talked with the Monks, they told us about their daily routine, how they are still at University and told us a few parables that are supposed to encourage us to work through our problems, not to take the easy route and to never be lazy. At the end of our chat I asked if I could have a picture. And that's how this happened:

The most awkward photo of all time.

The next temple we saw was the oldest temple in Chiang Mai and, like the Wat above, showed how important the Elephant is to Thai culture as well as the Buddhist religion in Thailand.

This picture may be a bit low quality because of the lighting, but the importance of this sculpture is that the Buddha is surrounded by Elephants. 

All of the Elephants we saw on our walk was perfect inspiration for our trip to the Elephant Nature Park.