Chiang Mai

15th of June: Chiang Mai – Søren is not ready to go home!!

Today was Søren’s last day here in Thailand and he was determined not to go home so in an attempt to not having to go home we had a very interesting day with lots of exciting new experiences!!

8.40am – Attempt 1: Breakfast at Grace’s boutique hotel, Søren forgot to lock the door to our room on purpose leaving his passport on the bed in hopes of someone stealing the passport preventing him from going home..

9.00am: Waiting for the driver to come pick us up

9.25am: We realized that the driver was the same guy who served us breakfast (we never found out whether the driver thought it was going to slow and was helping out in the kitchen or if he just worked at the hotel as well as for the travel agency)

10.00am: Arrived at Tiger Kingdom, Chiang Mai

10.15am – Attempt 2: Søren went to touch the small tigers in Tiger Kingdom! Louise, Sebastian, Arne and I had no intentions of being subject to an accident but joint Søren anyway..

10.45am – Attempt 3: Since the previous two attempts had failed so miserably Søren decided to go for the big tigers!! Arne and I went with him so that we would be able to be witnesses and to take photos proving that he was actually there to pass on to his boss in the event of the visit to the tigers resulting in Søren not being able to go to work for another 5 weeks

11.00am – Attempt 4: Still no luck so Søren decided to try with the smallest tigers. They might be small but he was hoping that maybe they weren’t as well trained yet – This was unfortunately for him but luckily for the rest of us not the case, the tiny little tigers that were only 2 months old were adorable

11.40am: Right, so the tiger plan didn’t work.. This didn’t stop Søren though, he was determined so we continued on to attempt 5… Bungeejump!!!

11.50am – Attempt 5: As the jumping platform began to rise from the ground Søren began to look a slight bit worried but when arriving at the top of the tower he jumped with no hesitation as he was very determined not to go home (or perhaps it was because he isn’t as much of a chicken as I am…) 

12.10pm: Søren survived the jump and so it was another failed attempt… At this stage we decided to have the driver drive us back to the hotel so we could have lunch and do a little brainstorm as to what other options were left for Søren

15.00pm: After a lovely lunch it was time for Søren to go packing and to his disappointment found that his passport was still in the room along with everything else! This meant that Søren had to seriously consider Louise and Sebastians suggestion of trying a massage and see if maybe he would be so relaxed that he would fall asleep and miss his plane

17.00pm – Attempt 6: Realizing he was running out of options he decided to go with the massage idea and this gave the rest of us an opportunity to come along and have massages as well. I had a pedicure, Louise a manicure and Sebastian and Lone had a foot, head, back, should and hand massage with Søren.

18.00pm: Unfortunately yet another failed attempt, he was very relaxed and happy but didn’t fall asleep cause he was craving a kiwi fruit shake so much that we had to run find one straight after the massage. 

20.30pm – Attempt 7: Our last dinner as a group was over and Søren was slowly running out of options and ideas as to how he was to avoid going home.. We all said goodbye and I went with him to find a taxi. However we couldn’t find a taxi, what we could find was a very nice woman who offered to drive Søren to the airport for only 300 bath and that was the last thing we heard from him…….

We all hope he has either made it home safely or alternatively that he in a few days will meet us in Chiang Rai!! However as much as we all would love for him to come back we believe he has at this stage arrived in Copenhagen – We are going to miss you Søren, it has been a blast travelling with you for the past 2½ weeks!

This was the story of Søren’s many failed attempts to avoid going home already – I’m not ready to go home either so I'm now continuing my journey with my family for another 4 weeks before going back to Dublin to begin my 4th and last year in Trinity College! Now that I have passed all my 3rd year exams I can relax, sit back and enjoy my remaining 3 months of summer holiday :)

Hope you are all well and happy

Aufwiedersehen

Susannah

14th of June 2012: Chiang Mai - Trekking

After a few days in Chiang Mai with Eagle track trip and sightseeing in the old part of town including 2 different local markets it was finally time for trekking!!

We all woke up early Tuesday morning to pack the rest of our stuff and prepare for 3 days in the Thai jungle - however none of us had been trekking before so noone knew what to pack and on top of that I had had my first accient in Thailand the night before where I graceously had fallen on the footpath (completely sober may I add) and had hurt my left knee, so everyone was a bit confused and I was already before we began our jungle adventure in pain! What a begining!! Luckily it turned out to be so extremely warm and humid in the jungle that my knee was the last of my worries :)

At 9.40 am the guide picked us up at the hotel and after an hour drive we arrived at the elephant camp which was our first stop before heading to the jungle. Here three elephants were waiting on our arrival and we got to ride for about an hour after which we got to pet the baby elephant that was only 3 weeks old!! After this great experience we were SO ready for the rest of the adventure to begin - we had no idea what kind of heat and steep hills were waiting ahead!!!

After lunch we began our walking, and I must admit that we might have been a bit too quick to judge the difficulty of the trip - the first 30 minutes we were walking along a nice little road that was barely going up and we were all saying how this was gonna be piece of cake and we were ready for some real challenges... And this we got!! After about 45 minutes we were walking along a tiny, narrow little path in the middle of the jungle! We finally arrived at a beautiful waterfall where everyone could go swimming to cool down - it should be added that while we were all walking in walking shoes and runners our guide was walking in flip-flops and while we were all sweating like mad he didn't show any sign of sweating at any point throughout the 3 days trekking!!! Søren is convinced that Thai people have defect bodies, how on earth do they get rid of the heat??

After the waterfall camp we continued for about 40 minutes up to the White Karen Village and here we stayed over night. Pot (our guide) and one of the local people cooked us a very nice curry dinner which was served in candle light as the village is located in a Natioanl Park which means that there is no electricity. Some of the houses does however have solar cells which Pot told us can only power one lamp and one tiny tv - so no air conditioning, only the damp heat and the many unfamiliar sounds of the jungle.

See photos from day one here!!

The next morning we continued the walk up to another village where we had lunch, followed by a little nap. We were all very tired after only little sleep the night before and we were all exhausted after the walk which was pretty much uphill for 1½ hours... After lunch we continued on to another waterfall where we were camping for the night. It was so beautiful and so remote - and we fell asleep to the sound of the waterfall 7 meters from the cottage.

Photos from day 2 can be seen here!!

The next morning we were all extremely tired but when you are on a 800 meter high hill in a jungle there is only one thing to do and that is to walk.. down hill this time!!!

At this stage my knee was in pretty bad shape but we all made it down to the last waterfall before leaving the jungle and Søren and Sebastian had a blast swimming and using the rocks as water slides. The rest of us didn't go in but we sad in shade and had a little rest and a laugh :) After another 10 minute walk we exited the jungle where a car was waiting to take us back to the place we had lunch the first day after which we went bamboo rafting.

None of us had tried the bamboo rafting before so out of curiousity we asked the guide how often people fell in the water - The answer was none however Lone and Arne was apparently determined to change that as they conbined fell in the water 3 times (you can guess yourself who fell in twice... Yes it was Arne)!!! Sebastian, Søren and I went first and we did it the tough way standing up all the way down the river (with the benefit of not getting wet) where as the other three decided to sit down from the beginning (them being a little wet in the end being an under exaggeration - they were so wet they had to change before going into the car)

After this the car drove us back to Chiang Mai city where we checked in to our new hotel Grace Boutique hotel which is a lovely little hotel in the middle of the old part of town. We were all extremely hungry after the 3 days of walking so an early dinner was on the agenda before Louise, Lone and I went to a 2 hour body scrub and aroma therapy session! After this I was so ready to go to bed but there was one last thing that had to be done before we could get a lovely long night sleep in a clean bed and that was to pick up my ballgown and Søren's suit at the tailor... I can't wait to wear the dress!!!

Day 3 photos can be seen here!!

Now we are back at the hotel and I will bet you that we are all asleep in a matter of minutes...

Night everyone

Susannah

D. 10 Juni 2012: Chiang Mai - Eagle Tracking

Yesterday I promised to give a more detailed account of our adventure on Koh Mak but I have just spend an hour organising all our photos and as it is already late I will only write a short note on todays adventure and wait until tomorrow morning to write about the rest!

Today we went on an Eagle track trip here in Chiang Mai - My mum and Arne were too scared to go so Søren and I brought the twins with us on a day full of adrenalin rushes!! A taxi picked us up at our hotel and brought us on a 50 minute drive up to the forests in which we were to "fly" from tree top to tree top, abseil 3 times (10, 20 and 40 meters) and walk on a wide range of bridges and other funky wires stretching from tree to tree for a few hours. It was an absolutely amazing trip!! We somehow managed to get a private tour only the 4 of us (where as the other teams were 25 people per team) so we had a ball!!

After returning to the mildly scared parents with stories of our guide finding our camera that he dropped 40 meters down into nowhere and stories of Sebastian not actually making it to the platform but hanging on the middle of the line dangling and stories, we went to a Sunday marked where we bought the ultimate toy for boys: A rubber band gun!! We are all expecting Sebastian and Søren running around shooting each other with rubber bands for the next few days... While this is going on us girls are planning on spending tomorrow at the massage shop around the corner having pedicures, manicures and massages for around 7 euros - We can't wait!!!

Tomorrow is a day of last prep for our trekking trip but first a good long night sleep - something Søren and I haven't had a a few days now since we had to watch the football match between Denmark and the Netherlands yesterday night and the night before we were on a bus to Chiang Mai arriving at 6 am..

Check the pictures from our trip here

Sleep well everyone and take care until i write again

Susannah

9th of June: Chiang Mai - First blog, a brief introduction

Så kommer der endelig også gang i min blog fra Thailand!!!

Den langsomme start er grundet flere begynder vanskeligheder når det kommer til internet adgang når man ingen computer har med - lad os bare sige at vi har været lidt ude i ingentingen i en tid og nu atter er vendt tilbage til der hvor tingene virker næsten som de gør der hjemme :)

Er i skrivende stund lidt træt så i første omgang starter jeg ud med at lave en lille "timeline" over den sidste uges eventyr og over de næste par dage vil jeg så forsøge at skrive lidt mere detaljer om de mange oplevelser vi har haft siden vi ankom.

D. 30 Maj: Susannah møder en politimand i flyet (det viser sig så senere at han var general major og var højt stående inden for something something - Søren var meget skuffet over min manglende viden inden for området men har nu givet mig en kort resume af ordnerne så jeg en anden gang ikke går lige så galt i byen) som sender hende ud på noget af en eventyr lige fra starten af da hun vælger at tage toget med de lokale og så videre i taxi med en besked fra "politimanden" om at de alle sammen skulle passe på mig. Vi nåede at blive smidt ind og ud af toget de første 3 gange inden vi endelig nåede Phaythai station hvorfra jeg skulle tage en taxi - meget meget venlig befolkning men man bliver dog alligevel en smule forvirret når de ikke snakker engelsk men alle bare siger "uhh very nice policeman you met, he make sure you okay"... Frem kom jeg til slut og som aftalt mødte jeg Søren på hotellet til tiden!!

D. 31 Maj: Kl 7.45 (indre ur på 02.45) tog vi en bus fra BAngkok til Trat hvorfra vi skulle videre ud til Koh Mak! Fin speedbåds tur med relativt stille vand (uddybelse følger når detaljerne kommer) inden ankomst til fantastisk resort kl 17.10. Kun 3 andre gæster på stedet så vi lagde ud med at spille klodsmajor med personalet og to englændere - et spil det senere vidst sig er meget populært ude på de små øer, alle resorts har en spil men ingen ved hvordan man spiller det!!

D. 1-4 juni: Fantastisk oplevelse at bo på en hytte på stranden og have en eksotisk strand for sig selv!!! Vi ville slet ikke hjem og det ønske gik så i opfyldelse da det vidste sig at alle thaierne skulle til mainland så der var ingen plads til os - så vi blev da bare lige en ekstra nat i stedet for :)

D. 5 juni: Vi rejser videre fra Koh MAk til Koh Kood! Rigtig fint nyt resort men endnu engang er forvirringen stor men frem kom vi og endnu et meget fint resort ventede os

D. 6-7 juni: Afslapningen, opdagelser og cocktails drikning i langebaner!!

D. 8. juni: Afrejse fra Koh Kood kl 8.30 fra hotellet og ankomst i Chiang Mai 23 timer senere efter noget af et eventyr som bliver nødt til at beskrives i detaljer for virkelig at forstå hvor utroligt det var at vi kom frem til Chiang Mai!! Denne fortælling bør ikke misses for vi har været på opdagelser med mange sjove mennesker i løbet af de 23 timer, de færreste af hvem der vidst hvor vi skulle hen :)

D. 9. juni: Ankomst meget tidligt om morgenen til hotellet hvor vi så spiste morgenmad med de andre inden vi drog ud i byen for at bestille en trekking tur. Hertil eftermiddag er alle så gået kolde og vi tager en lille slapper på hotellet inden vi skal se Danmark mod Holland i aften kl 11pm!! Drengene (Søren og Sebastian) glæder sig helt enormt og pigerne glæder sig til en cocktail og en pedicure - Thailand here we come, vi er så klar på flere utrolige opdagelser så læs med over de næste par dage og jeg kan garantere at vi disker op med mange historier fra det vilde vesten... eller nej det må være det vilde østen!!!

Håber i alle har det godt i Danmark

Storm knus og rigtig mange tanker fra Susannah