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