Thailand 2012 / Thailand 30th-18th of June

Thailand 30th-18th of June
17th of June: Chiang Rai
 
Not much has happened since I wrote last, yesterday we left Chiang Mai at 3pm and arrived here in Chaing Rai at the old station at 7pm where a friend of the hotel owner of Grace's boutique hotel was waiting to take us to a hotel. Sebastian and Louise wanted to stay in a hotel with a swimming pool so we are stadying at a nice and relatively new hotel which has a beautiful outdoor pool!

Today we didn't do much other than relax, talking to friends and family back home on skype and we went to a nigth market where we yet again bought lots of things - Am not sure we will be able to fit it all into our bags if we continue like this...




The next few days will be slightly more hectic than today but we are all very excited about the many cool places we get to see - here is a short overview of our plans:

Monday: White temple, Myanmar and a visit to the golden triangle

Tuesday: Starting our trip to Laos! We will leave Chiang Rai at around 7am and will cross the boarder at around 10am before catching the 2-day slow boat to Luang Prabang which Tuesday night will stop in Pek Beng where we will spend the night 

Wednesday: Continuing the boat trip to Luang Prabang


 
It is getting late and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow so i will now go to bed!
 
Ciao,
Susannah x
15th of June: Søren is not ready to go home - Chiang Mai
 
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 though it was going too 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 Kindom! Louise, Sebastian, Arne and I had no intensions 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 to that we would be able witnesses and to take photos proving to his boss that he was actually there 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 used to the public yet - This was unfortunately for him not the case, the tiny little tigers were only 2 months old and they were adorable!!!


11.40am: Right, so the tiger plan didn't work.. This didn't stop Søren though, he was determined so we continued with 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 at this stage was VERY determined not to go home!!


12.10pm: Søren survived the jump and so bungeejumping turned out to be yet another failed attempt.. At this stage we decided to have the driver drive us back to the hotel so we couldh ave lunch and do a little brainstorm as to what other options were left for Søren

15.00pm: After a lovely lunvh it was time for Søren to go packing and to his disappointment found that his passport was still in the room. This meant that Søren had to seriously consider Louise and Sebastian's 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 Søren decided to go with the massage idea and this have the rest of us an opportunity to come along and have massages as well. I had a pedicure, Louise had a manicure and Sebastian and Lone had a foot, head, back, shoulder and hand massage with Søren.

18.00pm: The massage was unfortunately yet another failed attempt. Søren was relaxed and happy but didn't fall asleep as he was craving a kiwi fruit shake so much that we had to run find one straight after the massage. 

20.30pm - Attempt 7: Out 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 300bath and that was the last thing we hear from him..........

I hope he has either made it home safely or 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 at this stage should have 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,

Auf wiedersehen
Susannah x
14th of June: Trekking - Chiang Mai

Day 1
After a few days in Chiang Mai with Eagle track trip and sightseeing in the old part of town it was finally time for some trekking!!
 
We all woke up early Tuesday morning to pack the rest of out 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 accident in Thailand the night before where I graceouly had fallen on the footpath (sadly enough I was completely sober) and had hurt my left knee, so everyone was a bit confused and I was already before we began our jungle adventures in pain! What a beginning... Luckily it turned out to be so extremely warm and humid in the jungle that my knee was the last of my worries :)
 
At 9.40am the guide picked us up at the hotel and after an hours drive we arrived at the elephant camp which was our last stop before heading to the jungle. Here three elephants were waiting for us and we got to ride for about an hour after which we went to see the baby elephant that was only 3 weeks old - so cute!!! 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 walk, 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 almost flat road and we were all saying how this was going to be piece of cake... 

 
We were ready for some "real" challenges... And this we got... After 45 minutes we were walking along a tiny, narrow little path in the middle of the jungle!! After a few hours we finally arrived at a beautiful water where everyone could go swimming to cool down and it was needed as we were overheating. However while we were sweating like mad our guide Pot didn't at any point throughout the 3 days trekking show any sign of sweating at all!! Søren is convinced that Thai people have a body defect, because how on earth do they get rid of the heat?? 
 
After the waterfall camp we continued walking for about 40 minutes up to the White Karen Village where we were staying the 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 the National park which means there they do not have electricity. Some of the houses does however have solar cells which apparently can power one lamp and a tiny TV - so we were left with no air conditioning, only the damp heat and the many unfamiliar sounds of the jungle.
 
 
Day 2
The next morning we continued the walk up to another village where we had lunch, followed by a lovely little nap. We were all very tired after only little sleep the night before and we were exhausted after the walk which was pretty much uphill ALL the way... AFter lunch we continued on to another waterfall where we were camping for the night. It was so beautiful and so remote - It was an incredible experience to fall asleep to the sound of the waterfall 6 meters from the little cottage.
 
 
 
Day 3
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 keep walking... But finally downhill!!

 
At this stage my knee was in pretty bad shape but we all made it down to the last waterfall before leaving the jungle. When we reached the parking lot a car was waiting to take us back to the place we had lunch the first day and after lunch we got to the destination where the last part of the trip were to take place namely a river where we were to go bamboo rafting...
 
None of us has tried bamboo rafting before so out of curiosity we asked the guide how often people fell in the water. The answer was noone but Lone and Arne were clearly determined to change this as they 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 stading 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 (to say they were a little wet in the end would be an underexaggeration - they were so wet that 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 a lovely little guesthouse called Grace Boutique that is located in the old part of town. We were all extremely hungry after 3 adys of walking so an early dinner was on the agenda before Louise, Lone and I went to a 2 hour body scrub and aroma theraphy session!!
As soon as we got home from this I was ready to go to bed but there was one thing that had to be done before we could get a lovely long sleep in a clean bed and that was to pick up the ballgown and suit that Søren and I had bought from a local tailor... I can't wait to wear the dress!!
 
You can see more photos from the trekking here
 
Now we are back at the hotel and I will bet you that we are all alseep in a matter of minutes.
 
Goodnight everyone
Susannah x
10th of June: Eagle Tracking - Chiang Mai
 
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 brough 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 (10m, 20m and 40m) and walk on a wide range og 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 on the 4 of us (normal teams have 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 dangling on the middle of the line, 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... Meanwhile us girls are planning on spending tomorrow at the massage place around the corner which have pedicures, manicures and massages for 7 euros - Can't wait!!!
 
Tomorrow we have to do last minute prep for our trekking trip but first I need a good long nights sleep - something Søren and I haven't had for a few days now since we were watching the soccer match between Denmark and the Netherlands yesterday night and the night before we were on a bus to Chiang Mai arriving at 6am..
 
Check out the pictures from our day at the Eagle Track here
 
Take care until I write again,
Susannah x
Susannah Keller Finn | Dublin 2 - Ireland