Out of the concrete jungle of Bangkok and 700km up into the northern mountains into the cultural epicenter of Chiang Mai. We are particularly excited as we haven't ventured into northern Thailand before, aside from passing through on the train to Laos.
17th September - Bangkok to Chiang Mai
This morning we are flying up to Chiang Mai. It was an easy decision between a 14 hour train or an hour's flight for £70! We managed to get breakfast and a Starbucks before being picked up in a minivan and hastily sped to BKK airport. We have a return ticket booked with Thai airways which we booked with the travel agent in the front on D&D.
By midday we were in Chiang Mai and it was nothing like we were expecting. The brochures advertise it as hill country where you can go jungle trekking etc then we also saw a sign saying it is Thailand's second city so we were clueless what to expect. There was no city but it also is not jungle. It is a small scale city, no high rises and no traffic ... blissful! We got a taxi from the airport for a set price and went to a hotel we pre booked, Nordwind Hotel for £14 a night. The hotel is brand new, I think we may even be the first to stay in the room, but it is a little far. It is near the night bazaar where you have to walk through a couple of long dimly lit streets which was quite nice actually seeing all the locals in their little shacks going about their normal life.
In the evening we walked through the night bazaar which is basically a load of stalls set up along either side of the main road. After you have walked 10 meters you have basically seen everything they have to sell as they all sell the same thing the entire way down the street. We continued on about half way down the road where they have an indoor market and food hall. We ate here and ordered about 6 plates of food because it was so cheap!!
We got a tuk tuk back to the hotel and chilled out for the evening.
18th September - Chiang Mai
We had a basic breakfast at the hotel then you guessed it we found a Starbucks for our morning cappuccino and iced caramel latte.
Then we got a tuk tuk to the shopping mall and ended up going to the cinema and watching Maze Runner (in English with Thai subtitles). It was pretty rainy so we got a tuk tuk back to the hotel and chilled out for the rest of the day.
19th September - Chiang Mai
We got up early today so we could go to Tiger Kingdom. Breakfast and Starbucks then we got a tuk tuk bartering him down from 300 to 150b. It took about 40 minutes to get there and on the way we saw our first crash. We were on a motorway and a woman on her scooter pulled across our lane and across the next to U-turn not looking to see the pick up truck ploughing and beeping towards her. Luckily they hit side on and she scraped along the side of his truck and picked herself up so nothing major. We expected our driver to stop and help as it happened right next to us but he just drove on!
We got to Tiger Kingdom and you get to chose the tigers you want to see; big, medium, small and smallest. We chose the package for the biggest and a small tiger for 800b each. We walked into the centre and you wait to be called. I was apprehensive about going because I thought the tigers would be drugged but they weren't, which made me even more nervous. They called us and another 2 couples into the cage. They slide it open and you are suddenly caged with 4 giant tigers, some asleep and some walking around! The keeper took us to the first one and said 'lady you first' ... I had to sit behind the tiger and stroke him hard so he knew I was there. The tiger didn't even flinch he was fast asleep. We each had a turn then onto the big two. We had a photo together with the sleeping tigers then whilst I was still sat there the keeper through water over the tigers so they woke up ... the photo shows my face!
They are literally big cats and love a tummy rub, the tiger even rolled over so Shaun could reach! After 15 minutes we moved into the small tigers cage. These guys are a lot livelier walking around and stalking each other which was scarier as they wanted to play. Every time we attempted a photo another tiger would run and jump on it! We ended up just watching the tigers play instead of trying to get photos with them. We walked around and saw some white tigers and some mental tigers having a play fight in the pool. We will post a video soon.
On the way back we went past the shooting range. Shaun got 30 rounds with a 9mm. The guy with him was telling him to shoot with one hand and rapid fire. Turns out Shaun is quite the hitman and actually hit the bullseye!
As we were driving back we spotted an activity centre which had trail bikes, bungy jump, quad bikes and drift carts. To Shauns dismay we didn't do the trail bikes as I can't ride so instead we opted for drift carts which was awesome!
In the evening we headed to Zoes bar which is where the main backpacker hang out is with all the bars. It is pretty chilled out with alternating bars, restaurants and massage parlours the whole way down the road. We had a few drinks and a game of pool and watched the onslaught of backpackers getting more and more drunk!
20th September - Chiang Mai
We slept in this morning, getting up at midday for our usual trip to Starbucks. Shaun wanted to go back to a shop we saw last night selling protein (his gains are fading!). We headed there (near Zoes) and bought some protein powder to last the month. The Thais are big on rice and noodles but not really meat. Whilst there the guy are tried selling him proper steroids telling him it was 50/50 legal here! We had lunch then back to the night bazaar for a massage. I had a surprisingly relaxing Thai massage and Shaun had a foot massage, each for a hour costing 200b each. Although there were some very concerning noises coming from the room next door, two Thai ladies and one English guy!
We Skyped the parents and headed out for some noodle soup and a banana and nutella rotti/pancake to take home.
À la perchoine
Jodie and Shaun
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