Temples, elephants and.... fried worms

A new month started and also another chapter in our story... time to leave and explore the north of Thailand. On a sunday evening we said goodbye to Bangkok from a second class train, while 700 kilometers were in between us and Chiang Mai, the northern capital of the country.

Our minds made us believe that a cheaper second class seater instead of a second class sleeper would be comfortable enough for our 12 hours journey. The strategic position of our seats (right behind the driver, and over a noisy railtrack) kept us awake for more than half of the trip, while we had to share the space with friendly cockroaches that were on their way to visit some northern relatives.

Despite the long and not so comfortable trip, Chiang Mai welcomed us with sunny but cooler weather 29C, a nice scenery, tasty curries and the possibility to experience the city's most important Flower Festival.

Two kilometers away from the train station and many offers from tuk tuk drivers later we found a hidden gem: the Taphae Garden Guesthouse. A lovely, comfortable and clean place, that also offered free internet....YUPIIIII. Needless to say that it also felt good to have a well deserved nap in such a nice bed with in a more forgiving temperature.

Chiang Mai won our affection very early, with it's magnificent old city, defined by some medieval style walls and moats, built 700 years ago to protect the city against the Burmese. Nancy Chandler and her map helped us again to discover the charm of the city's night bazar with its great foot massages, for magnificent views of temples, of course we only say few because Chaing Mai has more than 300 of them and excellent tips for great restaurants.

There were two events that we would like to highligth:

During our visit Angela was able to follow a short retreat with an overnight stay at Wat sun dok and learn a bit more about Theravada Buddhism and Thai culture while experiencing some basic meditation techniques. During a whole day she had to keep silent, dress in white clothes, chant with the monks and try to keep the distracting monkey in her tougths a bit more controlled

The next day we went to visit the Elephant Nature Park, the best spent 5.000 baht (around 100 euros). At this idyllic place we had the nicest experience of the trip so far and it was so special that it deserves a blog of its own that will be posted soon.

On the way to the center -located 45 kilometers outside the city- we were able to learn more about elephants and their environment, and about Lek and her work to save them. We heard their scary stories, and how they were saved by the independantly funded organization from a painfull life of begging in the streets, entertaining tourists with paintings and trekkings.

At our arrival we got some safety instructions from our perfectly english speaking guide, and the moment that we were all waiting for arrived: meeting the friendly grey giants. There they were, waiting almost in line, with their trunks on a wooden platform greeting the tourist and waiting patiently to receive their morning snack made of pineaples, bananas, sweet corn and cucumbers

Being able to feed, caress and be so close to them was unbelievable, seeing them moving their huge ears, and tiny tales while their trunks were almost stealing the food from the baskets was great. But the fun didn't end there, part of the day was bathing them in the river close by, we had to wait for the Mahoeds (keepers) to bring them to the water, and once they were there we could just get in the water, use a bucket and a brush to give them a refreshing moment... we both felt like little kids, got in the water and had lots of fun and took more than 600 pictures to not forget about it.

We also saw their enormous power and family bonds when the baby elephant got spooked and his mom and aunties stormed to the rescue and formed a protective circle around her, trumpeting to frighten away the potential danger and touching her with their trunks to reassure and calm her. It was amazing to see this in action and it helped cause the baby later gave all of us a big kiss MMMMWAH.

We could go on an on about this day but for now we will just end with some facts about our giant heroes:

Did you know...

• that their paws are so soft that you can even place an egg underneath them and it wouldn't break.


• that in 1900 there were 100.000 Asian elephants in Thailand, in 1990 only 25.000 remained and now the figure only counts 5.000 half of which are wild
  
• that an elephant pregnancy lasts 22 months?


• that most of the elephant that take part in the tourist attractions like trekking, painting, playing football or music are severely mistreated by their trainers


• that White elephants are considered sacred and are exclusively owned by the Thai Royalty
  
• that in the reincarnation belief, elephants are the closest animals to the human beings, and that Buddha reincarnated many times as a White elephant, before he achieved enlightenment?
  

Moving on with our time in Chiang Mai we really enjoyed having noodle soup with fish for breakfast at the Waroro market, while the locals were trying to explain us the correct way of using chopsticks, we also tried some typical sweets that were packed in banana leave. Of course it was hard to figure out what they tasted like or what were they made from (we think rice) but they tasted good.

As the flower festival was taking place, we went to see an impresssive exhibition of different flowers including orchids, bromelias, roses and bonsais, we are sure that Polo and Stan would go crazy taking pictures and enjoying all of them.

The festival also included a parade, a beauty contest and a huge offer of food stalls and all sorts of delicious food.

Our curiosity went beyond Angela's promisses and in one of the stalls we decided to try some of the local delicacies: fried worms... yum yum eventhough it felt weird to eat tiny insects we felt that they tasted like french fries.

The city also had a beautiful park, with a nice pond, many children playing and lots of locals just taking it easy on their afternoon break, we sat there, even had a nap and enjoyed the calmness of nature, and the huge ammounts of flying rats also known as pigeons.

We could not leave from the rose of the north without visiting Doi Suthep, one of the most sacred temples of the north, located on a hill outside the city, and to which you ascend by dragon shaped stairs. Being on the hill we also visited the blossoming Phuping Palace, the winter residence of the Thai royalty, made out of nice constructions surrounded by unbelievable gardens, singing birds, a giant bamboo and a dancing water fountain that seemed to be surreal, of course we all think they only exist in fairytales.

On the way back from there we took a songthaew (pick up with benches) were we met two Thai teachers, who were very curious about our countries and how much were the falang prizes for transportation (of course very inflated compared to the local ones). They also helped us with our thai vocabulary and even served as healing souls by offering us some tiger balm to cure the mao mao (dizzyness) from Angela. Our falang names sounded like jokes to them, and made them laugh a lot by trying to repeat them.

Instead of going to Pai as everyone one else was doing, we decided to get closer to the border with Laos and headed to Chiang Rai. You will hear more of this charming place on our next blog.

Sawaa Dee!

City of angels and tuk tuk

After a smooth but warm bus ride from Ko Chang, we were in the amazing and busy capital of Thailand, our personal guide Nancy Chandler and her awesome detailed map helped us to discover the city and reduced our chances of being cheated by insistent tuk tuk drivers or visiting only what is mentioned on the guidebooks.

Known by the locals as Krung Thep, Bangkok is the city of skyscrapers, car congestions, scooters, 6 million people and the home of the beloved King Buhmibol Aduladej or Rama IX, who has been on the trone since 1946.

After an eternal traffic jam on board of a local bus we arrived to the Bangalumpu area, a very popular place for guesthouses and cheap hotels. We found a good place the Roof Garden Guesthouse and payed almost half of what we ended up paying in our first hotel in Ko Chang.

Once again we were at the right time and place, because the day of our arrival (february 26^th) the Chinese community was celebrating their new year, and we joined them in the middle of China Town. Surprisingly enough we were the only westerners there, no idea why, but we had the chance to see a part of Chinese traditions while being here.

This huge metropolis is a very organized and clean place, no matter the pollution and the traffic, it is a green city with trees in every street offering much needed shadow. It also has multiple solutions for transportation (boats, skytrain, metro, buses, tuk tuks, taxis...)

Our favorite one were the boats, there are two types: the long tailed ones that go in the small city channels, or the bigger ones that go on the river Mae Nam Chao Phraya.

The experience on the long tailed boats going through the channels is great. Most of the locals use it as transportation between certain areas of the city. Some guys dressed in blue and wearing a helmet are in charge of collecting the money for the trip (around 0,20 euro) and are also responsible for putting the roof a bit down when the boat will goes under a lower bridge. Using an ingenious way, people on board can keep dry by pulling some strings that bring up a plastic cover located on both sides of the boat.

It seemed to us that not so many foreigners walk the streets of Bangkok, but for us it has been a great way to discover, and see the busiest and craziest intersection from Bangkok, and of course a good way to learn how to cross the streets in between the motorcycles, tuk tuks and millions of cars, without getting run over :)

Anyway, taking the boats, the skytrain or walking we have seen the most impressive constructions, with shiny temples that are the home of different images of Buddha, illustrating a different moments in His life.

The most remarkable of them is the huge reclining Buddha located in Wat Pho, also we have seen Buddhas in different sizes and materials like gold or green jade.

We were also invited to visit the Grand Palace (after paying 350 baht :), former home of the King and his court, as well as Wat Phra Keow (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) which is one of Thailand's most sacred sites.

The next day we visited The Vimanmek Mansion, the world's largest teakwood building, also a former house for the royal family, that now is a museum.















It is a beautiful and well preserved house, surrounded by great gardens, and decorated in a very nice way, so nicely done that it even has a huge wooden mirror imported from Belgium as part of their furniture.

After a busy day we headed to a calmer place. Like an oasis in the middle of the dessert, the people from Bangkok have the Lumphini Park, named like that after the city were Buddha was born. It is a green lung for the city and its inhabitants, where people can join free aerobics, thai chi or run some laps around the small lake and a surprisingly high number of people do so including many elderly.

To finish our visit to the capital, we decided to have the experience of visiting China Town during the day... There we were, in between a sea of Chinese we walked or better said went with the current around the different shops, were ANYTHING could be bougth for incredible prices. After a not so long wait outside a Chinese restaurant, the priority of entrance was given to us, and there without knowing what were we ordering we had a lovely lunch, surrounded by Chinese families having their sunday lunch.

Bangkok is a city of contrast, of senses, where in every corner there is something different being cooked: noodles, fried rice, waffles, sushi, fried fish or squid, sausages... just to mention some. Here there are 7 11 shops on every corner, which tend to be very convenient when the heat of the day makes us have the urge to feel a bit 'freshy' with their AirCo. But this city also has sad things like baby elephants standing in the middle of traffic, begging on the streets to get some bananas and many bahts for their owners.

It is great to go around and receive smiles the only reason for this being that you walk to wars each other, it is amazing to see lots of Kathoeys (a.k.a lady boys) looking prettier than some of the thai girls, saying no to very persistent tuk tuk drivers, but it all makes part of the fun of being here.
It is great and surprising to know that you are not allowed to smoke in recreational areas, including parks also meaning the zoo.

The Thais have many questions for the Falang (a.k.a foreigner) and they all start with the common 'Where you come from?', 'First time in Thailand?', 'How long you staying here?' etc. Also it is very common to hear from a nicely dressed gentleman that the temple or the place we intend to visit is closed for the day but they know of another nice place.... of course being a trick to bring tourist around, charging them more or bringing them to a special shop to buy gems, silk or souvenirs.

Shopping is a big thing here and there are huge shopping centers full of clothes and accessories. We are sure that many of our female friends (specially the Colombian ones) will go nuts with the huge offer and the cheap prices. But as shopping is not a gender thing, there is also an immense IT shopping center, (specially for Alton) were we could not resist the tempation and helped the local economy by buying a mini PC, specially to be able to write all our stories to you, our beloved readers (no no no is not an excuse ;)

Contrary to our first destination, here things are half the price or sometimes cheaper, here we were able to taste the local food, by eating from the street vendors and paying 3 times less that in a restaurant. We are happy to say that the time in Bangkok has been good for our daily budget but specially for our bellies, they have had the most pleasure by eating Pad thai, sushi from the streets, omelet with rice for breakfast, or drinking an orangy like Thai tea with condensed milk, while tasting some spicy pork and meat with rice, lots of rice.

Remarkable things on our week in Bangkok:

Being checked by a couple of policemen in search of drugs or illegal items, while Angela was reafirming that we did not smoke anything, “no cigarettes or anything else” she said.

Jonny getting overwhelmed by the amount of young tourists on the chaothic, noisy and crowded Khao San road (Meir / San Victorino on saturday x 10 and this every day), were everyone was just getting on is nerves.

Knowing when Thais are talking about us when we hear the word 'Falang'.

Seeing a stunning sunset from the left bank from the river, while drinking a nice cocktail while looking directly at Wat Arun: the Temple of Dawn (Sorry Tio German we must admit that sometimes we are Flashpackers).

Meeting Sarah and Xavier, a couple from around Ghent that are involved with cirQ vzw, that gave us great ideas and suggestions for our trip to Burma, and with whom we spent a very nice night chatting about everything. Was echt een tof koppel en ook een goede oefening voor mijn Nederlands ;)

For the people of Antwerp; here they already have a Lange Wapper but at least this one goes over a river.

Well, that is all for now. We are in the North of Thailand chilling and getting ready for our next destination Laos.

Sawadee....