Adventure to Asia: Thailand Pt. 5

Thursday, July 24: Bangkok, Thailand

Not much happened on the way to the airport, and the ride to Bangkok was really short. We took a taxi to the train station where we would wait overnight. The train station was locked, and there were a lot of people sleeping outside the station. We went up to a security guard to ask where we were supposed to go and he was really excited to help us out and brought us to a spot near some plants. I had already planned on staying up, so I got out my journal and told Jillian I'd watch our stuff. While we were sitting there we kept hearing something and looked behind us and there were rats and mice! They were actually running over people and tried stealing the tarp from the guy next to us. Let's just say we moved from that spot.

The security guard comes back over with a father and son and says, "They are going to Cambodia too!" We smiled, but just continued doing what we were doing. Jillian and I told the security guard we were from California because in Jillian's experience it's just easier since most people know where California is. Around 2 am the security guard comes back over with a man and says, "He's from California too!" He started talking to us, and we learned his name was Andrew and he currently lived in Poland. It turned out the father and son were also from Poland. The five of us just stuck together and decided we'd try to get to Cambodia together. There are a lot of scams at the border, and we were all aware of them, but decided it would be easier as a group to get through and watch out for each other.

At some point I walked to the 7/11 to get some food and water for the journey. When it was time we all bought our train tickets. It was less than a dollar for the third class ticket! We waited inside and the security guard comes back and yells "USA! USA!" while pointing to this young black guy behind us. He ended up joining our group too. Around 5am we boarded the train and took up a lot of the last car.

Before the train left the guards tried giving us a hard time. They were trying to get us to move to a different car, but we refused. The Polish father and son almost got up and left but we convinced them to stay because the guards weren't actually going to do anything to us. They wouldn't dare do anything to traveling foreigners, the guards just wanted to be jerks. I ended up talking to Andrew and the black guy (I feel terrible that I don't remember his name) for most of the trip. The scenery was beautiful and definitely worth getting no sleep over.

Adventure to Asia: Thailand Pt. 4

Wednesday, July 23: Chiang Mai, Thailand (continued)
Today was our last day in Chiang Mai. When I started packing my stuff up I realized I had lost the towel I had. I honestly started crying when I realized it because it was a comfort blanket to me through the trip to that point. I know it sounds childish. I still don't know where I lost it but it must have fallen out our first day in Chiang Mai somewhere in between the train station and hostel.

My sister and I ended up getting in an argument so we were not really talking. We checked out, but we kept our bags at the hostel. We had pretty much the whole day so we decided we were just going to walk around and explore. We first got lunch, and then we tried to visit all the temples. It was cool at first, but there were SO many that it became very redundant after a while.

I wanted to look for sarongs because I needed a blanket for plain rides. I found one I really liked, but I didn't like the price. I ended up just buying fried bananas, which were AMAZING. It started to rain so we stopped at a cute little coffee shop and got thai teas. We sat there for a while and even saw my sister's friends before they left to head back to Bangkok.

We still had a ton of time before we were leaving so we just walked around more. Chiang Mai is pretty small, so we kept walking around the same areas. We saw all we could see. We tried to waste time going into shops and stopping to get ice cream. We wanted to eat dinner at a certain time, but since we were bored we decided to get it early. We got to the restaurant at a good time because there were still seats open. While we were eating the creepy girl from the night before showed up! She stared at me like she knew or remembered me. After dinner we went back to the hostel and just hung out until our ride came to take us to the airport. There were so many mosquitoes!

Adventure to Asia: Thailand Pt. 3

Tuesday, July 22: Chiang Mai, Thailand (continued)
While we were in Thailand Jillian and I really wanted to see elephants. Along with her friends, we decided to go to the Elephant Retirement Park. It was a little bit more expensive than the other elephant attractions but it was really important to us that we went to a place that took care of and rescued elephants. Do not go to elephant attractions that allow you to ride elephants or train them to do tricks. Those places abuse these animals and often cause miscarriages in pregnant elephants. We liked the elephant retirement park because they rescued working elephants (often at a price because no one will give these elephants up for free, unfortunately).

The stories of the elephants is a very sad one. One had two miscarriages due to the strenuous working conditions. Fortunately, she was pregnant when she came, and I found out she gave birth after we left. This elephant was very hostile towards the two babies living in the park.

Another was rescued from a circus. She still had a rope around her neck and wouldn't let the trainers take it off. Every so often you'd see her raise her leg like they do in the circus because she still thinks she's a working elephant.

When we first got to the park we got an introduction then we split up into groups. We got to feed the elephants bananas. After feeding the elephants we ate lunch, which was very delicious!

After lunch we headed down the hill to play with the elephants in a mud bath! Seriously, how many people can say they've done that? Then we took them to a river to rinse them off. The workers were so nice and took our cameras for us to take pictures so we wouldn't get them dirty! I wasn't going to go in because I hate getting my hair wet, but then I realized that I would be missing the opportunity of a lifetime!

If you ever find yourself in Chiang Mai you have to visit! It was a wonderful experience and the elephants were so cute!

5 Year Story: After the park we headed back to our hostel where we got cleaned up and met Jillian's friends for dinner. Two of them wanted time to themselves so the three of us ate some Indian food. As we were eating some little girl came up to me and started creepily talking to me. It reminded me of the little kid in The Sixth Sense. Then she walked away.After we walked around some markets and stopped to have Thai tea at a cute little coffee shop/pizza place. It started raining on our way back so I had to put a bag on my head to keep my hair dye from bleeding on my clothes. It was kind of funny.

*The views in this post are strictly my own and do not reflect the park nor was I paid for my participation or comments. 

Adventure to Asia: Thailand Pt. 2

Monday, July 21: Chiang Mai, Thailand (continued)
After we got back from the cooking class we waited at the hostel for Jillian's Peace Corps friends who were also visiting from the Philippines and heading to Chiang Mai that day. I was really really homesick. We were in really touristy areas but I would be lying if I said I didn't want to come back to the states. In fact, for most of the trip I was counting down to going home. Looking back I had an awesome time, but I was really homesick.

As we were waiting at the hostel Jillian's friends walked over from their hostel. They guys that ran ours were starting to joke that Jillian made up these "friends." They were hungry so we walked to a restaurant and hung out.

After eating we walked to a nearby temple called Wat Pra Singh Voramahavihara. Since three of us didn't have appropriate clothing on or sari's we stayed outside and walked the grounds. Apparently, there was a life size statue of a monk inside who recently died. As I was taking pictures of the ground there were a bunch of stray cats. I was taking picture of one and a black one (pictured below) came up and started rubbing against me. I don't usually like cats but it was cute!

Then we walked across the streets and got drinks at a place called Henry Restaurant. We sat and talked for a while then walked back to our hostel to meet some others who were going to a Muay Thai fight. While I don't condone fighting of any kind and I'm not a fan of boxing I felt like I should experience the culture and it was something to do. There were several different matches and one was to raise money. They blindfolded about 4 guys and had them fight in the ring. It was just for fun and it was so funny because these guys couldn't see anything they were doing. A few different times they grabbed the ref and started hitting them. I laughed so hard.