Elephants, etc.

What a fun time we had! Yesterday we had quite a trek. It started out with a hot hike up a mountain to visit a hill tribe (the Mhong people I think). It is the beginning of the hottest season here and you can certainly see it when you look around. Everything is pretty brown. The trees are all mostly dead and there are small fires daily that burn up the underbrush. Things are pretty hazy everywhere because of all of the fires. Soon we got to a very beautiful river. The clear water was surrounded by picturesque rocks and trees. Here is a picture:

And here is a picture of the bamboo bridge we had to walk over to get to the other side: It was fun! Don't worry, despite appearances, it is a safe bridge. The hill tribe was pretty cool too. These people came over from China a couple centuries ago. Here is a picture of a cute little boy that I (Larissa) saw:

The people of the tribe sell various things like handmade scarves and jewelry to supplement their main income, which is derived from farming. We didn't buy anything, but enjoyed walking around the village instead of spending our time bargaining. When we left a village lady sold us some bananas. We didn't really want the bananas, but it the sale gave Jason the go ahead to point the camera at her for a few shots. Here is a picture of me buying them from her:

Then it was off to the elephant rides. We don't have a picture of Jason and I on the elephant but Jason ran around the side and took this as I was boarding the elephant:

We both really liked our elephant. He was a big, gentle giant. One of the tourists had given him a cocnut before we left and he happily munched it as we walked. Not all of the elephants were as well behaved as ours. The one behind us liked to snort up dust in his trunk and then mix it with a good dose of saliva before spraying it on his forhead. Of course, this sometimes coated the passengers as well. His trainer knew about this habit and I suppose that is why he lead the animal from the ground instead of sitting on his head like most of the other trainers. We assumed that all of the elephants must have been feeling very hot. When we got to the water buckets for them to cool down; however, our elephant didn't even seem interested. The naughty elephant on the other hand, had a hay day. His slurped up the water and sprayed it everywhere, narrowly sparing the riders from a full on spray. It turns out this elephant was still young so he wasn't fully trained yet. Apparently, he was only 20 years old instead of 30-40 years old like most of the other elephants. The law makes it so the elephants must be retired at age 60. Then they are let into the wild. They often live until they are 80 years old.

Next it was off to lunch. Jason and I are proud to announce we were able to eat Thai food without any major setbacks. Ever since we got sick, even thinking about eating Thai or Indian food made us feel like throwing up. So we were glad to eat a full meal and get through it just fine.

Then it was off to the waterfall. Here is a picture of it:

The guide had us jump in the water near the base of it. It was just a sand bar under the water that we could stand on. Then we swam to the right of the waterfall and jumped off that little cliff there. Don't worry, we had the guide do everything first, although both Jason and I reported that we had touched the sandy bottom just a little upon plunging into the water. Our guide then took us around the right side of the waterfall and showed us how to go behind it. To get behind it, you had to go through some pretty strong spray and it almost pummeled me to death! But it was a pretty cool view from behind the waterfall. Imagine our surprise when our guide dove through the waterfall into the water below! We were supposed to follow!! Well, we finally got up the nerve to jump out through the falling water. Our dives were not graceful, but at least we cleared the rocks to land in the cushiony foam below. We regret not bringing our underwater camera. No action shots to share with you this time.

Larissa had to go back to our room, she said she is feeling ill again. She wanted me to finish this post before coming to check on her.

After the waterfall we took a short drive back to the river (the Mae Wang) pictured above. Once there, we were assigned to a bamboo raft. The rafts are about 30 feet in length, and 3 feet in width. They are maneuvered by two people holding bamboo poles, one standing in front, and one in back. I volunteered to be in charge of the back pole. Larissa sat on a simple, but as it turned out, surprisingly comfortable seat in the middle of the raft. Since we didn't have our camera at this point, I'll have to borrow a picture from so that you can see what the rafts look like: We greatly enjoyed our trip down the river. I was impressed with how well the craft was suited to handle whitewater. As we were drifting, I was drawing up plans of how I might get a raft like this in the states. It may be awhile before I can have one, as I'll probably have to grow a forest of bamboo trees first.

The Mae Wang river is enjoyed by many locals who want to escape the heat. Just as we take innertubes down the river in the States, they take their bamboo rafts. We saw a lot of teenagers having floating parties, complete with floating beverage service. Most of them splashed us as we went by. It didn't take us long to figure out that our guide was instructing them to do so as we approached.

Frequently during the drift we got to watch elephants going about their business on shore. Near the end of the drift, we got to watch an elephant bathing in the river with his owner. Both of them looked to be fully enjoying themselves. Not the sight of your typical canoe trip. I think that the rafting was the highlight of the day for me. I would like to plan a multi-day trip on a larger river.

We said goodbye to Chiang Mai feeling like we left it unexplored. At least we were able to get out for one day of fun in the woods. The cheapest way to get back to Bangkok was by bus, so that is how we did it. So, you get to here about another horrible bus ride. We boarded the overnight bus at around 7:30pm. It was very full, and the only seats we could find together were at the very back. It didn't take us long to notices that were few very annoying things about these seats. First, they were the only only ones on the bus that did not recline. Second, they were so high off the floor that we could only barely touch it with our toes. Third, the little twisty things that are supposed to be in place for regulating air-flow were broken out of their sockets. Therefore, we were sitting in a windstorm of cold air. It wasn't long before we realized that we weren't going to get any sleep if we both stayed up on the seats. I soon crammed myself between our seats and those in front of us for a night on the floor. Meanwhile Larissa fought for sleeping space with a girl across from us (there are 5 seats in a row in th back, instead of 4 with an aisle between them). Both of us froze, and neither of us slept well. We were both looking for sympathy when we arrived in Bangkok.

We are staying in a bright clean air-conditioned room. We have a mattress that actually feels like a matress, rather than a warped wood plank like the last one that we were sleeping on. We will be here one more full day before starting our trip down to Singapore, and then on to Africa. We have no idea what kind of internet access we will have during this trip, and during our time in Africa. Just know that we will do our best to keep you informed of our travels. Thank you for reading so faithfully.

I'd better go see how Larissa is doing.