Chiang Mai oh my!

Something surprising to me since arriving in Thailand is the amount of foreign travelers that are not from the United States. We have met more people from Holland and other European countries than we have Americans. I feel so lucky that English is pretty much the universal language here. The Thais, Chinese, and Europeans all find common language with English. I'm not complaining:)

 

We mostly ride around in covered pickup beds and tuk tuks.

 

We arrived in Chiang mai on Monday around noon. It was really refreshing to be away from the bigger city, even though Chiang mai is not small. 

The first item on our list was to go visit the Tigers. They were so beautiful! It was a once in a lifetime experience to pet and play with them. We weren't allowed to pet their faces, which is understandable;)

 

 

These fellas were gorgeous!

I am making a list of all the fruits I'm trying. Some are fabulous, others just ok. Here's the list so far...

Mango, pineapple, "red pepper", jack fruit, ground cherries, persimmon, bananas, guava, papaya, passion fruit, dragon fruit, coconut, watermelon, strawberry, jungle apple (yummy!), unknown "chihuahua" fruit, mangosteen, pomelo. 

The most unique was the durian fruit. My favorite has been the super sweet pineapple and mangos. To die for!!

On Tuesday morning I woke up feeling kinda ill. I think it's a little cold or something. It wasn't enough to keep me from our jungle adventure! It was one of the things I most looked forward to when planning our trip. 

We woke up early to more rain... but it was mostly done by the time our truck arrived at the trail. The jungle hills are so beautiful!! I felt like we were part of "the Jungle Book". 

 

 

 

 

We stopped for lunch at this water fall. We helped our guide (whose American name is Chicken) make the food over tiny little fires.

The villagers all have to participate in the rice growing effort in order to have enough to eat for the year.

 

We (Rena, another American duo, our guide, and I) hiked until about 15:30 to our Karen village hut. Let me tell you, it is just a hut. No electricity. And the toilet is... special.  Mosquitos galore. Camp beds. Hopefully no fleas in the bedding.  And I LOVE it!!! I think Rena might have some choice words for me later.... and will likely monitor my trip decisions more closely;)

THIS is the view from our "bedroom" 😍:

 

And this is our "bedroom"

 

Oh yes, Chicken made me a jungle wreath

 

It was fun to walk through the Karen village and interact with the hill tribe. They live in simple huts and have very few necessities. 

 

 

Our night was cool and damp. The jungle sounds and smells were nice, with the rain on the roof and the insects outside. The morning came really early with the rooster starting at about 3am and the chickens clucking under our hut soon thereafter. 

My second jungle hat from Chicken:

 

Our guide (Chicken) with our little hiking group:

 

After the 2 day hike we did some very wet bamboo rafting down the river...

 

Ok, so the most amazing part of the last few days!!! Elephants! I've never been close to one before... and today I rode one!!! Meeting them was kinda surreal. They are so interactive and grabby with their trunks. We fed them sugar cane, bathed a young one in the river, loved on them, and rode through the river and jungle. I'm used to riding horses (as you know), so the elephant movement was so strange to me. It's slow and kind of like riding a wave. They walked down some slippery hills and didn't have any problems at all. And they respond to voice commands with impressive obedience. Makes my horses look naughtier than usual. 

 

  

 

 

So far I am in love with Thailand! The last few days in the country were the highlight so far. The elephants were so beautiful and funny. The jungle was fresh and lush. And chilly... I'm excited to sleep in a drier bed tonight:)