Part 2, Week 30: August 12-18
- Katie and Webster
- Aug 18, 2019
- 7 min read
This week we have been enjoying all the sights in Thailand!
On Monday we drove out into the Thai mountains to spend the day with rescued elephants. The Elephant Highlands Project houses three elephants who come from abusive work backgrounds. Unfortunately, tourism in Thailand has lead to elephants being kept in poor living conditions, being used for rides, prodded and poked to do tricks in exchange for some money, or to haul heavy materials. These gentle animals now in the care of the Elephant Highlands Project, are living life in luxury with lots of food and love. Since they were born in captivity, they aren’t able to be released back into the wild. They can’t find their own food, and they don’t know how to socialize with other wild elephants. The project employs more than 10 local people and the money paid for the excursion goes to feeding the elephants (300 lbs per day, per elephant), and paying the local people a living wage. We started our day with a long drive outside of the Chiang Mai city centre. Then when we reached the mountains we transferred to the back of a 4 wheel drive pickup truck. We weaved between trees over the mountains until we reached a little hut. We spent the first little bit cutting fruit for the elephants arrival, then when they arrived we got to feed them a morning snack! The entire day was unscheduled, the project encourages the elephants with food but can’t do much else to control their behaviour. We spent the entire day on their terms, going where they wanted, when they wanted. We encouraged them to come on a walk towards our lunch spot by feeding them hundreds of bananas. It was so neat to walk through the mountains with the animals. The elephants nudge you for some bananas, sneak up behind you and put their trunk on your shoulder and then stop when they want a snack from the trees. We took a break for lunch after our short walk. We had a little rest, in the shade, and then took the elephants up the mountain to see if they were interested in the mud. Again, since the day was entirely on their terms, the coordinators couldn’t guarantee anything. The elephants didn’t seem to interested in mud but instead enjoyed some time eating the trees and roaming the mountains. We enjoyed feeding them avocados, giving them some pats and getting lots of pictures. To finish off our afternoon we got into a fresh water pool and gave the gentle giants a bath. The water was very cold but the elephants loved it. They got right in and were spraying each other and us. We were given buckets to bath them - it was so fun! We ended our day with a long drive, and nap, back into the city. This was definitely one of our highlights this year. If you go to Thailand, the Elephant Nature Park is a great organization to see elephants ethically. Whatever you do, please don’t ride an elephant or support those begging on the road with an elephant doing tricks or posing for pictures.
On Tuesday we spent the morning at the pool enjoying the sun!
Then we got a tuk tuk and headed into the old city centre to explore a little more of Chiang Mai. The old city has a wall that is partially intact, but a river that surrounds it fully. We walked along the edge of the city, through some old roads and back to the hotel. We walked past tons of temples, shrines, and of course posters of the King. Thai people really respect him and give offerings to his photo daily.
In the evening we had one last nice dinner in Chiang Mai. We went to Whole Earth and had a traditional Thai meal. It was delicious! On Wednesday we had a travel day. We left Chiang Mai for Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, south in the country. Once we got all settled into our hotel we headed out for dinner to Mango Tree, a famous local restaurant that has been so successful they now have international locations in ten countries.
On Thursday we spent the day exploring Bangkok’s famous temples. We started at Bangkok City Pillar Shrine, a beautiful shrine just outside the gates of the Grand Palace. It was actively used and locals were stopping by to leave an offering on their way to work.
Then, we made our way to the Grand Palace, the number one sightseeing location in Bangkok. The Grand Palace has very strict dress code rules so Webster had to buy a pair of cute elephant pants! We explored the palace, which was absolutely beautiful. It was filled with tour groups, local people, and lots of workers to keep everyone on track. We stared at the temple of the emerald Buddha. It was a beautiful temple with a small emerald Buddha at the centre of it all. Unfortunately we couldn’t take pictures inside because it is a sacred location. Then we made our way through all the grounds to the palace and the throne hall. It was neat to see the differences here in Asia for a very well loved royal family and compare the style of living to the royal homes in Europe.
Our second stop if the day was Wat Pho. This temple is also known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. There was a HUGE golden Buddha laying down in the main temple building. The crowds were outrageous and we were lucky to get some good photos. We walked in closest to the Buddha head and then down to the feet, and back up along the back of the Buddha to the head.
On our way back to the hotel we had some trouble finding a taxi that was willing to turn on their meter for us...they were only willing to charge us a huge fare. We ended up walking 1/3 of the way back to the hotel before we found someone willing to give us a reasonable price. On our way we walked past the Golden Mountain Temple. We didn’t spend too much time looking around, but from the bottom, it was beautiful!
On Friday we had a slow morning enjoying the hotel pool and local area. We walked to Sri Mahamariamman Temple, which is a Hindu temple, and was very actively being used. We couldn’t take any pictures inside but we managed to snap a few outside after our visit. It was beautifully kept and very well used by locals.
Then in the afternoon we did our second Thai cooking class! We began our class with a market visit. We bought all the food needed for our recipes, fresh vegetables, spices and meat. The market was wild, locals everywhere, delivering food, picking up food on motorbikes...it was an experience! Then we headed back to the school to begin our class. We made green chicken curry, pad thai, chicken chilli soup, and mango sticky rice. We were much better prepared for the work that goes into making these dishes the second time around. It was a lot of fun to make food and then enjoy them together!
On Saturday we booked a full day tour out to the floating markets and train market. These two markets were on Webster’s “must see” list before we even arrived in Thailand. We were picked up at 6:45am by Kat, who was our driver and guide for the day. She drove us out to a local coconut farm to start our day. We learned how to grow coconuts and what products they can make from coconuts.
Then we made our way to Damonsonk Floating Market where we boarded a small long tailed boat to explore the area. It reminded us a lot of Venice where local people live and trade on the water. These people were literally cooking food, deep frying meat, boiling rice, selling everything you could imagine from their little boats. It was so neat to float up and down the little canals looking at all the stalls.
Afterwards Kat took us to Maeklong Railway Market. We had seen lots of videos of this market online and were excited to see it in person. We walked through the market about 30 minutes before the train was set to arrive. The vendors again, had everything you could imagine. Most of them were selling souvenir items, take away food, and fresh vegetables and fruit. Their stands were inches from the tracks, some even had displays on the tracks. As soon as the train was approaching a loud voice came over a speaker warning the vendors and tourists to get away from the tracks. Two minutes later the train arrived down the tracks and people began to move all their things back from the edge. It was so interesting to see them pack up quickly, move their canopy roofs back in to the physical building beyond the tracks and wait for the train to pass. As soon as the train had gone, they set up once again to continue sales in a matter of seconds. It was fascinating!
Our last stop was a temple taken over by trees! We stopped quickly to use a clean toilet and have a look within the temple walls. It was very busy on a Saturday afternoon with locals and tourists alike. It was a great way to end a long day!
On Sunday we ventured to the Chatuchak Market, also known as JJ Market. The market was HUGE and had everything you could ever want. We wandered through the touristy souvenir section, the food section for lunch, and finally the pet section... We both did some Christmas shopping and had some Thai snacks for lunch.
Then in the afternoon we went to Channel 7 broadcasting studio for a Muay Thai boxing match. The evening matches are extremely expensive to attend and the live broadcast audience tickets were free. It was very busy, with both locals and tourists. The locals were just there to place bets, there was a lot of money being tossed around to the guys in charge. There was a section for tourists and we were all watching the matches and taking photos. It was very violent and extremely loud. After two hours or so we left very sweaty and hyped up from all the action.
We spent the evening relaxing a little bit and planning out our last week in Asia! This week we are headed to Seoul, South Korea and then we are back to Canada for a few days in Vancouver! Bring on the Tim Hortons!
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