Damn.... Its been 100 days since I left home.
When I woke up, I went downstairs and spoke with the girls behind the desk to see what would be a good fit for me while I was in Chiang Mai. I found a great three day two night trek that would allow me to see a lot of Chiang Mai's countryside. At the desk, I met a newcomer to the hostel, a guy named Fab from Holland.
After he got settled in, we headed out to see the Tiger Kingdom, a place where you can play with tigers of all sizes. I was skeptical at first because I thought that the tigers were drugged. I had asked people earlier in my travels if they were and I had heard that they weren't, I even looked online and only saw that they were drugged in Bangkok. We waved down a tuk tuk and headed off to the Kingdom. The driver was really nice and when I told him that I had driven mopeds all over Asia, from India to Thailand, he asked me if I wanted to drive his 550cc tuk tuk. Definitely didn't pass up this opportunity. It was hard at first because the numbers on the stick shift were opposite of the actual gears; so first gear on the stick was actually fourth gear. Once I figured this out, we were cruising.
When we arrived at the Kingdom, Fab and I bought tickets for the biggest tigers they had. The younger tigers were all running around and playing in the shaded pens and the bigger tigers were either lying in the shade of playing in the pools. I will admit, it was a little nerve wrecking at first. This is an animal that is near the top of the food chain and would use my bones as a toothpick once he ate me. We had a guide with us to protect us incase if anything bad happened (meatshield) and made sure we didnt do anything that would upset the tigers. I got to take pictures with multiple tigers, saving the biggest and best for last. He was massive, and was throwing around this stump like it was a soccer ball.
Once we got done taking photos with the tigers, we had our driver take us to the Chiang Mai University, the starting point for tours up the mountain to everything from waterfalls to the Chiang Mai Zoo. When we got there, we figured out that there were set prices on different day tours based on what you wanted to see. We decided to go see three things: the Bhubing Palace, the Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep Temple, and the mountainside village. They were trying to make us pay up front... No way, thats how many scams start. Agreeing to our terms, we started off for the Palace, which was built for the royal family when they made their state visits to northern Thailand. The area was really beautiful but, unfortunately, the building was under construction, so we only got to see the surrounding property. Even though Fab, a Chinese girl, and I had the driver to ourselves, he was really pushing us on time. We made our way back to the truck and headed off to the mountainside village.
I was not really impressed by the village; you can tell that the village was just for tourists. At every turn there was a shop filled with the same handmade clothing, pocketbooks, and bracelets. It was cool seeing all the women making all of the things but that is about the only interesting thing there.
We then made our way to the Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep Temple. Doi Suthep is a popular temple outside of Chiang Mai that brings both tourists and worshipers. To get to the temple, we had to walk up, what seemed like, an endless amount of stairs, but it was worth it. The temple was really beautiful and reminded me of what the Grand Palace in Bangkok looked like with its large golden sphere in the center. We eventually had to leave because it was starting to thunder and we didn't want to get stuck on the mountain in a rainstorm.
When we got to the bottom, we began to look for our driver; he was nowhere to be found. We then waited for a while where he said he was going to meet us and he never showed, so I waved down a taxi and got us a cheap ride down to the bottom of the mountain. I felt kinda bad that we just got the whole tour for less that a fifth of the price, but its his loss. We scammed him today and he'll probably be scamming someone else tomorrow, welcome to Thailand.
That night, I got ready for the early three day trek ahead of me.
When I woke up, I went downstairs and spoke with the girls behind the desk to see what would be a good fit for me while I was in Chiang Mai. I found a great three day two night trek that would allow me to see a lot of Chiang Mai's countryside. At the desk, I met a newcomer to the hostel, a guy named Fab from Holland.
After he got settled in, we headed out to see the Tiger Kingdom, a place where you can play with tigers of all sizes. I was skeptical at first because I thought that the tigers were drugged. I had asked people earlier in my travels if they were and I had heard that they weren't, I even looked online and only saw that they were drugged in Bangkok. We waved down a tuk tuk and headed off to the Kingdom. The driver was really nice and when I told him that I had driven mopeds all over Asia, from India to Thailand, he asked me if I wanted to drive his 550cc tuk tuk. Definitely didn't pass up this opportunity. It was hard at first because the numbers on the stick shift were opposite of the actual gears; so first gear on the stick was actually fourth gear. Once I figured this out, we were cruising.
When we arrived at the Kingdom, Fab and I bought tickets for the biggest tigers they had. The younger tigers were all running around and playing in the shaded pens and the bigger tigers were either lying in the shade of playing in the pools. I will admit, it was a little nerve wrecking at first. This is an animal that is near the top of the food chain and would use my bones as a toothpick once he ate me. We had a guide with us to protect us incase if anything bad happened (meatshield) and made sure we didnt do anything that would upset the tigers. I got to take pictures with multiple tigers, saving the biggest and best for last. He was massive, and was throwing around this stump like it was a soccer ball.
Once we got done taking photos with the tigers, we had our driver take us to the Chiang Mai University, the starting point for tours up the mountain to everything from waterfalls to the Chiang Mai Zoo. When we got there, we figured out that there were set prices on different day tours based on what you wanted to see. We decided to go see three things: the Bhubing Palace, the Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep Temple, and the mountainside village. They were trying to make us pay up front... No way, thats how many scams start. Agreeing to our terms, we started off for the Palace, which was built for the royal family when they made their state visits to northern Thailand. The area was really beautiful but, unfortunately, the building was under construction, so we only got to see the surrounding property. Even though Fab, a Chinese girl, and I had the driver to ourselves, he was really pushing us on time. We made our way back to the truck and headed off to the mountainside village.
I was not really impressed by the village; you can tell that the village was just for tourists. At every turn there was a shop filled with the same handmade clothing, pocketbooks, and bracelets. It was cool seeing all the women making all of the things but that is about the only interesting thing there.
We then made our way to the Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep Temple. Doi Suthep is a popular temple outside of Chiang Mai that brings both tourists and worshipers. To get to the temple, we had to walk up, what seemed like, an endless amount of stairs, but it was worth it. The temple was really beautiful and reminded me of what the Grand Palace in Bangkok looked like with its large golden sphere in the center. We eventually had to leave because it was starting to thunder and we didn't want to get stuck on the mountain in a rainstorm.
When we got to the bottom, we began to look for our driver; he was nowhere to be found. We then waited for a while where he said he was going to meet us and he never showed, so I waved down a taxi and got us a cheap ride down to the bottom of the mountain. I felt kinda bad that we just got the whole tour for less that a fifth of the price, but its his loss. We scammed him today and he'll probably be scamming someone else tomorrow, welcome to Thailand.
That night, I got ready for the early three day trek ahead of me.
No comments:
Post a Comment