Brave or Foolhardy

Although its all been wonderful, there are just a few experiences we could have done without:

An emergency trip to the doctors /hospital in three out of the four countries we visited! Thankfully no serious harm done.
My leech bite – yuck, yuck, yuck, yuck, yuck…….did I say yuck?
Mosquito bites – we’ve been through 6 bottles of insect repellant but we’ve still been itchy most of the time!
Being asked for the 15th time in one day if someone can take a photo of Susie. Gets wearing for all of us, but especially Susie.
Chinese tour groups at breakfast buffets! There’s definitely a culture clash. Eventually we had to give in and teach the kids to push in instead of waiting patiently.

As the trip draws to a close we have been deciding on our favourite experiences during the trip. In no particular order we think:

Swimming! And boy we’ve done a lot. It’s been great to see the children improve and Luke learn to dive.
The overnight trains – the adventure of climbing into your own little bed on a moving train and being somewhere completely different when you wake up!
Climbing s live volcano – the sense of achievement, the beauty of the scenery and the learning experience.
Riding bikes together. We’ve ridden old ones, new ones, funny ones and broken ones but we’ve enjoyed them all and the speed they take us through the countryside and villages with everyone waving and shouting to us.
Enjoying the fantastic hospitality of Tony and Ally and cathcing up with the cousins. A fabulous way to start our trip. Thanks again guys!
Elephants. Feeding, hugging, washing, riding we’ve loved it all.
The Perhentian islands – truely a tropical paradise with amazing diving, snorkeling and an amazing hotel with unbelievable food. Happy to recommend if anyone is ever thinking of visiting. One day we might go back…..
Last but not least the people we have met. The entertainment value of Susie being trated like royalty (shame we onlynfound the t-shirt which said “no photos please” in the last few days!). The kindness and consideration of just about everyone we have met, from the man who invited us to his home, to the train conductors, the hoteliers and the innumerable random people on the street.

There are so many more things we have loved, this is just a very small selection!

We have thoroughly enjoyed our last few days outside Chiang Mai. The horse riding we planned didn’t work out terribly well. It turned out that they had misunderstood that we were only here on holiday although we had been clear about it from the start. When they finally understood they didn’t want us to ride at all. We did eventually persuade two pony rodes out of them for Luke and Susie but as this only involved being walked on a lead rein around the arena they quickly got bored!

Emma and I really enjoyed our one day cooking course. We visited a market where Emma’s food knowledge easily outstripped that of most of the other (adult) attendees! The difference between ginger and garlic anyone? We then went to the location for the cooking where we each had our own workstation and wok. We learnt to make a soup each, pad thai and a curry each starting with the curry paste. The instructor and other group members were good value and we had lots of fun. Unfortunately I forgot to take the camera so no photos of our food! We packed up most of the food and brought it back to our hotel where it was reheated for the whole family to eat for tea. By no means the best Thai food we have eaten, but not too shabby either 🙂

Yesterday we had our day with the elephants. We were able to walk amongst them, feeding them bananas, hugging and stroking them. Some of us were even kissed by a baby one. A funny but not altogether pleasant experience.

We then had a lesson in basic elephant commands before we each had a turn, astride our own elephant at putting them into practice. True to form, susie showed no fear and was first to mount up and have a go. All the kids did very well and were very brave as it is quite a daunting experience!

After some lunch we took our elephants out for a walk in the “jungle”. Because of the kids ages we were given a professional mahout to ride in front, one for each child / elephant. Phil and i had to ride behind with luke and susie. I have to say that riding on the back, as opposed to the neck, of a large elephant is a very uncomfortable position and there was more than once when I felt like I might fall, particularly as my rope to hold o to had slipped. However we sll stayed on, and the kids loved being on the front. Afterwards we all had “elephant legs” with a strange gait :-). Finally we took the elephants into the water where we washed them and they sprayed water over us. Lovely to cool off and great fun for everyone. Even the baby ones came to join in.

We were dropped off at the Saturday walking street for a few last minute souveniers before our ride back to the hotel. Just time for a nightime swim under the stars before bed. What a fabulous day to end our trip.

Today we are packing and travelling home. Three aeroplanes – a short one from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, then Bangkok to Dubai, and finally Dubai to Gatwick. No doubt we will be very much looking forward to our own beds once we get there.

With Emma’s foot still to sore for much in the way of moving around, we decided to continue as planned and head by bus to Chiang Rai as this would give her a reasonably stationary day. It means we have left Chiang Mai behind without actually visiting the city but we plan to go back later on….

We caught the VIP bus for the trip. This more than halves the trip time, down to only three hours. It was also very comfortable and we were given green cake to eat. No idea what flavour it was meant to be but some of us liked it!

We found our hotel in Chiang Rai easily, specially chosen because it has baths not just showers, much easier for keeping one foot dry! Fortunately it seems nice enough as well and they have upgraded us from one standard room and one delux (with the required bath tub) to two delux rooms in order to be able to place us together. Lovely.

Having ditched our luggage we set out to find a few essentials, including cash, and some tea. For some reason today our credit card has been refused at all ATMs. We were quite calm about it for the first five hours and phone call to the uk, less so over the next couple of hours and second phone call. Fortunately the second call did the trick and we now have access to funds again 🙂

We wandered further loking for tea and Phil spotted a row of stalls up a side road. We went up and stumbled into the midle of a huge music / food festival and dance competition. Lots of things going on and hundreds of food stalls. No information in English at all :-). Phil and I set out separately to find dishes for us to share. I found spicy, peanutty fried noodles with banana flower (strangely like a cross between banana and cabbage!) and fried rice with sausage of some sort. Phil came back with barbequed chicken, satay and some beef liver soup with a frighteningly jelly-like consistency. I think it’s fair to say my finds won the popularity contest ;-).

We then chose chocolate coated banana slices, candy floss and mini coconut ice cream cones for desert. Yum!

I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to try out a Thai massage, less than £1.50 for 30 minutes. Oh my goodness! I got cramp in my foot and it was nothing like as painful as what she was doing to me. I’m sure I will be black and blue tomorrow….. I can’t imagine that you could make it more painful if that was your sole purpose. I’ve never been so glad for 30 minutes to be over. Of course I went with the English approach and when asked if I enjoyed it said “oh yes, lovely thank you!”. Madness.

We topped off the evening by watching a few acts in the local Thai equivalent if x-factor by which point we had completely lost touch with the children in the hoards of screaming school girls so it seemed sensible to recover them and head back to the hotel. We will all sleep well tonight I think!

We arrived off the overnight train from Bangkok tired and hungry. The train was due in at 8am so we had rashly decided against ordering breakfast on the train the night before thinking that we would purchase some once we arrived. Unfortunately the train was delayed by 2 hours, as it is every day we are now told!

We finally got some breakfast, and given it was of the rice and curry persuasion perhaps it was just as well that it was nearly lunchtime :-). We were met at the station by Hans our Dutch host for the next few days. He drove us 20kms or so out of the city to his beautiful hotel. We have a delightful Traditional Thai bungalow (on stilts) with gorgeous furnishings and a beautiful pool. Its a very easy place to get lost doing nothing!

Yesterday we dragged ourselves out, borrowing some of the onsite bikes. They are very high quality dutch bikes including a tag along for Susie this time. We did a 15km circuit including a visit to “the Thai Grand Canyon” otherwise known as an old quarry pit. We also stopped by an equestrian centre and, after considerable shouting through the gate to get anyone’s attention, we were allowed in the meet the horses, ponies, birds and dogs. Quite an amazing facility with a competition size dressage area and some beautiful horses. They wouldn’t allow us to ride due to the surface being waterlogged but suggested that if we come back next week it may be possible to have some lessons.

After a good session in the pool we headed out to the Chiang Mai night safari. Not an authentic Thai experience but hand feedng the giraffes will, nonetheless be one of my favourite memories. Less so the performing elephants and the staggeringly awful cabaret / magic show afterwards! Seemed designed to scare the already tired kids… Almost forgot that we saw the very rare Kangaloo from Austrarira!

This morning we planned to head into Chiang Mai itself but Emma scuppered our plans by dropping a jar, onto her glass, which smashed and dropped onto her foot creating a rather large and deep hole. I have never seen so much blood so quickly! Fortunately Phil was quick with the first aid kit and Hans drove us immediately to the local clinic. Emma was immediately put onto a trolley, wheeled inside and seen by a nurse. The nurse set up to suture, but having anethetised decided that afterall the surgeon was needed. My heart sank. Thankfully the surgeon was happy and simply put in the three stitches needed. A quick stop on the way back for some new flip flops which don’t touch the wound and nearly as good as new. The whoe thing including antibiotics, painkillers and wound dressing kits fir the next 10 days came to less than £10! The only pain is that Emma must keep it dry for 10 days until the stitches come out so no swimming or bathing elephants.

So instead of our day sightseeing the kids are sat around the bar watching childrens films and Phil has headed out to look for replacement items for our first aid kit! We are reviewing whether this will change our plans dor the last 10 days of our trip.