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Thailand 2009

a travel blog by lucy3119


I spent a month in Thailand with International Student Volunteers: two weeks was spent volunteering at Moo Baan Dek orphanage in Kanchanaburi district, followed by two weeks' adventure tour around the country.
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Spa days and cooking class chaos

Chiang Mai, Thailand


We spent a divine morning at the luxurious Legend Spa, built in a stately home. After a full body massage I ill-advisedly chose to have a mineral mud body mask which involved stripping, being covered in mud and wrapped in cling film, unable to move for twenty minutes while desperately needing the bathroom. Meanwhile, Jenni next to me was having a pretty amazing looking facial.

Afterwards, we checked out a shopping mall, but the chances of me fitting into any of the Thai-sized clothing in those shops was…nil. Especially since I’d just scoffed a large Dairy Queen.

In the evening at our cooking class we cooked and ate five Thai dishes – pad Thai (mine was pretty delicious if I say it myself), Spring rolls, something with cashew nuts, Thai green curry and sticky rice with mango. Meanwhile Steve, in an attempt to woo Sarah (in the absence of Tess), bought her a rose from a street seller, then felt guilty and bought the rest of the girls one too. Such a gentleman.



permalink written by  lucy3119 on December 2, 2009 from Chiang Mai, Thailand
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Elephant Nature Park, Hill tribes

Chiang Mai, Thailand


We spent a full day at Elephant Nature Park, helping out with the feeding and bathing of the elephants and learning how they ended up at the park.

The park is a sanctuary for elephants who have suffered as a result of the tourist trade in Thailand. Elephant trekking, for example, often ends up crippling elephants: their backs are surprisingly weak and aren't meant to take the weight of tourists. Elephant shows, which require them to perform dangerous tricks and stunts, often end in disaster, while elephants used for work (eg logging) are often injured or abused by their owners. The process of domesticating elephants can be traumatic too: the fastest but most brutal way to train elephants is to 'break their spirits' by starving and torturing them for days on end. This is the hidden side to the elephant tourist industry: although elephants are respected and sacred to most Thais, they are unaware of the suffering many of them face.


We then spent one night at the beautiful and tranquil Lisu Lodge, run by the Lisu hilltribe, before setting out on our hilltribe trek the next day. I felt a little sorry for a couple of honeymooners whose quiet holiday was interrupted by 26 students, but atleast it was just for a night! During our dinner buffet some of the Lisu kids appeared to perform some dances for us - it was very touristy, but still fun.



permalink written by  lucy3119 on December 5, 2009 from Chiang Mai, Thailand
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Shamans, spirit gates and a lot of sweating

Chiang Mai, Thailand


Before our two-day trek into the hills began, we stopped off at the Lisu shaman's House for some lychee wine and a bit of a sit-down. Our trekking guide, Charlie, also showed us the giant swing, which represents freedom to the tribe, and the spirit gate, which we were forbidden to touch in case we released evil spirits into the world: the punishment for touching it is "to buy a pig and sacrifice it", as our tour leader May put it. Since pig slaughter wasn't on the intinerary and our budgets didn't really cover the purchase of livestock, we stayed well clear of the spirit gate!


The trek itself was uphill torture until lunchtime. I've honestly never sweated so much in my life, it was pretty much free-flowing for the first hour. Talk about attractive. Luckily, we had a chance to recover during our eco-lunch, packed in woven grass baskets and wrapped in Banana leaves. We all felt slightly guilty eating our cooked Chicken in front of a bunch of live Chickens...until they turned cannibal and tucked into our leftovers.

After lunch, the temperature dropped a little as rain seemed to be on the way, making the going a lot easier, but I was still very glad to reach our camp, the Lahu Outpost ,at the top of our third hill - even if it had no electricity!




permalink written by  lucy3119 on December 5, 2009 from Chiang Mai, Thailand
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White water rafting back to Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai, Thailand


Trek: day two took us downhill, past a waterfall and through a Field full of cows that decided to follow us for the last leg of the journey. We were all relieved to see the songthaews waiting to pick us up at the end of the trek, but also really proud of ourselves for what we'd achieved in the last two days.

After lunch, we were rewarded with white water rafting: one of the highlights of the tour! I shared a raft with Team We're Not Going to Die, which included tour leader Steph, Lauren, Kirsten and Ginny. Sure enough, we didn't die, but there were some pretty hairy moments when we had to hit the deck to avoid being thrown overboard...On a calm stretch of the river, each boat tried to take as many hostages from other boats as possible: we quickly lost Lauren and had to initiate a sea Battle in order to get her back.

Back at the good old Parasol Inn, we hit the walking street Sunday market, a huge market that spans several streets around the hotel, much less touristy and tacky than the daily night bazaar. At one point, the Thai national anthem was played from speakers in the street: everybody froze where they stood, in silence, until the song had finished. It was a surreal moment but just demonstrates the huge amount of respect people in Thailand have for their royal family.

permalink written by  lucy3119 on December 5, 2009 from Chiang Mai, Thailand
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Canyoning!

Chiang Mai, Thailand


Today was a free day to spend as we liked: most of the others took part in a tour of Chiang Mai's temples while four of us - Andy, Lauren, Sam and I - went canyoning. This involved sliding down waterfalls, wading and jumping into pools, and rapelling 100 metres down a huge waterfall! This turned out to be one of the most exciting activities of the trip, particularly since a morning downpour meant the water was nice and high, and the small group size meant we didn't have to wait around for long. It was challenging - the rock was wet and slippery during the abseil and I got some impressive rope burns on my hands - but completely worth it.





permalink written by  lucy3119 on December 5, 2009 from Chiang Mai, Thailand
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Caving and yet more 'reggae' bars

Chiang Mai, Thailand


Caving and abseiling today - although after our incredible canyoning adventure yesterday Lauren, Andy, Sam and I found it a bit of an anticlimax. The best (and most terrifying) part of the day was a tyrolean traverse across a huge, deep cavern followed by an abseil (we were pretty much suspended in mid-air for several minutes) down to the cavern floor. I somehow drew the short straw and ended up going first, and despite having just yesterday abseiled 100 metres down a waterfall with no problems, I felt a bit too queasy looking down into the abyss today!

After lunch came rock climbing, when I managed to get myself stuck just a few metres from the ground, as all the strain of the last few days' activities finally caught up with me and my muscles completely gave out...half way up a rock. Couldn't go up, couldn't come down. Great timing, muscles.

For our last night in town we went out for dinner and then some of us hit the Rooftop Bar, yet another one of those supposed 'reggae' bars with the pictures of Bob Marley but the music of a dance club. The best thing about the bar, though, was that it was, as the name suggested, on a rooftop and open to the stars. My personal favourite part of the night was when I discovered a cockroach...on Kim's back.





permalink written by  lucy3119 on December 5, 2009 from Chiang Mai, Thailand
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Sleeper train to Bangkok...or is it?

Chiang Mai, Thailand


This morning, Lauren, Andy, Sam and I decided to check out the temples of Chiang Mai: we'd missed the temple tour the other day while canyoning. We discovered a really ancient-looking temple right next to our hotel, which was pretty interesting.

In the afternoon we were meant to be boarding an overnight train to Bangkok...but things didn't run quite according to plan. We should have known something was going to go wrong when, as we boarded the coach to take us to the station in the middle of a storm, there was a huge bang and a flash of light as a lightning bolt struck a building directly across the street! It was a warning that we foolishly ignored...

No sooner had we boarded the train with all our bags than we had to get right back off again. Turned out ISV had booked tickets for the following night by mistake...as we watched another group of students taking what should have been our seats, we wondered if we'd be getting to Bangkok in time for the cultural dinner show the following night...

Of course, ISV got it all sorted, hiring a nice coach and even organising a stop-off at a fancy hotel for dinner! We got to our hotel, the New Siam Riverside Guest House, earlier than planned and had time to catch a few hours sleep before morning.

permalink written by  lucy3119 on December 5, 2009 from Chiang Mai, Thailand
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Is it really the end?

Bangkok, Thailand


Our last day in Thailand! And we definitely packed a lot in!

We spent the morning touring the city, first by boat - we visited the royal barges, which for some reason, you had to pay to photograph - and then on foot. We spent a couple of hours at the Grand Palace, a huge area full of beautiful buildings decorated with gold leaf and coloured glass tiles. We ventured into the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, which holds a Buddha statue so sacred it can't be photographed...I think I must have gravely offended the Buddha when I burst into uncontrollable hiccups that might have disturbed the spiritual energies of the place a bit...

We also visited the huge Reclining Buddha, a statue so large it doesn't fit in a single photo. Although the pillars that surround it don't really help...

With hardly any time to breathe, we were off to the Siam Niramit cultural dinner show, a very touristy, big-budget spectacle that takes you through the history of Thailand, with an absolutely huge dinner buffet thrown in.

Back at the hotel, reluctant for our last day to end, some of us searched desperately for somewhere to have a Chang or two. We ended up at a tiny little bar with pink walls and a slightly questionable drinks menu...as Andy found out after ordering a glass of whisky and coke for about £1, what he actually got was a whole bottle of rum.

After this, we all got a little emotional during our goodbyes, jumped on a plane for a very boring 11-hour flight, and ended up back where we'd started a month ago. Lauren and I were once again sitting in a car, driving back to our hometown, only this time we knew a hell of a lot more about each other, had a lot of in-jokes and anecdotes to share, and a lot of memories.

permalink written by  lucy3119 on December 5, 2009 from Bangkok, Thailand
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