I am really enjoying myself here in Chiang Mai.
Booked myself on a one day tourist trap trek, which was surprisingly interesting and very enjoyable.
We visited a butterfly and orchid farm first, which was absolutely beautiful. The variety of orchids was amazing. I was particularly mesmerised by the blue ones. Unfortunately our bus broke down just before we set off, so we had to wait around 30 minutes in the glaring hot sun which gave me quite a headache.
Our next stop was an elephant ride. The Thais do love their elephants and it was very much like riding a big horse! A couple of baby elephants were ambling around and one of them joined us on our 1h tour down a river and through the jungle. In the water it went absolutely mad, diving and rolling over, trying to spray us with water. But it ended up spraying the other elephants instead as we were too high up! They didn't appreciate it one bit and our elephant gave it a sly kick when it came too close (!).
After that we visited two indigenous hill tribes, appropriately named long neck and big ear. The long neck women add a ring around their necks between the ages of 5 and 22. They had a sample which we could put on and it is quite a weight they are carrying! The big ears have large rings in their earlobes which they decorate. All the women were weaving scarves and looked bored out of their minds. Needless to say, we didn't stay long!
A bit of jungle trekking (on foot) was up next... we climbed up some hill to a hidden waterfall. It was so peaceful sitting by the water, listening to it rushing down. Felt quite relaxed and in need of a nap!
But some action was up next: they took us white water rafting and bamboo rafting. I was having great fun with this gorgeous Danish model who was on a break from the fashion shows in Milan. On the downside I have never felt so squat and unattractive in all my life! But I guess that's just the luck of the draw... and am not really complaining about my lot just now!
The white water was a lot of fun, even if we did get stuck on stones all the time and nearly fell in. The water was so dirty thanks to recent rainfalls that I really didn't want to bathe, despite the heat! The bamboo raft was really leaky and much to my disgust there were spiders everywhere! Nearly jumped off the raft when I saw the first one! But it was ok, just kept to the bits under water... figured they couldn't get me there!
Today I was in dire need of some TLC (tender loving care) and so wandered up to the local women's prison. They have a kind of rehabilitation program which teaches the prisoners various kinds of massages, so that when they leave they are trained masseuses. All the money they earn, they receive when they are released. When I arrived at 10am there was no one there and when I left, it was packed. They do up to 13 customers a day, with massages costing 100 Baht per hour (ca. Fr.3.30).
I opted for the herbal massage but was told that the herbs take one hour to be prepared. She offered to do 1h of Thai massage whilst the herbs were boiling. So with slight apprehension (bearing in mind what Manuel had gone through) I agreed to that plan. The Thai massage was great (contrary to his experience). Even if she did jump on my back at one point and started kneading away with her elbows and knees. I nearly DIED! Actually, I nearly threw her off with my violent reaction - it hurt soooo much! But her grip was surprisingly tenacious. Must be used to customers reacting like that. Then it was time for the herbs. They were packed into excruciatingly hot pouches, and she pummelled me with them for about an hour. The herbs dyed my skin yellow and she laughed when she saw that I was wearing a yellow tshirt. At least the discoloration wouldn't be that obvious.
At one point she told me that they were trained by nurses from the local hospital. Which was very reassuring. I'd recommend this "prison spa" to anyone, even if my toes still feel as if they have been dislocated!
On my way back to the guesthouse, I had to duck into a Wat (temple) to avoid pouring rain. The monk (every Wat has at least one monk looking after it) was keen to practice his English, so we chatted about Buddhism. After about an hour we were joined by a (drenched) Belgian philosopher. Apparently he had been coming to the temple for the last three months to chat with this monk. Said it was really enlightening. We talked for about another hour before the rain let up. I left quite enlightened! It almost made me sign up for the meditation retreat offered at one of the Wats. May actually still do so.
