Chiang Mai

So we're in Chiang Mai, and even in the back of this internet cafe most of my thoughts are drowned out by the music, screaming and laughing of the New Years' celebration going on outside (Rachel's working right now on a better description of just what that entails), but I'll try to get down a general description of what we've been up to so far. To get here we took an overnight bus from Bangkok, arriving at some ungodly hour (6am or so). We spent our first two days exploring the local markets (there are several famous ones in this city - the day market, the night market, the sunday market...). Rachel shopped for bootlegged Sex and the City DVD's and I got fitted for a suit at a tailors that came recommended by some fellow travellers (Bo and Katey - a wonderful Aussie couple who shared their experiences and culture shock with us - perhaps slightly comforted by our assurances that India, though wonderful, was much, much harder to get accustomed to). On our third day we signed up for a one-day 'trek' which included visits to an elephant camp and an orchid farm, and bamboo rafting. The elephant camp inspired some mixed feelings, but it was definitely more interesting than the same thing would have been in the States. The older elephants were for the most part always under some sort of control, being guided or ridden by a handler, but the babies were allowed to roam relatively free.

They wandered through the crowds graciously accepting bananas and sugarcane that tourists had bought for 10 baht. We watched the elephants walk down to the river and flip over for a bath, their handlers scrambling one way or the other to stay above the surface - and in an entertaining but extremely campy show we saw elephants work (moving logs), pray (like buddha), play (soccer and basketball), paint (floral still-lifes) and play music (good rythm, no harmony). After the show Rachel and I climbed up some wooden stairs, stepped out onto an open-air platform, and sat in a seat strapped to an elephants back. Guided by a handler sitting on his neck, the elephant took us across a shallow river and up the mountain side. We had one scary moment in which our elephant became frustrated - for reasons of hunger or exhaustion or boredom, we don't know. It backed up a bit, refused to move forward, bucked a little left and right, and made some huffing noises. Our handler didn't seem too concerned, but he definitely did have his concentration on placating/disciplining the elephant. It's hard to describe what it feels like when the animal underneath you, the weight of a truck, starts to get irritated. But the handler, who has probably spent most of his life with these animals and for whom this was probably a non-event, did whatever he had to do, and we arrived safely. After taking an ox-cart back down the mountain we hopped on a bamboo raft and coasted down the river for a while (I got to stear for a bit, when our guide was tired).

Our guide picked us up at the end of the ride and took us to an orchid/butterfly farm, which made for some nice pictures, before dropping us back off, groggy and worn-out, at our hotel. We had a great time, even in the heat.