Chiang Rai, Thailand

Because Northern Thailand was number one on my travel wish list, I wanted to make sure I did it right. Therefore I enlisted the help of a company who has made their name by giving authentic tours to small groups of travelers. They take their clients through Thailand via boats, bikes, scooters, elephants, and their own two feet.

We started the trip in Chiang Rai. The province of Chiang Rai is the northernmost province in Thailand and has a population of about 1.2 million. It is a mountainous region with rain forest like vegetation. Our hotel is situated along the Mae Kok River among the natural vegetation .... so much that we have gotten used to geckos on the ceiling, in the shower, and on the windows.

Today started with a great breakfast at the hotel where we discovered a new fruit - lychees. I had seen them on Thai restaurant menus in the states but always passed them up for sticky rice instead ;) Clearly I did not know what I was missing! For anyone else who is ignorant to the lovely lychee, they grow on trees and are a little larger than cherries. The fruit is protected by a reddish rind that is easily peeled off. They have a large seed in the middle but it's not difficult to eat the fruit around it.

I was previously deterred by the lychee's hairy cousins, the rambutans, which cling to the fruit leaving me spitting woody bits out. Our American tour guide, John, suggested that I find a Thai woman who would cut the seeds out like his girlfriend does for him. While I am sure that is a splendid arrangement for him, I am content to eat the new found lychees.

All charged up with fresh fruit (and these brilliant little donuts I found) we began our bike ride along the river and into the country side of Chiang Rai. We stopped at a temple built into the side of a cave. Here our Thai tour guide, Kai, taught us how Buddhists kneel and pray with their rhythmic bow, forehead touching the ground, repeated three times. We burned incense in front of the alter and asked the Buddha for good luck along our journey. Our peaceful visit was promptly ended when Kai started hopping up and down taking his socks off as fast as he could. This was not an ancient prayer dance, this was an attack of an ancient nuisance, fleas.






After another coating of insect repellent and sock/shoe inspection we continued our ride through the rice fields. When Kai is not working with a tour group he works with his father who is a rice farmer in a nearby village. He told us the growing cycle of rice is about 4 months from planting to harvesting. When the tips are slightly brown you know it is time for harvest. The rice fields were gorgeous. They were a golden yellow with tints of green almost-ready-to harvest color that made them picture perfect.

Our ride continued through the morning. We stopped a couple of times to take in the view and sample local goodies sold in the shops along the way. The 'mountainous' region proved to be great for scenery but challenging for amateur mountain bikers. I held my own on all but one... seen below:). Brian took them all in stride but admitted he almost fainted after the steepest.

Score
Thai Hill: 1 Leslie Hill: 0

When we reached our destination, an elephant camp, I was absolutely elated!!! Camps such as the one we visited are few and far between in Thailand. Due to the high cost of keeping an elephant, some elephant loving Thais have found ways other than logging for elephants to bring income for their boarding. I thoroughly enjoyed the journey to the camp but was ecstatic to hang out with ellies for a bit. I'd like to think the feeling was mutual but their approach was due to the food in my hand. Regardless, we had a great time feeding them. Our tour guide John cautioned us against holding the whole bag of food near the elephant because they were likely to go for everything at once. This was good advice, as an elephant ate John's entire food bag and camera about four minutes later.

Brian made friends with the newest of the ellies. He was a baby elephant who had grown up at the camp and thus trained to make noises and motions when prompted. He was substantially cuter than the elephant who was shot with a sling shot after chasing me ... I am not joking. Anyway, after four bags of bananas and sugar cane we took an elephant ride through the small town. The vantage point was great but my backside was not too sorry when the jaunt was over.




After lunch we took a boat ride on the Mae Kok River back to our hotel and relaxed for the afternoon. For dinner that night we went to a restaurant located on a lagoon. The restaurant circled all the way around the lagoon. Instead of walking around for delivery, ropes pulled two small platforms across the lagoon and ferried the food to the other side. It didn't stop there - so that all customers could have a good view of the nightly entertainment, the Thai folk band was also on a platform that went back and forth across the lagoon throughout the evening. The meal itself was scrumptious and we tried a vegetarian specialty .... fried morning glory. Who thought weeds could be so tasty? Yummers.