We are having a great time in northern Thailand. Train from Bangkok to Chiang Rai was a hoot!! Older train than we thought and the toilets left a lot to be desired but we survived and managed to get some sleep along the way. We travelled overnight and the journey took about 13 hours. See our Bangkok pictures here.
Found a reasonable guest house where we have stayed for five nights and since then have been doing the sights - visiting the wats (temples), tramping around markets, up the hill to see the big one up there (wat) and then the zoo to see the baby panda. Saw the dad but mum and bub were only viewable on web cam!!
Click here to see our Chiang Mai pictures
Click here to see our Chiang Mai Zoo pictures.
Also hired bikes to ride out to the Tribal Musuem which had good displays on the various hill tribes living further north. Dodging the heavy traffic was a bit hairy but all part of the fun.
Yesterday we went to the Elephant Nature Park where a Thai woman has spent the last 15 years developing a conservation park to save ex working elephants and now has about
30-odd elephants there. They don't have elephant rides or put them on show but you get to feed them and wash them in the river. It was a great day and a real eye opener about the treatment of the working animals. There were three young ones there - 2 and half months, 1 month and a few days old so that was fabulous to see.
Jokia, the old, blind female
Click here to see more of our elephant pictures
Today we are getting a bus to Chiang Rai further north and close to the Golden Triangle and will spend a few days there before leaving on a 2-day boat trip down the Mekong River. Will spend one night in a village called Pak Beng along the way before arriving at Luang Prabang in Laos.
Found a reasonable guest house where we have stayed for five nights and since then have been doing the sights - visiting the wats (temples), tramping around markets, up the hill to see the big one up there (wat) and then the zoo to see the baby panda. Saw the dad but mum and bub were only viewable on web cam!!
Click here to see our Chiang Mai pictures
Click here to see our Chiang Mai Zoo pictures.
Also hired bikes to ride out to the Tribal Musuem which had good displays on the various hill tribes living further north. Dodging the heavy traffic was a bit hairy but all part of the fun.
Yesterday we went to the Elephant Nature Park where a Thai woman has spent the last 15 years developing a conservation park to save ex working elephants and now has about
30-odd elephants there. They don't have elephant rides or put them on show but you get to feed them and wash them in the river. It was a great day and a real eye opener about the treatment of the working animals. There were three young ones there - 2 and half months, 1 month and a few days old so that was fabulous to see.Jokia, the old, blind female
Click here to see more of our elephant pictures
Today we are getting a bus to Chiang Rai further north and close to the Golden Triangle and will spend a few days there before leaving on a 2-day boat trip down the Mekong River. Will spend one night in a village called Pak Beng along the way before arriving at Luang Prabang in Laos.
