This morning we awoke early and walked over to
Wat Phra Singh, Chiang Mai’s most revered temple. Behind the chedi (main
chapel) were two very large monuments completely encased in a golden shell.
We returned to our hotel at around 7:30am and
after checking out, we were picked up by Matthew our Thai tour guide.
Our first stop of the day was to the Bai
orchid-butterfly farm. The orchids were beautiful. There were rows upon rows of
them hanging from baskets with their roots exposed.
The butterflies were in a greenhouse with
beautiful plants and water features. They were so accustomed to humans that you
can get right up to where they are with your camera and they will not move.
Our second stop was to a village of several
different tribes that have migrated to Thailand from Burma and China. Probably the most famous one are the Karon Long
neck, followed by the Karon Big Ears.
The long neck women begging wearing rings around
their necks when they turn 5 years old. Every five years more rings are added
until they carry 5 kilos (11lbs) on their shoulders. The weight of the rings
causes the shoulders to sag say creating an elongated neck.
They also wear similar rings on their legs for
embellishment. There is not a documented explanation as to why the women wear
the rings. One hypotheses is that they were worn to protect the neck from tiger
attacks. A second was for adornment, third was to distinguish one tribe from
others and discourage intermixing.
We spent the reminder of our excursion at the
Elephant Park. While we waited for the elephant show to begin, we fed the
animals bananas and sugarcane. In exchange, the elephants played with us by
placing a straw hat on our heads and surprised us by giving us wet kisses. Todd
got the first kiss, it came from behind and was really unexpected.
The elephants used suction to hold on to the
hats with their trunks. We could hear and feel them breathing while they placed
and held the hats on our heads.
Their nostrils are moist and their trunks have
coarse hair.
During the elephant show they kicked soccer
balls to a goalie, played the harmonica, used their trunks to move heavy logs,
and danced to music. By far the most impressive talent was painting. Three of
the elephants painted beautiful trees. One even had an elephant silhouette on
the canvas.
We got to ride the elephants ourselves. Ours was
a young one full of energy. The descent to the river was steep. It fell as if
we were standing up in our seats. I can understand why the seats have metal
bars similar to those used in roller coaster rides.
We walked along the river part way and then
climbed up on the other side.
During our walk, the elephant in front of ours
found a rock he thought interesting and picked it up with its trunk. The driver
had to get off and pull it out of the elephant's grasp. The driver threw the
rock off to the side of the paved trail. Our elephant was curious so he left
the trail and went to find the rock. I had just been wondering the point of our
driver. These elephants walk the same circuit many times per day. He wasn't
doing anything beside besides riding on the elephant’s neck. I was glad
he was there to coax the elephant back on the path.
We also got to ride a cart pulled by water
buffalo. Our driver was a funny older man who loved taking pictures with our
phone.
Today was all about experiencing various types
of transportation. After our cart ride, we rode on a bamboo raft. We even got
to steer it. During our ride we passed several small communities there were young kids playing in the river
and women standing in the water selling cold drinks from floating rafts.
The first one we passed chased us down the river
for several minutes trying to sell us her coconut water.
Our last mode of transportation was sleeper
train. We were the only ones on our train cart for the first couple hours. One
of the train stewards came and converted our seats into bunk beds. The
accommodations were quite nice except for the fact that they did not dim the
lights at all. The privacy curtains helped slightly but it was still rather
bright.
