Adventure in Chiang Mai
One of the activities that we were keen to do was to get up, close and personal with the elephants and hopefully take a ride on them. Seong actually wanted to sign up for the Patara camp but it was fully booked which may actually be a blessings because I don't think Tata and Nainai will like the idea of analysing the elephant's poop and taking a bath with them. "P
Anyway, it was very easy to book for activities at the hotel and we took a full day package (8 a.m. - 5 p.m.) which included bamboo rafting, a visit to the long neck or Karen tribe village, elephant show and ride, ox cart riding and a visit to the orchid and butterfly farm.
I was so grateful for the clear and cool weather as it rain raining intermittently the day before.
We started with bamboo rafting, a first time for our family sans Tata and Nainai.
Good to see them happy and relaxed.
Ashley was a little frightful at first but warmed up to the raft pretty fast and even managed to strike some cheeky poses.
Daddy and Anna even took turns to try steering the raft. "P
It was very relaxing drifting down the stream seeing some tree houses, elephants, ox carts and interesting trees along the way.
After the bamboo rafting, we went to a tribal village to visit the long necked or Karen tribe villagers. According to our guide, the villagers are refugees from Myanmar. The Thai government took pity on them and give them a small plot of land on which they could build their huts and do their trades.
One of the lady demonstrating how they weaved the scarves which is their main skill.
A group of children putting some powder on their face. A child will only needs to put on rings on their neck when she is 5 years old and she will start with 5 rings.
Anna with one of the children who is around her age.
The village is quite small and we were free to roam around. The villagers just got on with their own life. Although they displayed their wares for sale, nobody actually pesters the visitors to buy anything and it was very pleasant.
This lady was rocking her baby who was sound asleep in the rattan basket .
Nainai trying out the neck rings. "P That was only half a side.
Our urban kids exploring the rural kampongs.
Next we went for the elephant show. We bought some bananas and sugar cane to feed the elephants. The mahout encouraged Daddy to sit on the elephant's trunk.
It looks so fun and Andrea wanted to try too.
The elephants are really very gentle giants.
The girls with a baby elephant.
A picture of all of us for keepsake.
The mahouts brought all the elephants down to the river for their bath before the show starts.
The show was very entertaining and I didn't know elephants are so clever. They were trained to play soccer, retrieve stuff for the mahouts and even perform massage with their trunk and legs!
Would be quite a scary experience to be under the elephant but the mahouts must have trained the elephants well to be so comfortable with them.
The most impressive of all was the elephant can paint!
See the elephant, taking its own art material to the easel.
And this was what it painted! Very impressive!
We then proceed to take the elephant rides and I think that was the highlight of our trip. It was really thrilling and exciting to be atop of the BIG elephant and go downhill, across the stream, uphill and downhill again, and cross another stream.
The little one did seem pretty frightful at first.
Even Tata and Nainai were rather worried, but they were still game for it.
Dear clumsy Andrea accidentally dropped her flip flop into the muddy river and the elephant she sat on managed to retrieve the slipper with its trunk! How clever!
Crossing the river again.
Nainai certainly looked very happy and relieved to have 'survived' the elephant ride adventure.
The little one was finally able to relax and enjoy the ride.
After the elephant ride was the ox-cart ride. That was actually quite a breeze, we basically sat on this ox chauffeured cart across a small section of rural Chiang Mai.
The ride was a little bumpy accompanied with the creaking sound of the two large wheels but nonetheless, it's such a novelty now to revert back to such diminishing form of transport.
Felt like some royalties on ox-driven cart. :DDD
The last leg was to the orchid and butterflies farm.
The farm is not very big though.
We had a fun-filled day and by the time we reach our hotel at Dusit D2, it was 5 p.m. Wash-up and we had dinner at Goodview by River Ping.
Anyway, it was very easy to book for activities at the hotel and we took a full day package (8 a.m. - 5 p.m.) which included bamboo rafting, a visit to the long neck or Karen tribe village, elephant show and ride, ox cart riding and a visit to the orchid and butterfly farm.
I was so grateful for the clear and cool weather as it rain raining intermittently the day before.
We started with bamboo rafting, a first time for our family sans Tata and Nainai.
Good to see them happy and relaxed.
Ashley was a little frightful at first but warmed up to the raft pretty fast and even managed to strike some cheeky poses.
Daddy and Anna even took turns to try steering the raft. "P
It was very relaxing drifting down the stream seeing some tree houses, elephants, ox carts and interesting trees along the way.
After the bamboo rafting, we went to a tribal village to visit the long necked or Karen tribe villagers. According to our guide, the villagers are refugees from Myanmar. The Thai government took pity on them and give them a small plot of land on which they could build their huts and do their trades.
One of the lady demonstrating how they weaved the scarves which is their main skill.
A group of children putting some powder on their face. A child will only needs to put on rings on their neck when she is 5 years old and she will start with 5 rings.
Anna with one of the children who is around her age.
The village is quite small and we were free to roam around. The villagers just got on with their own life. Although they displayed their wares for sale, nobody actually pesters the visitors to buy anything and it was very pleasant.
This lady was rocking her baby who was sound asleep in the rattan basket .
Nainai trying out the neck rings. "P That was only half a side.
Our urban kids exploring the rural kampongs.
Next we went for the elephant show. We bought some bananas and sugar cane to feed the elephants. The mahout encouraged Daddy to sit on the elephant's trunk.
It looks so fun and Andrea wanted to try too.
The elephants are really very gentle giants.
The girls with a baby elephant.
A picture of all of us for keepsake.
The mahouts brought all the elephants down to the river for their bath before the show starts.
The show was very entertaining and I didn't know elephants are so clever. They were trained to play soccer, retrieve stuff for the mahouts and even perform massage with their trunk and legs!
Would be quite a scary experience to be under the elephant but the mahouts must have trained the elephants well to be so comfortable with them.
The most impressive of all was the elephant can paint!
See the elephant, taking its own art material to the easel.
And this was what it painted! Very impressive!
We then proceed to take the elephant rides and I think that was the highlight of our trip. It was really thrilling and exciting to be atop of the BIG elephant and go downhill, across the stream, uphill and downhill again, and cross another stream.
The little one did seem pretty frightful at first.
Even Tata and Nainai were rather worried, but they were still game for it.
Dear clumsy Andrea accidentally dropped her flip flop into the muddy river and the elephant she sat on managed to retrieve the slipper with its trunk! How clever!
Crossing the river again.
Nainai certainly looked very happy and relieved to have 'survived' the elephant ride adventure.
The little one was finally able to relax and enjoy the ride.
After the elephant ride was the ox-cart ride. That was actually quite a breeze, we basically sat on this ox chauffeured cart across a small section of rural Chiang Mai.
The ride was a little bumpy accompanied with the creaking sound of the two large wheels but nonetheless, it's such a novelty now to revert back to such diminishing form of transport.
Felt like some royalties on ox-driven cart. :DDD
The last leg was to the orchid and butterflies farm.
The farm is not very big though.
We had a fun-filled day and by the time we reach our hotel at Dusit D2, it was 5 p.m. Wash-up and we had dinner at Goodview by River Ping.