March 13, 2010
This morning, Blue took us up the river to ride elephants (or so we had planned). We hired a longboat from the Chiang Rai dock, and headed up the Mae kok river to a village where many mahoots bring their elephants to give rides. The river is very low at this time of year and our driver had to be very careful not to bottom out on a sandbar or hit the gnarled trees that protrude from the shallow current.
About 15 minutes up the river, we pulled off to the side of the river and climbed out to visit a place called Monk Cave. This is exactly what it sounds like. There's a monk who lives in a giant cave in the side of a mountain. We reached the cave by climbing up some stone stairs, and walking through a huge opening. The cave is full of Buddhist items as well as offerings that visitors have brought to offer the monk. He sleeps on a small cot, hidden carefully behind a screen in the corner of the cave. The ceilings of the cave are incredibly high and you can hear the resident bats screeching and occasionally they fly from wall to wall. Not exactly where I'd like to live, but pretty stunning.
We hopped back in the boat, and after another half an hour or so, we reached the village. Blue noticed immediately that the elephants were not in their normal waiting area. Instead, up on a huge sandbar up the river, about 20 elephants were gathered. After asking around the village we found out that it was Wan Chang, an elephant holiday - no rides.
Our driver took us up the river a little ways, and we hopped out and walked over to check out the elephants. For the holiday, the elephant handlers and their families had set up folding tables covered with sugar cane and bananas which the elephants helped themselves to liberally - an elephant buffet of sorts. It was pretty amazing. We fed some treats to a friendly looking elephant, took some pictures, and watched as the ceremony ended, and the handlers hopped up on the elephants (they call them over using their voices and then mount the elephants by hoisting themselves up onto the elephants head, and then climbing to sit either in the baskets above, or more often - just behind the elephants head with their legs behind the elephants' gigantic ears. Whole families rode their elephants home through the water and back to the village. Although we were initially a little disappointed that we couldn't ride the elephants, it was so nice to see the Thai people honoring and celebrating this animal that they value so much. We left totally happy about our interaction with the big beasts.
This afternoon we headed out with Danny, Lisa, and Blue to get our first full-body Thai massage. Turns out, Thai massage hurts, but as Sam keeps saying "hurts so good." We got massages together, and the masseuse did some incredible/painful stretches and massage patterns that brought out whole new areas I didn't even know were tense.
We had dinner at a restaurant by the river, very pretty and with a cool breeze coming off the water. Danny, Lisa and Blue continue to share their knowledge of the area with us, and patiently answer all our many questions. After dinner, we stopped by "walking street," the Saturday night hot spot in Chiang Rai. Like a gigantic version of the Night Bazaar, walking street shuts down a main road in Chiang Rai and vendors, food sellers, and everyone in the city comes out to socialize, see each other, and buy some cool stuff. It was quite a scene. Lisa bought some coconut puffs (I'm not sure what their called), but they are delicious little puffs made in tiny molds from coconut milk. Sweet and tasty.
That was today, and now we're very ready for bed. Here's Sam:
Unfortunately Danny and Lisa had to spend the morning preparing for the party tomorrow, so they didn't participate in our early adventures up river. So Danny drove us to the peir where Emma, Blue, and I got a long boat and headed up the Maekak river to ride elephants and see the Monk Cave.
The river was pretty low, but the longboat driver was a pro and weaved through the sandbars and debri. First stop was the Monk Cave which is just that, a little Wat located in a cave. There is one Monk who lives here, with the many bats and cats. It kind of captures the essence buddhist minimalism, pretty cool.
Next stop was the elephant village where we hoped to get a ride, but unfortunately it was Wan Chaang (Elephant Holiday). We looked around the village for a bit, which had a bunch of snakes and hill tribe souveniers, and then headed a little up the river to see the holiday festivities.
All the elephants were just hanging out and eating, we got to feed them some sugarcane, and soon it was time for them to go. The owner of the elephant we were visiting told the elephant it was time to go, climbed up its head to perch himself on its neck, and just before heading across the river the elephant cleared the table of all the goodies so he can nosh on them during his trip. What a smart animal, knowing that he won't be back to the table and therefore picking up all of the food for later.
We made it back to Danny and Lisa's, where Boot had made us some tasty spaggheti and chicken sauce. After a short rest we all headed down to the massage house, where we were greeted by cold wash cloths and tea to get us ready for the tenderizing. Thai massages are brutal in such an amazing way. My girl found knots in my shoulders that I never knew existed and got them out via elbows and body weight. Painful in such a great way, and at the cost of 150 baht per hour (less than $5).
For dinner we went to a cool restaurant on the river. There was a nice cool breeze, a great little musical dou, and plenty of good food.
We then went to Walking Street, which is kind of like a night Bazaar for the locals. It was quite a scene, tons of people, cool booths, and plenty of food. We stayed for a bit and checked out the many vendors until it got a bit too crowded (literally shoulder the shoulder).
Another fun and full day in Chiang Rai.
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