Thailand Part 2

I left off on the over-night trip to Chang Mai with the fam. Originally the train was supposed to be 13 hours long, with a departure at 7pm and arrival at 8am. We got in at 3pm, making it a 20 hour train ride. My story is fragmented, but from what I understand it’s because the original engine pulling our train caught on fire. I remember seeing the entire train staff running up to the front in a panic and feeling the train stop. That was about 3 hours into the ride. After being stopped for a good hour and seeing all the conductors chilling outside on the platform, Chris, Zach and I decided to get off and go to a local shop to get some food. The conductor assured us the train wouldn’t leave without us. However, about 15 minutes into the meal we hear and see the train pulling away. Without us. I dropped everything and ran toward the train, hoping to stop it. As soon as I got there the station operator told us that it was coming back and not to worry. It still freaked us out, and when it was coming back we hopped on, just in case it didn’t stop. When we got back to our cabin the rest of the family had no clue we were left at the station.

When we did get to Chang Mai, it was much more pleasant than Bangkok was. It was smaller, cleaner and more tourist friendly. We checked into the guesthouse and then went on an adventure. We walked around, and had dinner on the waterfront. Then we went in search of some real authentic Thailand Muay Thai boxing. We eventually found it, where we watched a few matches. We saw an American tie a Thai fighter, and an Australian WRECK a different fighter.

The next morning we got up early and got a bus to Elephant Nature Park. I was really hoping to be able to ride an elephant, but apparently that’s bad for them, and since the place we were going is a sanctuary for rescued animals that wasn’t going to happen. Bummer. But during the day we fed the elephants, washed the elephants and watched them. It doesn’t sound like a lot of fun but it was. Most of the time the elephants are so gentle and loving. The older ones can act as grandmothers, and they enjoy being petted and fed. Also trunks are amazing things. I’d seen them before but watching the up-close and personal amazed me. It’s just this one huge articulate muscle.

We stayed there for two days, before going back to Chang Mai and a different guesthouse. Problem was they didn’t have our registration. Luckily it was an American who owned it and we eventually got things sorted out. It was somewhere is this confusing transition that my camera was either stolen, or misplaced by me. That night we went to the famous Sunday night street market in Chang Mai. It was one of the most overwhelming experiences of my life. The market was HUGE. It stretched for miles packed full of people and stalls selling everything from salted strawberries (yuck) to jackets for your dog.

The next day Chris, Zach, Dad and I went mountain biking. It destroyed us. Chris convinced us to do the hardest and longest trail they had, of which the first 25% was straight uphill. We literally pushed our bikes for the first hour because it was impossible to ride up. After that is was more fun and mostly downhill. It still took 2 hours longer than it was supposed to though because we messed around too much. On multiple occasions we had huge spills. My spill was particularly spectacular. I was in first in a heated race down the mountain when I hit an edge and ate it hard. I fell sideways and rolled like they do in movies when they jump out of cars. I rolled off the road and started to roll down mountain before being stopped by a bush. Luckily aside from a few cuts I was unharmed, but I can’t say the same for my knee pads…

After a long, but fun ride we got back to the guesthouse, got Thai massages from blind people and had a nice dinner.

The next day we rented vespas, which was scary and exhilarating at the same time. It was awesome to drive a motorcycle but scary to drive on Thai roads. We drove to lake nearby and had some lunch. It was  like drinking lava. It was the spiciest, hottest meal of my life. Chris literally got light-headed because of it. After that we headed back to Chang Mai and eventually to the airport to take a flight back to Bangkok. It was a short 1 hour flight. Then we got on another over night train headed south toward Khao Sok and Phuket.