Bike rides, boat rides and elephant rides

We’re not too sure where the last few weeks have gone but it’s dawned on us that our last blog post was two whole countries ago!

From Bangkok we hopped aboard a 12 hour sleeper train, destination Chiang Mai. This is a part of Thailand that has always appealed to me – it’s the cultural capital, complete with ancient city walls and a moat, which to Tom’s amusement really did remind me of a Thai version of Chester! The overnight journey was surprisingly comfortable - by 8pm I was already curled up asleep on my seat which seemed to alarm the train conductor who insisted that he make my bed for me. Unfortunately this also meant that the Thai lady sleeping below me would also be retiring to her bed shortly after 8pm... Anyway after a relatively comfortable night’s sleep we arrived in Chiang Mai and headed to our hostel which we were more than happy to discover was actually a small boutique hotel. After a couple of days exploring the royal city – still making the most of the street food vendors and by this point addicted to potent iced coffees (the only way to deal with the sweltering Thai climate) – we travelled a couple of hours further north to Chiang Rai.

Innocent-looking enough...

...already roasting at 9am, little did I know what was to come...

Foolishly we decided that we would venture into the countryside surrounding the small town of Chiang Rai so we hired bikes and peddled off on a 60km bike ride in 40+ degree heat. There was absolutely no room for slack in our day’s cycling as we had, not so cleverly, booked ourselves bus tickets to the Thai-Laos border leaving promptly at 5.30pm. We peddled furiously through the midday heat until around 2pm when I nearly keeled over and at which point Tom informed me that I didn’t look very well. I seriously think we were on the verge of heatstroke! Anyway despite it being totally exhausting we really enjoyed taking in the countryside which until this point we hadn’t seen much of in Thailand.

We stopped by to chat to the locals at a sanctuary for out-of-work elephants, yes really!

Our crossing from Thailand into Laos was in the form of a two day boat trip along the Mekong river. Compared to Indonesian boat trips it was almost luxurious, on the other hand it was extremely basic with the constant supply of Lay (Walkers) crisps and Beer Lao keeping the tourists happy. The highlight of the journey was the scenery, which was stunning. Granite rocks jutting out of a chocolate-brown river (I fantasised about unattainable food for the whole journey – clearly still recovering from the 60km slog on wheels or me just being me?).

Our first sight of Laos across the Mekong river

Our whistle-stop tour of Laos commenced with a few days in the French colonial town of Luang Prabang. The cultural heart of Laos with young novice monks milling around the temples, the city is also Unesco protected which means tourism is booming. As a destination it is definitely a place for women – the nightly market is full of trinkets, thousands of pretty silk scarves and handmade notebooks which I ooh-ed and ahh-ed over along with every other female. 

Someone looking rather pleased with himself after spotting a BMW bike from World War Two

The enticing night market - if only I had a bigger rucksack!

Luang Prabang will also be remembered as the place where I proudly became a mahout (elephant trainer). I say “became”, really I suppose a couple of hours of feeding an elephant and then riding her to the river in order to give her a wash probably doesn’t classify me as an official mahout but these are just minor details and in my mind I am now at one with these magnificent trunked creatures! In all honesty I was actually quite nervous. Having never been up close and personal with an elephant before I was soon reminded how powerful they are. They eat around 100kg of food a day and by the time we were feeding them they seemed pretty darn hungry. Amusingly my elephant didn’t respond well to the mahout’s stern words of command yet as soon as he said “Ohhh” as though he was about to say “Oh no more food for you” she responded immediately and trotted ahead. Perched behind her ears we set off for a bath in the Mekong.

Lunchtime

Followed by an afternoon snack

Ankle-deep in mud (luckily she wasn't too precious)

Bath-time in the Mekong

Clearly her loyalties lay with the true mahout

Time to say goodbye