Living in St.Petersburg (Russia): CHIANG MAI: Songkran, Trekking and Other

We arrived in Chiang Mai one day before the Thai New Year called Songkran. Our arrival in Chiang Mai wasn't very smooth... again.. ha~ We were dropped off outside the city where a few trucks with the benches in their cargo area to carry people around were waiting. Because the bus was full of foreigners, no one knew where the bus was supposed to stop, so everyone took it as it was the right thing and they had to pay extra money to those truck drivers to take them to the city. At first we also got into the truck and I was ready to pay money when Katy remembered that we had paid already for everything in Bangkok and the guest house we were to stay in was supposed to pick us up. So we got off and then called the guest house. And what do you think?.... We got picked up by that guest house. So, our version is that the bus driver and the drivers of those trucks are little nasty scammers who want to make more money on tourists. That's the one disadvantage of Thailand, which is also the advantage at the same time, that the tourism industry here is developed too well. Anyways, when we got to our guest house, it was full, so they placed us to the other one nearby. We were told that we were given a VIP room, which made us smile. The room was much better than any other we stayed in so far, but also was far from being VIP. After taking shower we dressed to go out and explore the city.

Now please read Katy's entry about Songkran, and then I will continue...

It is the start of Thai New Year today, called Songkran. People here, in Laos and Southern China splash water over everything to symbolize cleaning out the dirt of the old year to start afresh in the new. And I think its fair to say we are well fresh enough to start the year now. oooh baby. FRESH! We hired a scooter from our guesthouse to travel around the city, which is surrounded by a moat (perhaps one of the most convenient cities in which to celebrate Songkran for this reason). The road on one side of the moat travels in one direction and to go in the opposite direction there are turning points in the middle where you can cross the water and go back the other side. But that gives you two opportunities to get bombarded by the bucket brigade, made up of both Thais and foreigners. A lot of foreigners actually live in this city because it's quite small and a relatively nice place to live. Our friend Janice lived here for one year and her friend Dan, who I met in Seoul, also lives here and married a local girl. And the foreigners seem to get into the spirit as much as the Thais, buying enormous water guns with refill packs on their backs or hiring open-air taxis to cruise around in. I did notice that the foreigners seemed to be a little kinder to us than many Thais though, just sprinkling us with water from their buckets, whereas many Thais had put ice in their enormous rubbish bins full of water, making for a very breathtaking surprise when we passed their vehicles. Of course, we tried to avoid the bad boys as much as possible, but it was a minefield out there. Sometimes we side-stepped their attacks, and sometimes they came at us from an oblique angle. The warm river water we didn't mind at all, but we came to dread the icy cold buckets, as the sudden shock put Vlad off balance. The traffic was difficult enough to negotiate but a bucket of icy water in the face unexpectedly takes scooter driving to a new level.Some splashers stand at the side of the road where they can manually refill their bucket or water gun, but the more convenient method is to stand or sit on the back of a pickup truck with a huge plastic rubbish bin on the back from which you can refill. Trucks of teenagers having water fights, and pelting motorists and pedestrians with icy water... not pleasant at first, but in 40 degree heat, it was actually more pleasant to be wet than dry. If you're wondering what we did with our stuff, we thought ahead and bought an Ocean Pack in Bangkok, a heavy duty water-proof bag. Smart huh!As you can imagine first couple of hours of water being splashed on you is kind of fun. In this heat it actually feels somewhat refreshing. However, after being splashed in the face continuously as the locals want to get foreigners you get a bit angry and stop laughing. Actually Katy even showed a finger to a few people who threw a bucket of icy water on us.

Anyways, after a day in Chiang Mai we took off for jungle trekking for 3 days to see hill tribes. It was 12 people in our group: Dutch family, 4 girls from South Africa and the UK and a couple of French speaking Swiss, plus us. We did about 35~40km in total up and down the hill in what felt to be over 40 degrees celcius... in the shade... Under the direct sun it felt even hotter. It was a nice walk in a very dry jungles, but we saw very little of the hill tribes. We slept one night in the village of Karen tribe, who were originally from Myanmar, they are the biggest hill tribe in Thailand. There was no electricity or any other conveniences of the modern world. Although the house we slept in they tried to make it as Western as they could. The second night we spent in a camp in the jungles. Look at the pictures with short commentaries below. So, now we are back in Chiang Mai and Songkran is still going on, so, I think tomorrow we will probably stay at the guest house and enjoy the swimming pool they have there. We've had first good shower in 3 days and a good dinner with good alcohol.The day after tomorrow, on April 17th we're going to Laos. So, look forward to the Laos saga...

The order of pictures is messed up, but this is the only way to do it unfortunately...
This was today on the way to the bamboo rafting (the last activity for the trekking) we stopped here to cool off.

This is our camp in the jungle our dining table and a swimming pool behind it.

The man who was probably living in that camp was making a new roof for the huts before the rainy season starts in a couple of months. And the hut where we slept.

On the way to the jungle camp we passed by the village, which had only 8 families in it. Interestingly, though, one house there had solar pannels, so, they must had electricity there at least part time. There also was school with the blackboard and desks, all as it should be... Because it was holiday there were no kids, so, Katy Black had to seat by herself. :)

This little pig was so sleepy in this unbearable heat that it didn't move an inch even though I was touching it on its belly, ears, snout, hoofs, you name it...

The little local girl even in this remote village wanted to splash foreigners with water... Because it was very hot, I let her splash some on my back..

Our guide is making utensils for us from bamboo, chopsticks, to use for lunch. They actually were pretty good.

On our first night in the Karen people's village we were given the story of their hard life and asked for donation towards building a school there. To be honest we had mixed feelings about the donation. On one hand it wasn't much to give, but on the other.. we didn't know if it was true and where money went in reality... Anyways, we ended up giving 10o Baht each. I hope this money will go towards building a school and not making more rice wine. Kids sang 8 songs for us and in reply we had to sing as well. They were repeating after our guide... "English song please~~ Dutch song please~~ French song please~~ Korean song please~~" They got their English, Dutch and French songs, but when it came to Korean I told them that we don't sing, so, Katy had to sing for me a song about 3 bears: the fat father bear, the slim mother bear and the cute little bear... haha~

The kids singing. After that they lined up and we had to shake their little hands, say thank you and good night. I kind of felt like a president of some country.... hahaha~

Walking, walking, walking... This road actually felt like a highway, compared to what was the most of the paths we walked. Many times, the guide in the front had to literally cut down the vegetation using his machete like knife.

Our dining area in the village where we stayed the first night. The village was very productive: it had many kids, many hens with their chicks, many puppies and many piggies. We've probably hit the breeding season... :)

On our first day of trekking after walking for about 3~4 hours we stopped at this waterfall. It was a bliss...

Before heading into the jungle we had an elephant ride. These elephants were very smart to extort bananas from you . They would lift their trunks up and stop walking until you give them banana. Once you give them banana they start walking. No wonder the local mahutos (the elephant riders) called bananas the fuel for elephants. One working mama-elephant had a little one wollowing her everywhere...

The following pictures are all in Ayuttaya. Thai people believe that if you release a bird or a fish on New Year, you will be happy or something like this. Katy made a good point though, DON'T CATCH THEM! The boy was selling them...

A famous buddha head in the middle of a tree. No one knows how it ended up there. Only theories...

Largest reclining Buddha.

The catfish eating frenzy. Because Thailand people are Buddhists, all animals here are very fat, including the catfish in the river. If you cook one it could probably feed a good family of five.