Tigers and Temples: Northern Thailand

So much has happened since my last post in the islands...let me backtrack a bit to catch you up to speed. I arrived back in Bangkok on Sunday with a day to myself before meeting up with my Contiki group that night. So I spent the day playing tourist in the buzzing city, with my awesome tuk-tuk driver as my guide. For a mere 2$, he took me around all day to different sites. Of course, there was a catch: I had to go to his "brothers" tailor shop. I had heard about these scams before even stepping foot in Thailand, but this deal still seemed to good to pass up. So off we went, tuk-tuking around the city. Later that evening, I finally met the group that I will be traveling with for the next 25 days! On our first night together in Bangkok, it only seemed appropriate to break the ice by going to an infamous Bangkok Ping Pong Show (and no...I'm not talking about the table tennis game). Let's just say that it was one of the most horrifying, intriguing (HOW do they do that?!), and just plain gross demonstration of female skills (is that the right word?) that I have ever witnessed.

The next morning, we set off early to catch a boat to drift along the Chao Phraya river, allowing us to see great views of Bangkok and the Wat Arun temple. That night, it was time to take another night train  to Chiang Mai, in the north of Thailand. However, one of the girls on the tour was missing - an 18 year old American freshman named Cathleen, who clearly wasn't ready for the insanity of Bangkok. My roommate Franciska and I were the last ones to see her that night, and after that, nobody heard from her again...

Chao Phraya river, Bangkok

Arriving in Chiang Mai in the early morning, we set off immediately to the Tiger Kingdom!!! There, we got to cuddle up to these big furry kitties - who were NOT drugged - and I even taunted one by pulling his tail, even though the tiger trainer said not to (I'm a daredevil, I know...)

Taunting the tiger at the Tiger Kingdom, Chiang Mai

Later, it was time for our Thai cooking class. We began by visiting the Chiang Mai market, where our guide explained to us the different Thai ingredients used in their cuisine. We picked up the ingredients we would need, and headed to the kitchen! I learnt how to make some very popular - but surprisingly simple - thai dishes: tom yum soup, pad thai, panang curry, cashew chicken and sweet sticky rice with mango. And guess what....I didn't burn a thing!!!! (I was pretty proud of myself considering that I'm a complete klutz in the kitchen)

 Our guide picking out ingredients and the market, Chiang Mai

 Thai cooking class

 TOM YUM!

I did it!! Sweet mango sticky rice, cashew chicken, pad thai and panang curry. Delicious!

After the class, we headed to the Chiang Mai night market to do some shopping, and topped it off with a dozen towers of Chang beer at an outdoor pub. 

The next day, we visited the stunning Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, an ancient buddhist temple perched 1,676 meters above the city of Chiang Mai. As the legend behind the origin of this sacred site goes, a 14th-century monk from Sukhothai had a vision one day: he saw a fire in the distance, and when he followed it, he is said to have found a relic from Buddha. He took this relic to his king, but it failed to reproduce its magical powers and the king lost interest. However, King Keu Naone of the Lanna Kingdom, fascinated by this monks story, invited him north to Chiang Mai and offered to enshrine the relic. The building was completed and preparations were made to house the relic. When the time came, the relic broke in half, leading the king to make a new plan. At the northern gate of the city, now known as Chang Puak (white elephant gate), he placed half of the relic on the back of a sacred white elephant and sent it off into the wilderness. The elephant headed due west, climbed slowly up the slopes of Doi Suthep mountain, trumpeted a last call and then suddenly dropped dead. On that same spot, the temple was built in 1383. True or not, the beauty of the temple is captivating, and it is one of the most revered religious sites in all of Thailand. 

 Climbing up the 300 steps to the Doi Suthep temple

 A young monk at the Doi Suthep temple, Chiang Mai

 Receiving a blessing from a monk-in-training - Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai

 Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep

Over the clouds in Sa Pa

I just got back to Hanoi after the most incredible weekend in the quiet mountain town of Sa Pa in northwest Vietnam, near the Chinese border. My friends and I spent three days trekking to different villages in the mountains (in high 40 degree weather). Despite the extreme heat and humidity, which at times made the hike almost unbearable, it was definitely worth it because the views were out of this world! The steep ascents were made a bit easier with the help of the 5 local hilltribe women who followed us (the entire way!!) just to sell us things (which we later discovered, of course). It's hard to image that these women have to walk miles and miles through the mountains and rice paddies just to get to and from their homes every single morning and night. It was hilarious to see me and my friends slipping and sliding through the mud when we were fully equipped with high tech running shoes with grips and support, while the local black H'mong women could manoeuvre perfectly down the steepest slopes in nothing but plastic slip-ons!! I was obviously the first to fall on my ass in the mud....but then it wasn't long before the others were following suit. 

On the first day we trekked to the YlinhHo and Lao Chai villages of the black H'mong people, and after a picnic lunch in the village, we kept trekking alongside the Muong Hoa stream and over suspension bridges (!) to Ta Van village, home to the Dzay people. Finally, after a 7 hour hike, we arrived at our overnight homestay in the Giang Ta Chai village, home of a Dzay family with the two cutest little boys ever! Their house was in the middle of nowhere, right near a river (which we immediately dove right into!) The homestay was one of my favourite parts of the trip. We helped prepare the meal, feasted, and then spent the night making our own little party in the middle of the mountains. Our homestay "father" was a cool cat - all throughout dinner, he kept on pouring us shots of his home-brewed rice wine, which, if I had to guess, had the alcohol percentage of something more along the lines of Bacardi than wine. Once we were all pretty tipsy and having a good time, he started playing some tunes for us...with nothing but a leaf! All in all, it was a pretty good night. 

The next morning, we woke up and started off on another 6 hour hike into Hoan Lien Son National Park and Giang Ta Chai village of the Red Dao minority. In the middle of a clearing at the top of a mountain, we were met by a bunch of kids trying to sell us bracelets. The young girls, who couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 years old, even had indigo-stained hands from dying the traditional clothes worn by the women. They surrounded us from every corner and whispered in tiny hushed voices "buy from me...buy from me..." How could you say no to those faces?! I immediately did promise to buy from every single one of them. 

After having bought about 20 bracelets in all, I later found out that buying from these children actually brings more harm than good. By buying from them, we are directly encouraging them to not go to school and to sell items to tourists instead, hoping to make money for them and their families. It was absolutely heartbreaking seeing these poor children up in the middle of nowhere so desperate to sell you a bracelet for 10,000 VND (50 cents), which represents, to them, an importance income for that day. 

We continued on our trek to Su Pan for lunch, after which we took a car (thank god) back to Sapa, where we got to rest our feet after all the hiking. That night, we went out into town and had time to have a couple of beers before the entire town suddenly had a power outage and went completely dark. 

The next day was much more relaxed - we spent the morning in the Sapa market, and then made our way down to Cat Cat village, where we saw the beautiful Cat Cat waterfall and the water power station built by the French in the early 20th century. We had a free and easy day motorbiking through Sapa and the surrounding villages until 6 pm when we transfered down to the Lao Cai station for the night train back to Hanoi, where I had 8 hours to rest before coming straight to work the next morning! 

Kids selling bracelets at the top of the mountain 

Beautiful rice terraces 

Above-mentioned homebrewed rice wine

Playin' the leaf

Lieu!!

Making our way to Cat Cat village 

Cat Cat waterfall

Feeling at home in the Sapa markets

Water stream near our homestay where we went for a little dip after the long hike