Chiang Mai Day 5 - contains adult language

Today's the day we rent the Kawasaki 650 to take the 100 km loop. We leave the guest house and drop off our laundry at a stop along the way. We have two heaping grocery plastic bgs of dirty clothes and she will have them ready by this time tomorrow. It costs 160 baht which is about $3.60.

We head to Big Tony's to pick up the bike.

When we head out of Big Tony's Pat gives it a bit too much gas and it jerks forward. I almost fall off the back and of course I scream right into Pat's ear. I'm sure it gave Big Tony a chuckle!

We head out on our adventure. I'm wondering what I've gotten myself into. Pat says it was my idea to get the bike but I distinctly remember him wanting to get it and being the good wife that I am I said sure. Holy crap was I stupid! The bike sits like a crotch rocket so I have to lean into Pat most of the time. The road is so curvy and filled with traffic. Everyone is headed up to the elephant camp.

Our first stop is the monkey show. Both Pat and I felt sorry for the monkeys. They were on chains. The handlers didn't seem to be mean to them but it still felt like it wasn't right.

 

 

Here is the monkey bowing like everyone here does. They were very cute.

 

The monkey went up in the tree, he was attached to the trainer with a rope. He is had a chain around his neck.is that for safety or control. We weren't sure.

They had another area with monkeys and they all were chained to a tree or something. All in all we didn't care for this experience.

Our next stop was the elephant camp. We were a bit late for the last show of the day which was at 1:45. We went in anyway. There were quite a few elephants there and they did a show in the middle of this big arena. There was only a small fence separating us from them.

Here they tried to kick the soccer ball into the net.

 

Here, each of the 5 elephants painted a picture.

Here is what the elephant painted while we watched. Not bad with just his trunk. He posted some videos of the experience too. :)

Me with some beautiful children near the exit of the elephant camp.. I wanted to put one in my bag ego bring back with me but I couldn't make up my mind which one I wanted.

Our next stop would be at the Queens Botanical Garden. Little did we know that they wouldn't allow motorcycles in so we would have to hike up the very steep hill to the top. It was 2 km and I thought I would die. I tried to hitchhike but no one would even look our way. Both Pat and I were sweating profusely and I had to potty so bad that I wanted to cry. When we finally got to the place where everyone was we realized it wasn't the top. I decided I wasn't going any further ... But Pat pushed me on. And as we started out for the next portion, I put my thumb out and these two young girls felt pity for us old farts and gave us a ride. Yay! At the top were some beautiful gardens and about 6-8 buildings with different varieties of flowers and plants.

 

 

Mocha and I in front of an indoor waterfall.

 

We decided to stop for dinner along the way and we both wanted coffee as we were a bit chilled. It surprised me how nippy it got up in the hills. We would hit these pockets of cold air that will just make me shiver. Also, the ride down the hill was horrendous as Pat had to use his brakes a lot and I would be pushed into him which in turn pushed him into the tank of the motorcycle. Once we got to the bottom Pat said he was going to need a suction cup to get his balls to come back down. Sorry for the graffic description but I thought I was going to die of crotch numbness and Pat with his testival difficulties. We decided to go to the airport mall before we went back to the guest house. Why, I really don't know, it had been a stressful yet fun day but I was exhausted. :) we got McDonalds ... Yes, in Thailand. I haven't had fries forever but I might as well splurge while here. I also got Auntie Anne's.

 

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