Krabi Town and Chiang Mai, Thailand

My second massage was no less amazing than the first, and I was seriously turned to liquid. I then showered, changed and packed up to head to the airport. The trip was uneventful (except for the screaming child behind me) and we made it to Chiang Mai in two hours. I got a taxi to my place (150 BHT, under $5), however, since the roads inside the center city are small, she dropped me off right outside and it was a two minute walk.

In Chiang Mai I'm staying at the Bahn Mi Guest House. Complete departure from my last place. It's simple, cheap and I like it. The owners are simply amazing and I'm enjoying getting to know them. Paul is from Scotland and his wife Aay is from Thailand. They have two beautiful kids. Paul saved my ass tonight suggesting I download an app called map.me that pulls from GPS so internet isn't required. My rather notorious lack of direction hasn't improved with age, and I got massively lost before remembering I downloaded that and found my way back quickly. He also suggested bug spray as dengue is starting to rise here-- fantastic! I thought malaria might be my bigger concern.

Paul came here at age 49 looking for a change. To get out of the "rat race" as he put it and to find something simpler. Not long after he came, he met Aay. He had planned to travel around southeast Asia but felt a connection, and after leaving this area reached out to her and came back. He said he never expected a family at his age but he is so happy to get to be with his wife and kids and watching them grow up.

Anyhow, I decided to head to the night bazaar/market to buy a few things for friends. It was huge, and there were many carts outside, then a really large area inside with probably over a thousand. I got a small order of mango with sticky rice and it was really good. It didn't have the ice cream or coconut milk like it did at the hotel, but the mango was incredibly sweet and it was really good!! yum. Dessert first, I always say! ha!!! I wandered the market for maybe an hour and was done, so I left to find dinner, and got an order of pad thai from a street vendor for the $1.50 US, and it was good!

read the sign. :)

I headed back and got quite lost, going in the opposite direction I was supposed to. Ha. Go figure. I am amazed by the number of massage places here. I must have seen at least 200 of them on my walk today. i did walk for a couple of hours, but still.. wow. And there were some bars with some of the most scantily clad women I've ever seen, making me wonder about their occupation.. but hey, to each his own. There are a lot of bars here as well from what I've seen.

The center city of Chiang Mai is only about one square mile. the roads are windy and mostly very narrow (from what I've seen so far, and I did a bit of walking!) There's an interesting vibe here. Paul said that in the last few years, it has changed a lot and has become much more touristy. He said a year ago when he bought the place, it was one of around 400 specialty lodging places, and now it's one of 900! There is a large mountain range in the distance, I believe on the west side.

Paul recommended a massage place-- he said it's a bit more than the going rate but amazing. (most Thai massage here is around 200 BHT ($6) but this place is around 500.) He said they have different kinds.. most were in Thai so unsure what they are but they have a thai massage, thai oil, and one that Paul described to me that sounded interesting though painful-- he said the person uses a hammer and a small wood 'nail' from a certain tree that was stuck by lightening and it's used to clear the chakra. He said it's a bit painful but amazing and really feels wonderful after. Considering.. :)

Tomorrow I go to the elephant nature park: http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/about/about-us/. I'm so excited! It's an elephant rescue and I'll go to volunteer for the day. I get to bathe elephants. How cool is that??

Not much to post so I will wait. Tomorrow may be a long day and the day after even longer, so hopefully I'll have time to write.

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Not a great night of sleep as there was a lot of street noise with the windows open for air circulation. The room has a large fan so it's quite cool, though there's no air conditioning. I woke quite a few times last night as well, but I'm not the best sleeper. Thankfully I got two great nights of sleep and suspect I'll be quite tired after working at the elephant park today volunteering. Did I mention how excited I was?

The other interesting thing with this place is the bathroom. There is a shower head on the side of the little bathroom, but no proper shower. No shower area, no curtain, so the bathroom essentially is both. This is a new one for me, but no big deal. The room was less than $20 USD a night and is in a great area, so I knew it would be a bit different than the last.

Views from the roof terrace:

Elephant.Nature.Park. Go, go now! Wow. Mind blown!!! I had a yummy Thai omelette (filled with

onion, pepper, pea pods, a saucy tasty pork) and an espresso at my place and got picked up at 8:15 by our guide Ging. There were 8 on my trip: two from Spain and England, and three from the US. They showed up a very upsetting video about the need for the rescue work they do, saving elephants from the logging trade, circus shows ride camps and other places. The elephants are "broken" in a two-week process that entails torture, starvation and extreme cruelty. I won't go on, but it was horrible to see. The ride was just under two hours and we passed many riding camps nearby. ENP keeps a close eye and tries to buy the injured.. yes, even injured must be purchased. A healthy elephants costs around $4million BHT. As a result, many at the sanctuary are injured: many are blind from sling shots and stabbings to the eyes, some have land mine injuries. Understandably, some are more friendly than others.

ENP keeps a close eye and tries to buy the injured.. yes, even injured must be purchased. A healthy elephants costs around $4million BHT. As a result, many at the sanctuary are injured: many are blind from sling shots and stabbings to the eyes, some have land mine injuries. Understandably, some are more friendly than others. The ENP is home to 74 elephants, over 2000 dogs and cats, water buffalo, pigs, cows, and monkeys. Many of the dogs and cats were rescued during the recent natural disaster in Thailand-- they felt they had to help. The ENP was opened in 1994 and had their first elephant rescue. We saw one of the founders in the video, who was compelled to help after seeing the treatment of the elephants.

Our day started with breakfast, elephant breakfast. We fed 'grandma' watermelon, and when she was ready for more, if we didn't have it prepped quickly enough, she would tap her trunk on the floor!

We then took a walk around some of the grounds. We saw several female elephants, some of which we were allowed to slowly approach and pet, others, we were told to stay away from (but even those, passed incredibly close to us.) Each elephant has a staff member assigned. There are three 'babies' here, though for most of the elephants, they are separated into groups of male and female to eliminate breeding.

We saw our first family of females including a 5-year old male. Ging, our guide, said they wouldn't say who the father was. :) When we approached, we saw the mother smack the ground with her trunk to notify the herd to circle to protect the baby. Once we were there for a few minutes and she felt comfortable, the circle was loosened. The elephant family had a 'nanny' elephant, that the mother assigns to care for the baby. Elephant gestation is two years (!!!) and the babies nurse until around 5 years. We actually got to see the baby nursing! That was most of the interaction with the mom, and when the baby went to play in the mud, it was the nanny elephant who followed him. We were told to not approach the baby as the herd would circle to protect him.

We walked a bit along the river, just taking in the sights of these magestic creatures. We saw them dusting, kicking up dirt to put on their backs for sunblock. We saw one with toes lost from a land mind on the border with Myanmar. We saw a couple of mated pairs, and those have one guide between them as they are always together.

The cats have a separate area, as do the dogs, though many do roam free. Walking around, you see them everywhere. I have also notices more dogs and cats in Chiang Mai, and you see cats in many of the open-air stores on tables. Some have collars and overall, they all seem reasonably well-cared for.

We ate lunch from an incredibly huge selection of local dishes. I'm amazed by how closely the Thai food in the US is like the food here.

After lunch, we went over to the river to bathe an elephant. Her handler offered her bananas while we sprayed her with buckets of water to get the mud off her back (which ten minutes after we were done, she replaced in a big mud puddle!) We were told to not pet her as she was fully blind and might get scared, but we were able to be right up close to her, close enough to pet her.  Ging overshot a bucket of water from the other side and one in our group got soaked! We had been told to bring a change of clothes however, no one really needed it (even the gal who got soaked, as it's hot here and you dry quickly). After her bananas were done she left us, to go to where the next elephant was to steal her bananas! Ha!

Sharing bananas

We then went to the vieweing area to watch life here, followed by another walk through the grounds. We saw several mated pairs and were allowed to pet some. We were told their stories-- some came from logging camps and had their eyes blinded by mahout hooks or sling shots, others came from riding camps. We saw a really cute female with a flower in her ear! We saw another pair where the female ate greens (corn plant, maybe) and actually grabbed food from her guy, and wouldn't let him eat! The guide snuck him some bananas though and both were happy. It's funny to see the pairs as they walk with one in front of the other but closely together, and stand in a similar way near each other.

We then we to meet another family with a 4-year old baby. He was with the group for a bit then walked away, with his nanny close on his heels. He went to a big mud puddle to play and was rolling around in it. He then decided to climb the higher side and had a bit of trouble, but with the help of cheers from the crowd, he made it.

"Grandma" with a flower in her ear

Can you find the water buffalo?

What an amazing day! I forgot to mention that we saw the male area, the dog area, and walked through a herd of water buffalo. We got to see two in the water, and you could only see the horns and the top of their heads. We were so close we could almost touch them, and yet they let us pass through without concern.

What truly incredible creatures and what an amazing day!! I am so glad I went.

I decided to try to Tok Sen treatment that my host recommended, and his wife called to make me an appointment. All I can say is 'wow.' It was the most incredibly painful treatment I have ever had, but every time I got to the point where I was about the shout out for him to stop, he would ease off. It was the most deep massage I have ever had and I really needed it! Paul drove me over on his scooter; my first time on one and I'll admit it, I was a bit terrified. The ride was maybe 7 minutes or so and given the traffic we never picked up much speed (thankfully!) He laughed at me the whole way.

It started with me standing on an inclined wood so my toes were high up over my ankles. I am not very bendy and am very tight by nature, and after walking all day, it was intense. He had me do some exercises to stretch my arms as well, then I got dressed in a loose button-down shirt and pants that tie up at the waist. I laid down on a mattress on a raised wooden board and will admit a tingle of fear! lol.

If you have never heard of this massage (I hadn't), google it. First he takes out a wooden mallet and some 5-inch long wooden pegs made by a tree hit by lightening and begins to knock them on you. It's painful in areas of tightness, but the knocking sound is quite rhythmic and lulling. Then he starts the massaging, pulling and stretching your muscles in what may be a traditional Thai massage-- I don't think I've actually had one to know but may have to remedy that. Then the tapping again as he works around your entire body. He would ask 'pain' and I'm unsure but think the answer meant more massage was required. I was too out of it to figure that out, I guess I was too out of it to determine.

I requested one hour as I wasn't sure what I could handle, but I was on the table for an hour and a half. Towards the end, he motioned for me to open my mouth and sprayed peppermint into it, indicating I should breathe deeply through it. I had to be helped up off the table but I will say I have never felt more relaxed, pummeled and loose. He sprayed more peppermint into my mouth and sprayed a little on my finger to put in my nostrils. I felt my allergies just fall away. I was charged for an hour though he worked on me for an hour and a half.

He walked me out and I waited at a crosswalk for an opening in traffic. He came down and took me by the arm to walk me across the street. So, apparently the cars are to stop for a crosswalk but they really don't. Remember the Natari game, Freeway? where a chicken is crossing the freeway of roaring cars? Well, that was us. I  couldn't even believe we didn't get hit. We both laughed, again. We laughed a good bit during the treatment as I am very ticklish and giggled a few times. I also giggled when the pain got a bit intense, and we'd laugh together. Very kind man, tiny man, actually, with the strongest hands I have felt. The place is IDI Thai Massage School. It costs 500 BHT for an hour, which is more than twice the going rate but oh, so worth it.

I walked (staggered?) through a street market and was suddenly starving, so I got an ear of roasted corn that was so good. I was meeting a couple at my guest house for dinner if the stars aligned. The market was quite large and included some traditional Thai dishes, Rotee (the roti from my hotel which was a crepe pancake with filling), skewers, lots of fruit drinks. One table had alligator heads and alligator-meat skewers and there were some things I couldn't possibly know what they were!

I met a gal traveling solo from Holland, and enjoyed my corn with her and shared adventures. She was just out of the hospital from dengue, for a week and a half. Yikes.

I cut through the old town after seeing a part of the old city wall and got massively lost. Yes, even with the maps.me app as I think the satellites were having fun with me as in one moment the arrow was going in one direction, then another entirely. It kept spinning and me with it, not having a clue where I was. It was now dark also and some of the streets are more like alley-ways and easy to miss. I felt a little uncomfortable in a couple and walked a longer way. I finally made it, but it took a good 45 minutes for what was probably a 20-minute walk.

Old City Wall

When I arrived, the couple from England was there. I shared my massage experience with Paul laughing in sympathy. We headed off to find dinner and wandered a bit to find a place with Thai food that wasn't overly touristy. They got a noodle dish and a curry, and I wasn't terribly hungry anymore and got my third mango sticky rice of the trip. Yes, I did.