Chiengmai day tour

The one full day we had in Chiengmai was spent on elephant ride, ox ride and bamboo ride, and a visit to the Orchid Farm and the small village of the long necked tribe.

This is one of the more popular ground tours we could find around the city.

To me, all of these activities weren't exactly spectacular. The elephants looked too ker-nian, being subjected to torture (from what I feel), being "forced" to entertain the tourists with all sorts of funny stunts and being clamped on their leg to a pole when they are not performing. I really felt sorry for them.

The ride with meimei on its back was, well, an eye-opener, but I won't do that a second time. The mahout would take them to some pit stops which sells bananas at 20baht per bunch. I dare not NOT buy it, as I worry the elephant would go bananas and throw both of us off its back! In fact, I felt like it was getting tired and acting up after we "boarded" on its back.

The boys went on one together and were in front of us initially. Didi looked very excited and thrilled. He kept saying "mommy will definitely scream here" when the little jumbo starts going down to the stream. We were taken on a long journey from one pit stop to another, through some hilly terrains and the stream. I must say, I was hoping they let us down, halfway into that route. Freaking uncomfortable with the "seemingly acting up" jumbo swaying side to side extensively. Not to mention, heartpain to see the mahout whacking the elephant head with a long stick and a crescent spear on his hand. Yucks!

The ox ride was slightly better, though a bit too bumpy for my liking. Oh gosh, maybe I'm just too princessy! The kids didn't complain, well, at least they were happy.

The bamboo ride was slightly nicer, though a bit hot without any shelter. Lucky I had my straw hat with me, it saved me from getting my face sun burnt. Looking back, wasn't it too risky that all of us were not wearing any life jackets? Well, the river could be shallow, we could never tell from its murky water, but we were surprised to see a local woman walking at the side of the stream, submerged up to her waist, pushing a "cart" selling drinks and coconuts! Why don't she walk on the roadside??

Our "skipper" let everyone of us tried our hand in maneuvering with the long pole. Well, it certainly was a trip of experiences for the kids and I like that very much.

The visit to the long necked tribe village was equally saddening as well. All of them looked so pathetic and I just wondered how life is for them, especially those small innocent little ones. I bought a couple of souvenirs from one of the stall and then suddenly, seems like everyone was even more "motivated" to get me over to their stalls! I quickly hurried away from this kind of harassment and back to the van to transport us back home.

So that was basically our main activity we had in Chiengmai.