6 pm...

... is the time to pay our respects to the king.

In every public place (train station, open-air market...), loudspeakers are on and, after a short speech, sometimes a cuntdown or a short English announcement exhorting us tourist to stand up and pay our respects to the kind, they play what we guess is the national anthem. Everything stops. The whole Sunday market was at a standstill. And then, life picks up as if nothing had happened.

(By the way, there are flags everywhere.)

Train ticket

The tickets here are an adventure. Following the difficulties we had to buy tickets from Ayutthaya to Chiang Mai, we had decided to buy the return ticketsupon our arrival in Chiang Mai... which we promptly forgot in our rush to find the guesthouse.

So we went to one of the numerous "tourist information centers", where everything from tickets to tours can be bought. Of course the train was full, but as we already had learned, waiting and asking again could yield us better results. So since Sunday morning, we have been checking several times daily with our favorite center to see if any tickets were available... which they were.

Solene credits her prayers to Ganesh for our  luck.

(When leaving the center, our charming saleswoman ran after us because the train station had called her back and there was a slight change in the availabilities of our tickets; her (land)phone in hand, more than 100m from the agency, she confirmed our booking on the spot. That's service...)

So we are leaving tonight for Bangkok!

To come, our tales of the Sunday Market and of our cruise on the river!

(It is again 10am here, so it is 4am for you folks!)

Elephants!

They said 8am, and there were there at 8am sharp. Which would have been a lot lovelier if we hadn't thus missed breakfast. But, well, elephants.

Our driver was probably a tuk-tuk driver in another life -he did make the tires of the mini-van squeal more than once. But after about an hour's drive, we arrived at the Thai Elephant Farm. We were welcomed with fresh water, pants and tunics for riding the beasties, and a nice speech on how they treated elephants (nicely) and respected the environment.

Af ter paying our respects to Ganesh, the god of elephants, we were armed with simple commands words and bananas to get acquainted with our new friends. (Basically, we learned to make the elephant kneel to get up and down on it, stand up, go forward, turn, and stop. Command words are accompanied with traction on the ear, or movements of the legs behind the ears.)

Solene had a lady whose unpronouncable Thai name means "Long Life", while I was paired with Loulou, a lovely brunette, and one of the tallest -which might be a reflection of my height.

After some awkward manoeuvers, we were up, and starting on our ride.

Elephants are not a smooth ride. Too forward, and you risk falling down the front of the animal (we sat on the neck), too far back and you sit on the shoulders, which move too much to be a right seat. There is a middle way, in which previously unused muscles make themselves know.

We rode thus to the "natural spa", a spot where black clay can be found, where we had lunch, were kissed by various elephants when fed banana leaves, and scrubbed the back of most of the ladies. The guide also generously covered our exposed skin with mud, all for a better skin.

(Our lunch was a dish of rice, vegetables and chicken, wrapped in banana leaves: lambas.)

After a break, we rode our elephants back down the river, where we bathed (or where bathed by) them (the version depends on who tells the story, the human or the elephant).

And back to the farm, where we brought bananas to the seven-and-a-half-month-old calf, had fresh ananas, shower, a spa of natural Thai herbs, and a CD with the pictures taken along the way. We were also each given a framed picture of us in a frame reputedly made of elephant poop!

And we are finally back and dreading sore muscles tomorrow!

Coconut

What is more tempting than a coconut, cooled on a bed of ice, its top opened in front of you with a machete, a straw slipped inside...?

And of course, one should eat the fresh meat of the fruit before disposing of the rind.

Available in almost every street-stall.

Of cats and dogs

Actually, I should say of dogs and cats, since there are more of the former than of the later in my story.

Bangkok and Chiang Mai are both full of errant animals. Stray dogs are the majority in Bangkok -they are EVERYWHERE. And they seem peaceful, not starved and menacing. They were sleeping everywhere in Ayutthaya also, curled up in the sunshine in the ruins of the ancient temples.

 

Cats are the animal of choice here in the north. Most probably are attached to an household, though, since we saw collars on some of them.

And speaking of animals... we are back from riding elephants!

Taking the night train (after)

Though we didn't know what to expect from our night, we were relieved to find that our travel would be relatively uneventful. We had separate berths, our neighbours were German or Austrian, and the main events were going up on our berths and sleeping through the light, the noise, and the jarring.

We were served diner -which we ordered- on a table added between the seats, and other attendants came to unfold the sleeping arrangements and make the bed.

We arrived almost on time,  with the attendants announcing the station well in advance. And unboarding with us was a majority of European tourists.

Chiang Mai : guesthouse, temples et papaye

Nous voici donc arrivées,  après une nuit secouée, à Chiang Mai. Nous avions oublié de prendre l'adresse de notre guesthouse, et heureusement, parmi tous les chauffeurs qui nous ont assaillies, le plus persistant a reconnu le nom.

Notre guesthouse a tout ce qu'on lui demande : nous avons une petite chambre, avec un accès internet et à l'extérieur, quelques tables et des hamacs. Tout est dans un style mignon, et c'est surtout très calme, alors que nous sommes en plein dans le centre historique.

Le patio de la guesthouse

Après avoir profité des réconforts de la civilisation (une douche), nous avons fait un petit tour de la vieille ville, à pied (ce qui est un certain challenge : les trottoirs sont défoncés, inexistants par endroits puis larges à d'autres, comme un circuit d'accrobranche : d'autre part il y a encore plus de tuk-tuk que ce qu'on avait vu jusque là, si c'est possible).

Chiang Mai: un temple

En tout cas, nous en avons profité pour faire des achats de touriste, et trouver des timbres : nous sommes en train de nous attaquer aux cartes postales.

De mon point de vue, Chiang Mai correspond plus a l'image que je me faisais de nos projets : c'est reposant d'avoir un point de chute accessible, et de pouvoir se rendre a quelques endroits a pied, et donc de trouver des petites boutiques sympa a tous les coins de rue. En ce qui concerne la température, elle est peut-être légèrement plus fraiche qu'au sud, mais on sent à peine la différence.