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The big trip to Thailand is over. It was a great experience.
Our itinerary went something like this:
We flew directly to Chang Mai and registered at the Empress Hotel there. It is a pretty nice hotel with good food for a good price. The view from my room was an expansive view of mountains in the distance and the city of Chiang Mai in the foreground. From there we visited the elephant camps nearby, the silk production facility, and the renowned silver company. We also went up to the Doi Inthanon National Forest for a few days. Right from the very start, that part of the trip offered us all kinds of opportunities to see wildlife that we had never encountered before. Within 15 minutes of getting out of the bus my friend Svavar found a large stick insect and then we started finding cicada exoskeletons. The noise from the cicadas was so deafening that it was almost painful to walk in the woods there. Using the cabins in the park as a base camp, we headed out in minivans everyday for long walks in different kinds of forest (rain forest, cloud forest, coniferous forest, bamboo, etc.) and for trips to take in a bit of the local culture including a walk through the village of a hill tribe where opium production has been replaced by coffee, rice and even trout. We also enjoyed trips to two of the royal garden projects in the Doi Inthanon area. As I learned for the first time in the course, the royal family of Thailand has taken a real active role in preserving the wildlife of the country. They have achieved a great deal of headway in protecting species from extinction and restoring many area that had been threatened by encroaching civilization. This hill tribe is a good example of the positive impact that the royal family has had. They were opium farmers (the hill tribe, not the royal family) with no other trades. It is the King and his power that has provided them with training in other means of building their economic ability.
During our stay in Doi Inthanon, we also got a chance to see a pair of beautiful temples. Each day I was there I woke up around 5 to walk in the surrounding valleys of the area where we stayed. It was very nice time to be alone and enjoy the sounds sights and smells of nature without having to think about the other 49 or so students who made up the rest of the group. Very often on our walks in the woods we were divided into smaller groups to increase our chances of seeing wild life. However, during the whole two weeks, the only mammals I saw were three tree shrews, a handful of squirrels, trained elephants, and stray dogs and cats. The elephants were, however a real highpoint for me. They are very small (compared to the African elephants I am more accustomed to seeing in zoos) and have very much personality. We also saw a surprisingly small diversity of birds considering the species richness found in Thailand. But butterflies and other insects abounded and that was very certainly very interesting.
After leaving the forest, we traveled south to Bangkok. This is a place for people who like big cities and no one else. There is a great amount of history in scattered around the city and having a native guide is a real plus. A tour of the royal palace and the temple of the Emerald Buddah should be on anyone's list when in the city for the first time. Other than that, we shopped and toured the biology department of Chualalonkorn University. That place was really cool! They have a wonderful collection in the natural history museum there and the photography museum is well set-up and worth a look. While in Bangkok we also took a bus trip up the Ayutthaya, the old capitol of Thailand. Before the Burmese army burned it to the ground, the city of Ayuttaya must have been truly a magnificent place. Even today it is rich with temples and other beautiful architecture. We took a 3 hour boat trip back to Bangkok from there.
During our stay we also went to the island of Ko Chang. This was an island paradise and the best place (of the places we visited) for a family vacation. On the island we walked through a mangrove forest (knee deep muck and biting ants-we had a blast!) and we snorkeled Ko Wai (a bit too silty to see much, but very fun nonetheless). I took a firefly tour with a couple of friends for a very relaxing evening canoe ride in the dark. We saw some fireflies which are far more flashy that the ones in the States, though it was short trip, but what do you expect for such little money (about $1.80, or 250 ISK).
But one things that everyone from the west should definitely do in Thailand is get a massage. In fact, I recommend several massages from different parlors because each woman has her own technique. Some places focus on releasing the stress saved up in joints that need to be cracked while others work your muscles to the point where, as you try to walk out, you feel like a boiled noodle. Then the hot oil massages are more just pure relaxation. Aaaaaaaahh! I will miss that aspect of the trip the most.
Anyone who has been to Thailand will tell you that most of the stuff you might want to buy is a lot cheaper there than anywhere. That's not entirely true. Electronic stuff (digital cameras, and such) cost about the same as they do in the States. But clothes, jewelry, and toys all cost a fraction of their western counterparts. But what you cannot forget is the cheapness of the food. Thai food is among the best in the world. It doesn't matter where you go in Thailand, you will be well fed in any meal for under $5. The cheapest full meal I got cost me about $1.20. Everything tastes good in Thailand except for the little green things that look like peas. Those are the smallest eggplant in the world and their flavor is extremely potent and unpleasant to the western tongue.
Pictures will be added to my little blog here and stories as well when I feel less jet lagged.
Our itinerary went something like this:
We flew directly to Chang Mai and registered at the Empress Hotel there. It is a pretty nice hotel with good food for a good price. The view from my room was an expansive view of mountains in the distance and the city of Chiang Mai in the foreground. From there we visited the elephant camps nearby, the silk production facility, and the renowned silver company. We also went up to the Doi Inthanon National Forest for a few days. Right from the very start, that part of the trip offered us all kinds of opportunities to see wildlife that we had never encountered before. Within 15 minutes of getting out of the bus my friend Svavar found a large stick insect and then we started finding cicada exoskeletons. The noise from the cicadas was so deafening that it was almost painful to walk in the woods there. Using the cabins in the park as a base camp, we headed out in minivans everyday for long walks in different kinds of forest (rain forest, cloud forest, coniferous forest, bamboo, etc.) and for trips to take in a bit of the local culture including a walk through the village of a hill tribe where opium production has been replaced by coffee, rice and even trout. We also enjoyed trips to two of the royal garden projects in the Doi Inthanon area. As I learned for the first time in the course, the royal family of Thailand has taken a real active role in preserving the wildlife of the country. They have achieved a great deal of headway in protecting species from extinction and restoring many area that had been threatened by encroaching civilization. This hill tribe is a good example of the positive impact that the royal family has had. They were opium farmers (the hill tribe, not the royal family) with no other trades. It is the King and his power that has provided them with training in other means of building their economic ability.
During our stay in Doi Inthanon, we also got a chance to see a pair of beautiful temples. Each day I was there I woke up around 5 to walk in the surrounding valleys of the area where we stayed. It was very nice time to be alone and enjoy the sounds sights and smells of nature without having to think about the other 49 or so students who made up the rest of the group. Very often on our walks in the woods we were divided into smaller groups to increase our chances of seeing wild life. However, during the whole two weeks, the only mammals I saw were three tree shrews, a handful of squirrels, trained elephants, and stray dogs and cats. The elephants were, however a real highpoint for me. They are very small (compared to the African elephants I am more accustomed to seeing in zoos) and have very much personality. We also saw a surprisingly small diversity of birds considering the species richness found in Thailand. But butterflies and other insects abounded and that was very certainly very interesting.
After leaving the forest, we traveled south to Bangkok. This is a place for people who like big cities and no one else. There is a great amount of history in scattered around the city and having a native guide is a real plus. A tour of the royal palace and the temple of the Emerald Buddah should be on anyone's list when in the city for the first time. Other than that, we shopped and toured the biology department of Chualalonkorn University. That place was really cool! They have a wonderful collection in the natural history museum there and the photography museum is well set-up and worth a look. While in Bangkok we also took a bus trip up the Ayutthaya, the old capitol of Thailand. Before the Burmese army burned it to the ground, the city of Ayuttaya must have been truly a magnificent place. Even today it is rich with temples and other beautiful architecture. We took a 3 hour boat trip back to Bangkok from there.
During our stay we also went to the island of Ko Chang. This was an island paradise and the best place (of the places we visited) for a family vacation. On the island we walked through a mangrove forest (knee deep muck and biting ants-we had a blast!) and we snorkeled Ko Wai (a bit too silty to see much, but very fun nonetheless). I took a firefly tour with a couple of friends for a very relaxing evening canoe ride in the dark. We saw some fireflies which are far more flashy that the ones in the States, though it was short trip, but what do you expect for such little money (about $1.80, or 250 ISK).
But one things that everyone from the west should definitely do in Thailand is get a massage. In fact, I recommend several massages from different parlors because each woman has her own technique. Some places focus on releasing the stress saved up in joints that need to be cracked while others work your muscles to the point where, as you try to walk out, you feel like a boiled noodle. Then the hot oil massages are more just pure relaxation. Aaaaaaaahh! I will miss that aspect of the trip the most.
Anyone who has been to Thailand will tell you that most of the stuff you might want to buy is a lot cheaper there than anywhere. That's not entirely true. Electronic stuff (digital cameras, and such) cost about the same as they do in the States. But clothes, jewelry, and toys all cost a fraction of their western counterparts. But what you cannot forget is the cheapness of the food. Thai food is among the best in the world. It doesn't matter where you go in Thailand, you will be well fed in any meal for under $5. The cheapest full meal I got cost me about $1.20. Everything tastes good in Thailand except for the little green things that look like peas. Those are the smallest eggplant in the world and their flavor is extremely potent and unpleasant to the western tongue.
Pictures will be added to my little blog here and stories as well when I feel less jet lagged.
posted by Our Hero, at 10:39 AM
1 Comments:
Hljómar vel, takk fyrir okkur og góða ferð :)
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