Today Annalise and I did a tour.  Our driver took us up to Mae Rim, an area North of Chaing Mai.  The first place we went to was an elephant camp where you can ride elephants.  There is big controversy about animals used for tourist purposes and I have very mixed feelings about it myself.  Annalise is against it so we decided to do the bamboo raft ride.  It was wonderful.  It was beautiful and relaxing and just what I needed after being sick.  We got to see the elephants with riders in the water which was magical.  After that we did a zip line tour.  This was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.  We zipped over an amazing river and never saw any signs of civilization other than the zip course.  The next stop was an orchid farm.  A lot of the world’s orchids are grown in Thailand so it was neat to see a farm.  I took so many photos that I will post them in a separate blog that you only have to look at if you are into orchids.  The next stop was Tiger Kingdom where you can pet tigers.  I really want to pet a tiger, but if they really are drugged or mistreated, I’m going to feel that and I don’t want to feel that.  So, I went back and forth and finally decided to tell the driver not to stop.  So, we went to the snake farm.  They rushed us into the snake show.  The audience was made up of about 20 Thai women.  The snake guy had a king cobra out and there was loud rock music playing and a lady on the microphone telling us to come up and take a picture.  There was no getting out of it.  We had to take pictures with the snake behind us and if I wasn’t close enough I had to scooch closer and take the picture again.  The show went on with Thai cobras and other snakes.  The lady on the microphone was so funny and with everything the snakes did the Thai audience squealed, screamed, and ran to higher seats.  All of it was extremely entertaining.  The next stop was the monkey school.  The second we walked in I felt horrible.  There was a monkey show where the monkey swam for money, rode a bike, picked coconuts and did other stuff.  The place had a horrible feel to it and I couldn’t wait to leave.  Now I’m real glad I didn’t do the Tiger thing.  I think it would have upset me as much if not more.

Later I went to a night market by myself.  It was like I remembered Chaing Mai from years ago, but with way more people.  I wandered through back streets looking at tons of hand made goods.  I stopped at a row of chairs and got a leg/foot massage.  Of in the distance I could hear drums being played.  There were pretty lights in the trees and I just watched the people go by. It was very peaceful.  After my massage, I followed the sound of the drums and found a temple all lit up.  There were a lot of people at the temple and the drummers were out front.  The ordination hall of this temple was all in silver metal which I haven’t seen before.  They had color changing lights shining on it so it kept changing it’s color.  Then they announced that the candle lite ceremony would start in 5 minutes so I bought a pack (candle, incense and offering flower).  They turned off all the lights, the drumming stopped and the monks came out and lit candles.  Then everyone walked around the ordination hall 3 times in silent meditation.  Then you put the candles in holders and put the incense, flower and any further donation you wanted to at the altar.  It was mostly foreigners, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a special occasion, but something they do to make money making the foreigners feel like they happened on something special.  But, it worked, it was a unique experience and I’m glad I happened upon it.

(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore