In our attempts to save a few thousand Won, we decided to fly out of Seoul and fly into Busan. We had it perfectly planned out. Bus to Seoul in the morning, fly from Seoul--Shanghai (layover)-to Bangkok (sleep at the airport)--to Chiang Mai. We knew it was gonna be long but didn't really thi
nk too much about it. It started to go downhill when we were misinformed about 2 different buses going to Seoul. We wound up riding a bus 3 hours after we'd arrived hoping to get the first one and barely made it to Seoul with literally 5 minutes to spare. Our bus driver was a rockstar, and we made a really great friend on the bus who helped us out alot. We were so scared of missing our flight (especially since we'd arrived so early and should've had plenty of time). We were so relieved when we made it on the plane and everything was ok :)En route to Shanghai, we met a new friend, Jamie, whom was also a fellow Californian and teacher in Korea. We became friends and hung out at the airports together, etc. Katie and I had a horrible nights sleep in the Bangkok airport. No matter how many times I've slept on the floors in Korea, I will still never get used it...especially on hard tile. However, we survived and caught our 8am flight to Chiang Mai.
DAY 1-- After checking into our hostel at around 10:30am, we caught a tuk-tuk and headed to
Tiger Kingdom. One thing on my to-do list was to cuddle with a tiger. Crazy, I know...which is why I love it :) I had a hard ti
me trying to figure out if I wanted to hang out with the baby tigers, the toddler tigers, or the 2 year old tigers (and trust me, there was a HUGE significance in size). Katie decided to be photographer and let me do the tiger cuddling. White Tigers are my favorite animals. These tigers 
weren't white but they were so cool. I had mixed emotions at first since I'd heard about how, at some places, the tigers are sedated. I asked a lot of questions and what I learned was this... The
tigers are at the Tiger Kingdom until they're 2 years old. Up until they're 2 years old, they're still babies (even though they're huge) and are trainable. They're around humans from the day they're born and are trained by a specific method from birth. Since they're little, they're a lot more easy to train. Once they're older than 2, they're considered more adult and not safe for humans anymore. It is then, that they're transferred to a wild life preserve or the zoo. , dangerous (to humans). They were sleeping when I was with them, however I saw them with other people when they were awake. They didn't seem to be sedated. They were walking around, playing in the pools and with their trainers. It was so fun to se
e them (the two in the photo are sisters) having so much fun. They're just so cute...like bit kitties!!! Don't let the pictures fool you (I used to be an actress lol). I'm pretty sure I was flinching and jumping up every 5 seconds (anytime the tiger moved at all). In one of these pictures, the tiger rolls over so he can get up and I nearly ran out of the cage lol. I had a great time though. I'm so glad we did that.After our afternoon with the Tigers, Katie and I decided that it was vital that we start our
Thailand vacation wi
th massages. She read online about this place that train people who are blind to do Thai massages. Like Korea, I can only assume that it is near impossible for people with any kind of disability to get a job. So I was glad that we could support them. The massage was very nice. The masseuses all wore watches with non-annoying alarms that would go off every 20 minutes or so to let them know the time which I thought was cool. They used their arms, elbows, knees, etc to massage all the pressure points all over. They ask in the beginning whatt kind of pressure you want (medium for me), but it w
as still painful at times... I will blame that all on the stress and tension I had built up. I enjoyed it so much and it was nice to see so many other people there helping to support them.After the massages, we walked around one of the main streets of Chiang Mai where there would be a very famous night market (though it wasn't night time yet). We explored one of the Temple grounds, Wat Chedi Luang. Ther
e was the actual modern Temple, and then the Temple from way back when that had originally been burnt down and restored. It was really cool how there were elephants all over the outside of it. I've definitely gotten accustomed to Asian courtesy by cons
tantly removing my shoes when going in and out of houses/Temples (hence why I hate shoes that tie now) and always having a sweater or something appropriate for such an occasion. I was glad because many people were being turned down at the door for having their skirts too short or showing too much shoulder.
I took lots of pics but will only post a pic as to not bore anyone (if anyone still reads this lol). We saw several people paying their respects to Buddha, doing the 100 bows, etc. It was so beautiful inside. We exited the side area and we had just missed 'Monk chat.' Wish I had known. It looked so cool. You can just sit around with the Monks and ask them anything you want about culture, Buddhism, life experiences, etc. Just to talk to them. I would've really enjoyed that. They had all these inspirational quotes on all the trees in the area. It was really nice.Towards the evening when the market opened, we were excited to shop. However, we had no idea how big it actually was. Think of a 4 way intersection and markets that extend for several blocks in each direction. So big! We managed to buy little things here and there which were really cool. We both got beach dresses, I got beach sandles, a ring watch, a brass-like bracelet, we got some food, and root beer (
exciting and rare to find. we were very excited about that), gifts for relatives, and other little things here and there . We must've started shopping around 7pm and continued until 11pm...and we still didn't see everything. It was so overwhelming because we wanted to buy everything. We were able to
haggle with the people which made me think I could always get things at a cheaper place so it was hard to commit to them individually. We saw these random candy like things that were sooooo colorful and pretty (see picture). We asked what was in it and found out that it was like coconut milk and sugar type stuff. So, for $0.01 each, we decided to try it. Definitely wasn't bad. A bit bland for taste but interesting to try. There were kids
dancing and singing in different costu
mes. They were sooo cute. Some of them were really good too! We saw a cart of like 20 different types of...BUGS!!! There were beetles, crickets, flies, chrysali (is that right? plural of crysalis? )just all kinds of creepy crawling things that people like to eat... WIERD!! So yes, it started raining and Katie and I went back to our cute little hostel and packed up for the next days events.... The Elephant Sanctuary :)DAY 2--The van picked us up at 8am and we drove for about an hour. We arrived at the Elephant Nature Park. We watched a movie about the woman, Lek, who started it. She is amazing. Truly an inspirational person. She has has started from nothing and managed to rescue 36 elephants from abusive owners. Many of them were riding elephants (the kind with the big chairs) or street walker elephants...both of which can be very traumatizing to them. When I arrived in Thailand, I really wanted to ride an elephant, but after learning about it all, I changed my mind. Many times, the owners will put them a trecherous 'training' period in order to show the elephants whose boss which involves poking and cutting them in the eyes, feet (which are VERY sensitive) and all over their body with spears until just tons of blood is leaking out. The elephants have no where to go but just take it. It's horrible. And ironic, that the elephants are such a strong symbol of Thailand...they're becoming extinct...that's this is a reason why. It's so great to see them so free and taken care of. She hires entire families of refugees from other countries and gets them work visas, etc. They act as cooks, elephant trainers, cleaning staff, etc. Needs lots of people to help run a place like this. Every elephant has their own trainer that they bond with and listen to. She's really an incredible woman. Sooo...on our adventure, we started by feeding the elephants. They are all vegetarians and eat a lot of fruit. We fed them watermelons and bananas. With 36 elephants, yo
u can just imagine how much food they go through (they practically support the entire town with all the produce they buy from local farmers). I was a bit nervous at the beginning of the feedings. We're supposed to hold out the food for the elephants and they'd retrieve it themselves with their trunks. But they were so BIG, and Strong, and I was just really nervous at first. I warmed up quickly though. After elephant feeding time, was human feeding time. They offered us a buffet for lunch and it was DELICOUS!! It was heaven. So many delicious foods to choose from. I don't do well at buffets. My eyes are constantly bigger than my stomach 
and I just make myself look like a pig. But it was soooooo
good!!!After lunch was elephant bath time! We went into the river that was on the reserve and got to bath the elephants. They loved it. They were playing with us, washing themselves with their trunks, and we all had a good time getting dirty. We actually had 2 chances to bathe the elephants. Once in the early afternoon and a few hours later in the early evening. Both times were jus
t as fun. They really are amazing elephants. In between those two times, we had time to roam the grounds and hang out with the elephants, just walking with them, etc. Some of the stories we heard were just so sad. We got to learn about them individually...the bad elephants, the teenage/naughty elephants, the 'mother-like' elephants, etc. We got to watch a documentary that was made about the reserve which was aired as a travel show on television (in an english speaking country...not sure which one) very interesting. I managed to win a really cool tote bag when I answered a question about it all afterwards. All in all, we had a really busy, impactful, amazing day. I was so glad we went. It was definitely an experience I'll never forget. I now have a soft spot for the very large, but very sweet animals.After the Elephant Nature Park, we went ventured out for our last dinner in Chiang Mai.
We had an e
vening flight to catch. We found a restaurant near the market area that we were at the night before. We had a very nice dinner filled with fruit smoothies, mango curry, asperagus and shrimp. It was just sooooo delicious. Such a nice chance from kimchi :)So that concludes my section on Chiang Mai. Next up is Phuket....
