Day 51 to 54: Changmai

So after bypassing all that Bangkok had to offer, we arrived in Changmai. We stayed in a great small hotel which gave us the best price on all of the tours that we did. The next day, we went on our first trip which was an elephant trekking trip. First we went to an elephant camp where we got to ride an elephant through the jungle. It was awesome! Next we went to see a hill tribe and then on to a waterfall. W e couldn't go swimming because there had been too much rain over the last few days and it was too dangerous. So from there we went for lunch and then to our last stop, which was a bamboo river rafting ride. It was so much fun and our guides had a great time trying to scare everyone along the way. This was probably our favorite day so far on our travels since we got to do so many amazing things.

That same evening, we went to a Muay Thai fight . It was a small little venue in the middle of a market. There were even two Canadian's fighting. However, the first guy lost to a Thai, too bad. The second Canadian fighting was a girl who looked so unassuming. She was fighting a scary looking British woman. But when the fight started, the Canadian annihilated the other girl. It was great fun, but we got home very late and had to be up extra early for our next trip.

The next day we headed out on another tour that took us to The Golden Triangle, which is the boarder of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. There, we got to go into Laos for a bit and then right to a market that borders Myanmar. At the end of the day we got to go to see the Carin Long-neck tribe. They are refugees and can leave the area that the Thai government have given them to live in. Apart from the huge amount of driving required on this day, it was great fun.

On our final day in Changmai before heading back to Bangkok, we decided to go to Tiger Kingdom. We got to go into the cage with 5 month old baby tigers and 1 and a half year old, full grown tigers. It was amazing since they were so tame. The amazing thing is the trainers can control a full grown tiger with a small bamboo stick. We were told that they can only be kept at this centre until they are 2 years old because after that, their hormones start taking over and they go wild. This was something amazing and we hope one day to come back and do it again.