Third gear lucky.
Was so excited about the big day we had planned today, yeeeah! Ned and Quentin were assigned the role of navigators and I took charge of the driving. After securing a Suzuki Carabin (spelling?) jeep for 800 baht (about $US 25) for the day, we took off through the busy streets of Chiang Mai, heading to the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre in Lampang (about 100km away).
20km in and the gearstick got stuck in third. Damn. Pulled into a handily placed garage and played with their dog (which took an intense liking to Ned's leg) for 20mins while the non English speaking Thai bloke fixed it. 100 baht(US$3) for the job, done on the spot... we were laughing! Had that been London and they would have told you it would take three days and you need to leave a 200 quid deposit.
Unfortunately the band-aid only held for another half hour and we were stuck in third yet again. Riding the clutch like a mofo and crossing fingers we never had to stop on a steep hill.
Got to the Elephant Conservation Centre though and things got rapidly better. It was completely awesome, I was made up with the whole place! We cruised around and fed the elephants, then Quent and I went on a ride on one including through the water, then we saw all the mahouds (handlers) wash them in the river, and then they showed us all the training they'd given them. Some of that was a bit circus-y, but I loved it when they played some massive chimes and then got two of the elephants to paint a picture each. One of them painted a whole lot of flowers, complete with petals and leaves and soil on the ground, it was ace (I am a sucker for that kind of thing). Totally loved it to bits. Will put up some pics next time I get my memory stick downloaded to CD.
Then back off to Chiang Mai in the grey machine, navigating rush hour traffic stuck in third gear. I looked like a complete learner driver, revving it up and juddering around corners and away from traffic lights, ha.
Tonight we're off to the night bazaar, and tomorrow we'll go to a couple of the temples around here, then head to Pai, which is about a four hour bus journey. But hey, we're getting good at this stuff now!
The Thai boxing was great last night, but will let Quent fill you in. It seems like sort of a man thing to do.
20km in and the gearstick got stuck in third. Damn. Pulled into a handily placed garage and played with their dog (which took an intense liking to Ned's leg) for 20mins while the non English speaking Thai bloke fixed it. 100 baht(US$3) for the job, done on the spot... we were laughing! Had that been London and they would have told you it would take three days and you need to leave a 200 quid deposit.
Unfortunately the band-aid only held for another half hour and we were stuck in third yet again. Riding the clutch like a mofo and crossing fingers we never had to stop on a steep hill.
Got to the Elephant Conservation Centre though and things got rapidly better. It was completely awesome, I was made up with the whole place! We cruised around and fed the elephants, then Quent and I went on a ride on one including through the water, then we saw all the mahouds (handlers) wash them in the river, and then they showed us all the training they'd given them. Some of that was a bit circus-y, but I loved it when they played some massive chimes and then got two of the elephants to paint a picture each. One of them painted a whole lot of flowers, complete with petals and leaves and soil on the ground, it was ace (I am a sucker for that kind of thing). Totally loved it to bits. Will put up some pics next time I get my memory stick downloaded to CD.
Then back off to Chiang Mai in the grey machine, navigating rush hour traffic stuck in third gear. I looked like a complete learner driver, revving it up and juddering around corners and away from traffic lights, ha.
Tonight we're off to the night bazaar, and tomorrow we'll go to a couple of the temples around here, then head to Pai, which is about a four hour bus journey. But hey, we're getting good at this stuff now!
The Thai boxing was great last night, but will let Quent fill you in. It seems like sort of a man thing to do.
posted by Nic at 6:09 pm
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