Chiang Mai and Hong Kong

We flew to Chiang Mai on Air Asia – I’ve lost track of how many Air Asia flights we’ve been on. It’s a super cheap airline but they charge you for absolutely everything: food, drinks, comfort set, etc. You have to be careful as it can start to add up.
In Kuala Lumpur, Air Asia flies in and out of the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT). It’s as if AA has taken over the entire place – one doesn’t see a lot of other airlines there. The place is no frills: passengers unload from the plane out on the tarmac then walk, and walk, and walk through covered open to the hot air pathways to the tiny arrival department. When we left for Chiang Mai, we decided to grab some lunch before going through to our gate. As AA always runs late, Ian and I figured that going through a little more than an hour before boarding would be more than enough time. Little did we know, the line ups for immigration were HUGE and SLOW. All three of us stood in different lines and boy did they crawl. We were still in line when I heard them announce our flight was boarding!

Finally, I got through and booked it to the gate. They were closing it when I got there. I ran up to the woman and told her that my friends were stuck in the immigration lines and would be along shortly, I explained how long and how slow the lines were. She said she wondered what was going on because so few people boarded the plane. As I stood there waiting for Cindy and Ian, passenger after passenger ran up to the gates – they too had been caught in the lines. The AA attendants were growing impatient and wanted to close the gate but I pleaded with them and finally Ian and Cindy came running. We were so lucky!

In Chiang Mai, Ian found a great deal for Le Meridien so we stayed there. Rooms were lovely and we felt quite spoiled. That night, we toured around the night market and had some Indian food for dinner. It was super cheap (I think it cost maybe 15 dollars for the three of us) and it was yummy!

The next day, Cindy and I were off to the elephant park – although I had just been there not long before, I didn’t mind returning one bit. The elephants as usual were stunning to see – especially up close and personal. Here’s me getting a nice wet kiss from the baby –

Both Cindy and I got in the water to throw buckets of water on the hot elephants.

Best of all was watching them play in the mud. One naughty elephant got a hold of the hose and wrapped it around his trunk to swing all over the place. It was great fun watching the young fellow try to get the hose back only to be chased away. Eventually the elephant pulled too hard and the hose popped off the tap. It was hilarious to see all the elephants just stop what they were doing almost in disbelief.

We had a super time but both of us were happy to get home to clean the dust and elephant saliva off us.

Our adventure with the wild-life was only to continue. Ian had arranged a driver to take us to the Tiger Kingdom the next morning.  I had read about this place last time Ian and I were in Chiang Mai but we just couldn’t fit a visit into our schedule. Large enclosures with several young tigers are spaced around the property and visitors pay to enter the enclosures with the tigers. Only a few people at a time are allowed in. Like everyone else, I was sceptical and emailed the park to find out how this was possible. Were the tigers drugged?

I was assured that absolutely no drugs were used and when you saw the tigers playing, you could see they were not drugged. The reason visits were possible, the park said, was because the tigers were all under 2 years old – apparently after that, they were too aggressive and unpredictable for human contact. Once the tigers reached that age, they were sent to zoos. The tigers had all been born at the park so none were captured from the wild (although who knows where the original mama and papa came from).  The park also said, visitors were never left alone in the enclosure without staff and all staff were highly trained.

As we entered the park complex, the first thing we saw were 4 very large tigers playing in a pool of water with two staff members in the enclosure with them.

The tigers were gianormous, and gorgeous. We stood in awe watching them, they were so magnificent. The staff held long poles with loose bits of strong material on the end and were playing with the big cats just like we would play with a kitten, teasing them with the cloth so the cats would jump up trying to catch the material in their claws and teeth.

Entrance to the park is paid according to which size of tiger you want to get close with – Cindy and I chose smallest, small, and large. Ian chose smallest and large. It wasn’t cheap but it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I was taking advantage.

Our first visit was with the little ones. A few were in a playful mood -

 …while others just wanted to nap.

 We fed them from bottles, pet them and just sat there watching them.

Next up were the small – or medium tigers.

These fellows were in a very playful mood: jumping in and out of the pool and play fighting each other. It was hard to get a photo with any of them but eventually one stopped for a little rest break and I jumped in there for a shot…

Absolutely gorgeous creatures….

…such great faces.

Last up - the big tigers... I couldn’t help but be a wee bit spooked by these ones – they were so BIG.  One of the keepers motioned to me to come behind the tiger for a photo but as I moved towards her, she growled. It was because I had walked too much in a line towards her rather than come in from the side. It freaked me out, but the keeper encouraged me to keep going so Ian and I got in behind and they snapped off a photo –

I guess the stick kept her occupied and happy….

The best was the sleepy guy on the table. He was so accommodating, didn’t mind us laying on him one bit –

I know that this experience was probably bad in so many ways – and I’m sure someone out there could easily criticize us for encouraging tigers to be kept in captivity but man..what an incredible morning.

On our way out, Cindy and Ian decided to go zorping(at least I think that's what you call it). I’d never even heard of this before. You crawl into a large plastic ball which is sealed and filled with air.

Then you’re set off onto the water where you attempt to move –

It was wonderful watching these two try as hard as they could to stand up –

The report: HOT but a blast. After a refreshing drink we headed off to see the Karin women.

I was hoping to see their village and not a market place but that’s what we got so we made the best of it. Cindy loves to shop so we took our time browsing through all the scarves and jewelry. I must confess, I picked up the shopping bug…

The hoops on the Karin women’s necks are added as they grow from young children to adults. Long ago, the hoops were added to make the women more attractive to men but rumour is, now they exist for tourism alone; and contrary to rumour, the hoops can be removed without the women’s necks collapsing.

The next morning Cindy and I headed out to see the temples while Ian arranged a motorbike rental for his solo trip around northern Thailand.  Ian was really looking forward to riding a bike on those curvy hilly roads and it would be nice to have some ‘girl time’ with Cindy but when the time came to say good bye to Ian, it was really hard. We’d been together 24/7 for 8 months and here we were, parting company for a good 10 days. It felt downright strange.

Cindy and I were off to Hong Kong for a few days before returning to Thailand for some diving before she left us for Canada. Ian and I had been to Hong Kong for a short trip when we lived in Korea and had both enjoyed it so I was certainly looking forward to going back.

Cindy used her Marriot points to score us a few nights on Hong Kong Island and what a great hotel the Marriot that turned out to be!!! From the airport we took the train and then a free shuttle bus to the hotel. Our room was fantastic – a corner room with a great view of the harbour. We didn’t even want to leave the room, the view was so amazing; but time was ticking and we had things we wanted to accomplish. One was doing high tea.

The Marriot does ‘tea’ so we went downstairs to check things out. It turned out to be a tea buffet rather than high tea; a new concept to us but we decided to give it a go. We made reservations for later and headed to the mall attached to the hotel; not to shop but to look for the escalators that led up the hill to Hong Kong Park. The day was cool and the park crowded with visitors. We found a neat water fountain where the water spilled over the sides of a pedestal-type structure leaving plenty of room to slip underneath for a photo. We had a blast getting lots of photos but unfortunately those are all on Cindy’s camera. I left our camera with Ian. I did manage to get a few photos from Cindy before she left for home but those ones, I don’t have.

After walking around the park, we headed into the free tea museum that held an exhibit of art pieces focusing on tea.  Most of the art work consisted of various tea sets centred on a theme – I remember being very impressed with some, and thinking others were quite ugly. Wish I had photos to share of those but photography was not permitted.

It was soon time to return to the hotel for our dinner. The buffet had all sorts of goodies: noodle soup, smoked salmon, breads and cheese, Caesar salad, anti-pasta, dim sum, and of course, lots of desserts including scones and clotted cream. There were quite a few teas to choose from and they were yummy. I had pear and Cindy had blueberry. The buffet tea was a reasonable price and we left full and happy.

That night we headed out across the harbour by metro to watch the laser show. We were pretty excited having both seen the huge Robert LePage show in Quebec City where a movie was projected onto a km of silos sitting in the harbour and lasers, smoke and fire added to the effects. Here in Hong Kong, Samsung was the sponsor so it was no surprise that the Samsung building featured prominently in this show. After 15 minutes of lasers shooting across the harbour and into the sky, and buildings flashing on and off, it was over. Loud music played in the background but the timing with the lights didn’t always work. The show left us disappointed but still, we were in Hong Kong so who could be upset with that?!