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| Finally! Caught a tiger by the tail |
So I decided it was high time to travel up to the North end of Thailand. I have never travelled up there, though have read a lot of others experiences, and have always had it on my "bucket list". I finally made the trip in September of 2011 and spent 2 weeks in and around Chiang Mai, Thailand. As you can see by the above picture, they tend to "bend the rules" in Thailand, if you just ask. As I was signing my waiver of responsibility, I asked one of the animal keepers "You have fed them today, haven't you?", adding a nervous laugh - though totally serious. He just smiled and shook his head affirmative. To this day, I truly don't think he had a clue what I was asking......At any rate, it was a very cool experience! I spent about 1/2 hour with this tiger, amongst a total of four. The other three didn't really get to close to me, but me and this fella kind of bonded. I felt so, at least :-) Here was the ONLY instruction I was given before they sent me through the cage door: "No approach tiger from front. Come from back or side, no front. If come at front, maybe not good. Fight. You know?" I just put my sunglasses on and went for it thinking, "Well? Here goes......this might be how it all ends."
One of the very first things I do upon landing in Thailand, is get myself a motorcycle. This gives me the freedom to travel in all different directions, when I want and for how long I want to be gone. Sometimes, I just just ended up staying the night at a countryside room/bungalow knowing that I have travelled too far today and won't have time to make it back "home". This was one of those days.....This little one is a member of the Karen tribe. These people are from Burma and live up in the highlands (jungles) of North Thailand. The fabrics, crafts, goods that you can purchase are ALL handmade by these good people. I had a chance to spend some time talking with some of these women. I can tell you that in all of my traveling experiences around this globe,
I have never come across more Sweet, Innocent and Charming human beings than the ones I met today. .
The following pictures are other members who live in this commune and the crafts that they made there.
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| The Brass rings are solid. This neckpiece weights 10 lbs. Very Solid! |
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| Various chokers, necklaces and bangles. |
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| Silver Belt |
These jewelry items are made of silver. They are exquisite. If you are a lover of silver as I am, you could spend all day looking over these items. They are fairly cheap too. I didn't drive a bargain with these people as they the prices they were asking were WAY more than fair. It's the only way they make any money....
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| A bed runner. 4 days to make one of these. Cost? 5 dollars. |
And here is a shot of their village and the local church they have on the hill. It's a very peaceful existence. I did not feel sorry for these people when it's time to leave, I just came to understand them. They are happy
through simplicity.
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| Small village of the Karen tribe. Northern Thailand |
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Home made bow/arrow.
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I shot bow with this lady above. She was eager to show me what a nice piece it was, and that she makes them herself. She had a target set up about 25 ft away. The target was a few mangos attached to a hunk of plywood. She handed me the bow with a smile. This is a cross bow, with trigger. I nailed the mango on the first shot which surprised the both of us! This thing shot hard and straight. Very accurate piece. I was really impressed.
I got a little deeper into the northern territory and found a place called Doi Suthep. It's just a wonderful motorcycle ride uphill, to the mountain tops. The whole road is nice tight "S" turns. It's the ultimate motorcycle road trip. Loved it so much that I did it three days in a row! Up on top of Doi Suthep is a very famous Wat (temple). Along the way, I managed to find some pretty cool waterfalls to hike back into.
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| Waterfall, a secret hike in North Thailand. Can't tell you where it is :-) |
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Wat Doi Suthep. Yes, it's all real gold.
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| Buddhist prayer bells |
Up and around the temple, there are these "prayer bells". Most every Buddhist temple will have these.
There is so many pictures that I want to add here which I have in my albums, but I just cannot add them all. I do have to include a couple of the Panda Bears that I visited though.......If you have never seen a Panda bear up close, let me assure you that they are as every bit of humorous as you have seen on the television. Once you spend some time near them, you start to understand how precious they are, and I am thankful that the Chinese have taken such a lead role in the protection of these endangered animals. What personality these bears have!!
Okay, I will end this post now. I had a wonderful time in the North of Thailand. There are so many more pictures that I want to add, but I'm running out of time. Ofcourse, I might add some more later as time allows, but wanted to get this updated as soon as I can. I am back in Qatar now working, and planning my next trip. There might be a surprise on my next posting, but I can't say anything about it yet. I won't even disclose where I'm flying off to next. It might ruin the surprise.
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| Hey! Who's that guy? |
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| Just leaving my mark |
