Tales of Northern Thailand..

After being in the wilderness of the little village of Bansai, where we did our HelpX volunteering, we got a night bus to Lampang, which was a lovely and laid back little town (although the third largest town in Northern Thailand) just 100km south of Chiang mai. 

Lampang is also called "mueang rot ma" in Thai, meaning "Horse Carriage City"

Elephant bath time!

Here we visited lots of local markets, some impressive temples and the thai elephant conservation center! At the elephant conservation center (TECC), we was able to get up close to the elephants, many of which had been rescued from bad treatment and neglect (Including elephant trekking centres for tourists...) and were pleased to see that TECC is actively involved in conservation and scientific research (some of which has been published!).

When we got to Chiang mai, we first spent the better part of a week doing some voluntary work in the suberbs at a dog rescue shelter called Care for dogs. The shelter primarily deals with adoptions, the after care from surgery/ sterilisation and for the rescue of dog's that have been invlved in bad cruelty cases. They also assist in controlling the population of street and temple dogs through sterilisation programmes, which involve taking the animal to the shelters to neuter and then returning the animal (if fit and healthy) back onto the streets, as many of the street and temple dogs do not make suitable pets!

The dogs enjoying a play in their sandpit :-) All the dogs were kept in one big enclosure rather than seperate kennels, which seemed to work really well- No stereotypical behaviours or constant barking!

 

Whilst volunteering at Care for dogs we got to do a wide variety of tasks...

On a typical day we would help with the feeding and poo-picking, a job that needs to be done, and then we would spend a few hours washing and bathing the dogs that needed medicinal washes (most of the dogs enjoyed their bath time too), take dogs for walks in the nearby jungle forest (watching out for the pesky mosquitos!) and just hangout with the dogs and spend some quality time with them :-)

Bath time for Grayson, in prepartion for the adoption fare!

Puppy cuddle time :-)

Very sweaty, midday walkies in the forest!

Currently, there are around 100 dogs at the care for dogs site, so spending some time interacting with the dogs just patting and talking to them, showed them that not all humans are bad- which was an important task, especially since many of the dogs on the site come in as cruelty cases. 

Not your typical "Handsome" dog, but his nice nature has found him a home in Switzerland!

The care for dogs adoption fare @ Chiang Mai airport

This little pup found a home at the adoption fare

We also would routinely spend the end of our each day in the young dog and puppy area, where we would socialise and play with the puppys and teenegae dogs! It was in here, during our afternoon visit to the puppy and teenage enclosure that we fell in love with a young, white male dog who the centre have named Polo. He was a very shy dog, who would often watch us playing and cuddling the other puppies from a distance. Day by day he would come closer and sniff at us or lick our arm until our last few days at the shelter he would allow us to touch him, pick him up and play with him too! It felt really good to create this bond and teach the young dog that not all humans are bad. We really enjoyed our short time volunteering at care for dogs :-)

Bonding with the white male dog

Adopt me, please??

 

After volunteering at CfD, we stayed in a traditional thai wooden teak guesthouse, Chok Dee, near the popular Somphet market in Chiang Mai. We were also pleased to find where the locals ate, where we had some very tasty food (tom yam soup, spicy papaya salad and some super fruit smoothies!).

The ancient moat which surrounds the old city of Chiang Mai

Temple touristing around Chiang Mai

Awaiting the 15 hour train from Chiang Mai to Bangkok!

We took the night train from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, which should take around 15 hours, but it took just over 17! 

This time we decided to book the 2^nd class sleeper, so we was at least able to get some rest in preparation for Bangkok and we experienced some really great views leaving Chaing Mai as the train headed up into the mountains!

2nd class sleeper train to Bangkok- seats that transform into bunkbeds!

Views of Northern Thailand from the train...

We have spent our last couple nights in Bangkok, staying clear of khoasan (tourist capital!) road and just exploring by foot the sweaty and bustling capital of Thailand!

Busy Bangkok!

Assisting with some food preparations at a food stall in Bangkok...

We ended up in the middle of the June 2012, thai "red shirts" democrazy rally in Bangkok...

Which brings us to today, the day we leave, the day we have been hoping wouldn’t come around so quickly after 222 days of travelling! 

Today is the day that we pack up, and instead of heading to the next guesthouse, or the next town or even country, we instead pack up and go home! From our arrival in Mombasa, Kenya, just 32 weeks ago and  to our departure from Bangkok, Thailand in just a few hours time...we have have experienced alot from start to finish and now possess so many memories!

"I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen..."