Chiang Mai

The next day I jumped on an overnight train to a town that the old empower used to live in. The train was an overnight because it took almost 15 hours to get there. And when I arrived, well I saw much of the same old shit. Don't get me wrong, Buddhist Wats (temples) are ornate and well maintained and usually have a magnificent oversized gold Buddha inside but after the third or fourth one they start to lose their appeal. That's why day 2 in Chiang Mai I decided to splurge and get out of the city. I signed up for a day trek with a tour company along the edge of a national park. What really sold me was the elephant rides.
I can't say I've ever seen an elephant so to be able to ride one was quite an experience. It was one of those times where I stepped out of the van and started laughing to myself. "A fucking elephant!" What a massive and strange looking creature. I had to buy a hand of bananas from the local women to feed Matu, as my lady elephant was called. When Matu found out I was packing snacks she would constantly stop and swing her trunk over her head and point it at my face like a giant bazooka and wait for me to feed her. It started to annoy me after a while. She was like an arcade game that would pause until you fed it more coins. I can't stop the game mid ride Matu. Pay to play I suppose.
Just when my thighs were starting to hurt from straddling Matu's neck, the ride was over and the trek continued. This time to a rural village where women would sit at their looms weaving scarves and blankets. The people in this village were quite poor and it felt strange walking through their homes snapping pictures of them on my iPhone while they walk barefoot around their straw huts. I looked at it as a cultural experience that needed to be documented. I also bought some bracelets off the local kids. As if my 10 baht is really going to make a difference.
Next stop was a rafting trip. Not your typical rapids and certainly not your typical raft. Ten bamboo shoots were fastened together with thin strips of an old car tire and, well, that was it. A glorified stream was our rapids and one of the local boys stood on the bow and guided us along with yet another long bamboo shoot. More of a punting experience than rafting but a good time none-the-less.
I made it home in time for supper at the night bazaar with a couple hostel goers and chalked the 24th of April up as a win.