Chiang Mai - The land of elephants. Monday, May 19, 2014 |Comment(s)
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| Fredfredtan says... It's been a while since I last blog. No, I don't have plans to abandon this platform. It's just been really hard trying to squeeze time to write a blog post. And now, I am actually recuperating from my Wisdom Tooth extractions. I did 2 surgeries and 2 extractions. It was a horrifying and traumatic experience. :( That aside. I actually took some time off work in March to have a short getaway with B. Chiang Mai - The land of elephants! We took Jetstar to Bangkok before transferring to Bangkok Airways. I really love the service on Bangkok Airways. We paid budget prices, but it was like a full carrier service, with snacks and pillows. We even went to the lounge to chill and snack before our flight back to Bangkok. And so, upon arrival, we had a driver waiting for us. We took the cheaper airport transfer, which was a red truck.  
And upon arrival, we ran to the elephants! This is the Baby Ta Mo. :)
 We were staying at the Chai Lai Orchid. It was an awesome stay and we will recommend any one heading to Chiang Mai to stay there. It was situated just beside the Phutawan elephant camp, and so every morning, we woke up to elephants outside our window. The only downside is that it is situated really far from the city area, about an hour plus ride in. 
The Chai Lai Orchid
http://chailaiorchid.com/
202 Moo 9 T.Mae Win,
Mae Wang Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai 50360
We were staying in one of the nature bungalows with no A/C.When night falls, it gets really chilly, so it was actually really comfortable. :)
We were given complimentary coconuts as a welcome gift, which we gave the elephants after.
Visitors bathing the elephants in the morning!
 Before the trip, we did some research and found out that our eco resort offers a slew of activities to do. And we signed up for the following!
Amazing Mountain Adventure Itinerary
We woke up too late for the early bath time as there were Chinese tour groups coming in to see the elephants so we forego the first part and went straight for our trekking session first. We went to the White Karen tribe first. 
All the handmade lovely scarves. We bought a few to support. Loving my scarf! So colourful an warm!
 
And our treks continue. :) Loving the closeness to nature.
In the midst of a corn field. Dare not venture further as the guide said there were snakes and mice! :(
And after a long long hike, we made it to the waterfall!
 
Our hospitable guide offered us some mangoes with chili before our swim in the waterfall.
And he helped us to snap these shots. Haha. All the shots are made by my trusty Red Canon EOS 1100D.
   
And after the leisure swim, we continued to hike to the Long Neck Karen tribe.
 
They were selling their handmade items. And this lady even produced her own music CDs!
And B gotten me a handmade bracelet made by the tribe ladies.
  While visiting the Karen tribe, our guide went to get some lunch for us. He bought Phad Thai and a Bamboo Sticky rice for us. And even some watermelon too! There were 2 other guys who had a stopover at the tribe too. They only had a packet of rice each from their guide. So we offered some of our Sticky rice with them.
And we went for the bamboo rafting down the Mae Wang river. We had lots of fun, taking turns to stir the raft. There were many others - locals and tourists alike, on board similar rafts. And everyone was just splashing water at each other.
And we ended off the day's adventure with the elephant ride! We were ecstatic because the Mahout (elephant trainers) trusted us to ride the elephant bareback!
 
And a bathing session for the elephants! :D We had 2 really mischievous elephants that kept sinking us into the water. But we had as much fun as them, while scrubbing their backs.
And a handsome shot of B. A promising Mahout? Tehehe
With my 30 year old Lady elephant. :D Love her. Rewarded her with lots of bamboo after the walk.
Baby Ta Mo. :D
And after the tiring day, we could just chill outside our eco bungalows in hammocks!
And the next day, we had nothing planned out. We just wanted to chill by the river in one of the bamboo huts like the locals.
  
And the amazing omelet rice that we had such a hard time conveying. But it was worth every effort. And was superb cheap. About 20baht?!
 
We ended the last night in another Hostel in the city because we wanted to check out the Art night market in Chiang Mai that would be held every Sunday night only.
3 Sis Bed and Breakfast
http://www.3sisbedandbreakfast.com/
A really comfortable stay and the night market was just right smack in the middle of the night market!
 
Such cute keys!
There was no pictures at the night market as most stall owners do not allow picture. :( A pity though because the items sold there were really lovely, and we bought cute owls as souvenirs.
And on our last day, we decided to venture along the street to see the temples.
        
Till our next adventure.!
Labels: 3sis Bed & Breakfast, Bamboo rafting, Bangkok Airways, Chai Lai, Chiang Mai, Couple, Elephant, Elephant Camp, Karen Tribe, Mae Wang, Temples, Thailand, Trekking Reminiscing Korea - A Journey made a Year Ago Part 2 Saturday, September 14, 2013 |Comment(s) Fredfredtan says... So I will be continuing my post about my Seoul-Jeju Trip. I was so tempted to write a post on Hangzhou actually, because I just saw a Travel show on TV and I remember walking by the West Lake and simply just enjoying the beautiful scenery. But one thing at a time.
July 4, 2012 Korea-Jeju
It was a rainy morning when we woke up, so we had to cancel our plans to go Sunrise peak and head back under the covers. By the time we set off much later in the morning, we decided to head to the much raved Teddy Bear Museum in Jeju. We took the airport limousine near our guesthouse and arrived pretty fast to our destination. The rain was getting much smaller by then.
We had our breakfast at Dunkin’ Donuts. It was such a different experience from the horrible one we had at the LCC terminal at KL. The interior was warm and fuzzy and the donuts were all displayed out, tantalizing our taste buds. It took us quite sometime to decide what to get. We gotten a window seat and enjoyed our breakfast. :D There was also free WiFi available at Dunkin’ Donuts too. We saw buses filled with police offices passing. It was like they were going on an excursion. It turned out, there were mobilized as there was going to be a staged protest by the people against the FTA between Korea and China.
Teddy Bear Museum was quite an enjoyable museum though the ticket pricing was a little bit too steep.
 
We met a group of Chinese who though we were Koreans initially and tried conversing with us in Korean. Our favourite showcase was the one with Disneyland. There was a pair of bear couple in the display that we thought looked very much like us.
See the one at the left corner. :) Tehehe.
The Famous Alfred Bear from the popular Drama Gong.
 
The Iconic Couple Bear from Gong
This bear was for Song Jihyo's character Min Hyorin.
Towards the end of the tour, there was an Elvis show. It was pretty entertaining as there was a teddy bear dressed as Elvis and performing many of his classics. The crowd were receptive and responded with cheers and applauds.
After the museum trip, we headed to Cheongjeyeon Falls which were not very far off from the museum. The falls were breathtaking. There were an offer for those under 25, so we entered at a discounted rate. B was lucky as his birthday has yet to past yet! Pretty much enjoyed walking around the area and simply taking in the view. Saw quite a number of Singaporean tourists. It was easy to spot them especially the girls who were all toting Longchamp bags.
 
At the waterfall (Love this picture because we both look good here! WAHAHA)
 There we wandered about without a clue. But I was feeling very blissful and happy with B feeding me the Lotte Pepero Almond sticks we bought the day before. We saw the famous Jeju Stone Statues known as Dolhareubang.   
.We found a natural waterfall, though it wasn’t as majestic as Cheongjeyeon, but it was still beautiful.
  We stopped by a stream along the way and soak our feet in it. Not long after, an Ahjumma (Aunties) and a group of Ahjussis (Uncles) joined us.   Our tummies were rumbling by that time, we decided to hunt around for food. My personal motto “Tummy is my priority!” WE WERE SO LUCKY. We stumbled upon a humble looking eatery and settled down.  We recognized that the shop were run by the Divers Ahjummas in Jeju. These Ahjummas are an icon in Jeju island. They are hardworking Aunties who dive into the cold waters surrounding Jeju Island to catch fresh seafood. So we were indeed in luck, but alas, being Ahjummas, they hardly know any other language. Besides, most of these elderly folks spoke mainly Jeju Island native dialect that is different from Korean (I learnt about these on Runningman). We resorted to sign language to say we wanted exactly as the next table, but she struggled to let us know something. Thank goodness, the table next to us can speak English and told us the Ahjumma was trying to tell us the food would take an estimated 30mins to prepare. It was a surprise as the kind people who helped us with our orders turned out to be Koreans based in Singapore. They were back in Korea for home visiting and a leisure trip. We unknowingly ordered the famous abalone porridge and this humble looking eatery was one of the best on the island. The porridge was definitely worth the wait! It was 10,000 won per bowl, but it was worth every cent. The abalone was so fresh and the combination so tasty. The Kimchi was daebak(awesome)! We requested for more Kimchi which the Ahjumma gave while suppressing a smile at the sight of us. We stood out like sore thumbs as this eatery, despite being famous, was known mainly by the Koreans, so getting a tourist was a rare treat for them as well. It was certainly one of the best meal I had in Korea.   
This was one the signpost that guided us along the way!
We unknowingly took route 8 which was Wolpyeong to Daepyeong (Port) and was about 17.6km long. The route was enjoyable at the start but turned into a nightmare halfway. We had to walk through the volcanic rocks that overlook into the massive sea surrounding Jeju.    Initially, we were taking in all the breathtaking views and soaking in the nature. But there while trekking, we spotted lots of sea cockroaches. And it was indeed a very scary sight. It looked like there were millions and millions of them, and when we tried to balance ourselves on the uneven rocks, they would simply spew all over the rocks and around you. We were also badly bitten by the mosquitoes and bugs along the way. We almost got lost towards the end as well, and we both were really afraid. And to add to the fear, along the way, we didn’t see any other fellow trekkers/hikers. Towards the end, we had to cross across the head of a waterfall. Which means if we were off-balance, we would plummet down the waterfall. It was so scary, but I was so glad I had B with me all the way. He was indeed my hero. :’) Never once did he abandon me, always watching out for me and gripping my hand for extra support through-out the entire journey. WE MADE IT OUT ALIVE. We practically leaped with joy when we saw the flight of stairs that would bring us back to civilization. We saw a fisherman at the very end, he gave us a very quizzical look. Upon reaching the top of the flight of stairs, we finally understood why he gave us that look. THE ROUTE WAS ACTUALLY CLOSED AS IT WAS UNSAFE.  I was so thankful we made it out alive. We wanted a picture with the signage to mark that moment! Look at the #sotiredandrelievedthatwemadeitoutalive faces! 
We reached a pretty deserted part of Jeju which were mainly farms. We managed to find a small mart and grab drinks to quench our thirst. There we met some fellow local trekkers who spoke a bit of Mandarin. It turned out the mart was actually a check-point to get your stamp that you had completed the route. They were around 40-50 year old and I was awed at the trekkers determination. So, even at that age, B and I would hopefully still be trekking like them. We managed to get directions from a friendly taxi driver along the way to the nearest bus stop to bring us back to our guesthouse. I reckoned, we looked too young and poor to afford cabbing back as it was a pretty long journey back to our guesthouse.
We settled for a simple meal of hot stew for dinner. It was raining again at night. A really exhausted day but it brought us much closer, especially going through such a frightful experience! My hero <3
July 5, 2012 Korea Jeju
After an exhausting day of hiking the previous day, we decided to conquer Hallasan - the famous volcanic mountain on Jeju island. It boasts exquisite landscapes due to its varied volcanic topography and vegetation distribution ranging vertically through the subtropical, temperate, frigid and alphine zones. The special nature of this area led to Hallasan being designated and managed as a national park in 1970, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2002, a World Natural Heritage Site in 2007.
We took a bus ride at the town center and off we went. We intended to scale the mountain via the Seongpanak Trail, which is estimated to be 9.6km and will take approximately 4.5 hour. Due to our inability to properly converse with our driver, we missed our stop, and the following stop was a few km away from the entrance of the Seongpanak Trail. That did dampen our spirits a little as it was nearing noon time. I jokingly suggested hitching a ride and did the universal hand sign for a car ride along the road. B said that no one would stop over for us, and I can’t blame him for that since in Singapore, that would probably have had happened. Even if I’m the driver, I wouldn’t have just picked a total stranger up on the road, I could have been robbed! Hahah
But, to my surprise, a car actually pulled up at the road shoulder. The driver was a nice young man who had some climbing gear in his car. We conversed with him with our very limited Korean and he readily agreed to give us a drive to Seongpanak’s entrance. Throughout the ride, he tried making conversation with us, and even though we can hardly kept up with his rapid Korean, his sincerity and friendliness was infectious. I was so grateful to this Jeju native for that kind ride to Seongpanak! (:
Upon reaching Hallasan’s Seongpanak entrance, we were so excited to begin our hike. However, we were informed by the park ranger that we can’t make the climb to the summit. This is because we would have to meet the midway point before 1.30pm and register our names. If not, the highest we can climbed would be to the midway summit point. This rule was in placed to ensure that all hikers will make the descent before it gets dark and dangerous.
 We weren’t equipped well to ascend Hallasan. The previous day’s Olle trail had left us with wet sport shoes so we were wearing sneakers and loafers to scale the mountain. ): We were so thoroughly under dressed as well. All the Ahjummas and Ahjussis we met along the way were all fully equipped in trek suit, hiking stick and hiking boots. It was no wonder they kept overtaking us in the hike up. And thankfully we packed snacks to eat along the way, Dr you’s energy bars were handy and great energy boosters to give us the power to climb.  It was such a relief to finally reach the midway summit. As seen from the picture, the crater was beautiful and the view from the midway summit was so lovely as well. But do not be fooled by the beautiful blue sky. It seems all calm and lovely but it was actually raining and the wind was pretty strong. Thankfully we had our jackets and umbrellas.   
That night, we rewarded ourselves with Baskin Robbins’ ice cream! :D A lovely treat to such a beautiful yet tiring day. I LOOKED LIKE I HAVEN'T SLEPT FOR TEN DAYS.
Looking back, I have no idea why did we actually go ahead to climb Hallasan despite the tiring Olle Trail the day before. Haha. And the Koreans are generally nice and kind people-like the couple we met at the restaurant who helped us placed an order, the elderly couple we met at the mart we gave us directions as well as the kind driver that gave us a free lift! <3
Labels: Baskin Robbin's, Cheongjeyeon Waterfall. Olle Trail, Hallasan, Hiking, Jeju, Korea, Nature, Teddy Bear Museum, Trekking |