09.03. - 11.03.2018 ❤Chiang Mai❤

09.03.2018:
After a 10-hour bus ride, we arrived in Chiang Mai around 06:30 am.

We were dropped off right in front of a hostel in the old town. Since Gary and I didn't have accommodation in Chiang Mai yet, we booked a night in this hostel for now. We had a 4-bed room and it only cost us 6 euros / night.👌😁

In the afternoon, we wanted to do something and rented a private tuk-tuk driver to take us to a waterfall, which was located 1 hour outside the city. It was called Mae Sa Waterfall.

And once again, climbing was on the agenda.😀

It was very beautiful there, the trip was definitely worth it.👌

Back in the city, we went out to eat and then walked back to our hostel.

That's where we met Michael from the UK. I really wanted to go on a trip to an elephant camp, but the prices were around 2000-3000 baht for a full-day trip, which I found very expensive. He then recommended us a hostel nearby where we could book this trip for only 1200 baht. So the next day we went to the elephants, I was really looking forward to it. Michael had also booked for the same day.☺

Back at the hostel, I went to our room. Gary had treated himself to a few Chang beers (maybe 10😂) and was sitting with a few others from the hostel.

In the room, I met Jiyeon from South Korea and her boyfriend Byron from Ecuador.😍 They met in South Korea because Byron was studying there. They are now a couple and he moved to South Korea to be with her. I thought that was so wonderful❤ Love knows no boundaries, it can even exist and endure between 2 different continents/cultures.👌😊

Both of them were really kind and such a sweet couple together.😁 Jamie noticed that I was coughing and she gave me some homeopathic drops that she got from a friend in South Korea. Her friend's dad is a very famous healer there and he made these drops himself. They are supposed to be good for the whole body, but they tasted really disgusting.😅🙈

I was really touched by the fact that they took care of me so much, even giving me their medicine so that my cough would go away and I would stay healthy. I had only known them for 30 minutes and they were incredibly kind and caring towards me. ❤

It was already around 01:00 am and I had my excursion the next day, so I went to sleep. I lay in my bed and had to process all the incredible care they had shown me.🙈 That's why these two have to be recorded in my Travel Book.👌 I will upload a picture of them so you can see them too.😊

10.03.18 Adventure Trip in Chiang Mai 😁👌

Our trip started in the morning at around 8 am. There were only 10 of us and we were traveling in a small van. We started talking and got along really well.👌 There were people from the UK, Belgium, and Ireland. I was the only one from Germany.😀 First, we stopped at a butterfly and orchid farm. Lots of beautiful colors.😀 I bought a necklace there made from a real orchid leaf. I haven't seen something like that often and thought it was very beautiful, so I had to buy it.😁

Next, we visited the elephants. First, we were able to get to know them a bit, feed them and stroke them. Then we went into the river and were allowed to bathe with them and splash them with water. It was soooo amazing.❤ It was important to me that the elephants were well taken care of and not chained up. They were really well there.😊

While we were in the water and I was with one of the elephants, a Thai guy told me to get on the elephant to have a picture taken of me. I sat on top of it, but then he told me to stand on top of it.😅🙈 Of course, I did it, it was such an amazing experience.👌😁 I was the only one in our group who was allowed to do it. They were a bit envious of me for that.

The next stop was white water rafting.👌😁 First, we received a brief instruction, and then we split into groups of 5. Sean from Ireland, Mathias, Aiden, and Kiri from the UK were in my group.😊 We went along the river and rafted down with the currents, it was really cool and a lot of fun.👌😁 The last part, we rode on a bamboo raft, which reminded me a little bit of Jamaica since I had done that there too.😁

After that, we made a short stop to have something to eat.

Up to this point, it was already a really great experience, but there was more to come.😁

After a 10-minute drive, we climbed through a jungle for about 20 minutes to see a waterfall. That was also very cool. The waterfall wasn't the biggest, but at least there was water flowing.😀 During the dry season in Thailand, most waterfalls don't have much water.

The cool thing about the waterfall was that you could slide down into the water.😀 Of course, I had to try it and I dared to do it.😁👌 It was a lot of fun, I slid down twice.😀 The other girls also dared to do it, we cheered for them from below.😁

After returning from the cool waterfall, we still didn't drive back to the city. Finally, we stopped at a local village called Akha. There we could see how the locals live.😊👌

Now it's getting funny again.😀😀😀

When we returned, Gary and I picked up our things from our hostel and took a tuk-tuk to get to our next accommodation in Chiang Mai. According to the booking site, it was called Royal Night Bazaar Hotel. We showed the guy the address and he dropped us off at a hotel near the Night Bazaar. I just said to Gary, this is definitely not a hotel, it must have at least 4 stars. 😂 We went inside to the reception and then realized that it was the wrong one.😀

So we went out again and continued with the next tuk-tuk. We arrived at the next hotel, again the wrong one, and then continued with the same tuk-tuk, still the wrong one. 😂😂😂 We had been on the road for almost an hour already, the tuk-tuk driver was quite annoyed because he had agreed on 60 baht with us for maybe a 10-minute ride. I was just laughing the whole time and started crying.😅 The tuk-tuk driver said to us that he had now made a big loss because he didn't expect that it would be so difficult to find this hotel with us. 😂😂😂

The strange thing was then that we found out that the hotel didn't actually have the name it had on the internet, but only Royal Guesthouse. We found it then and the Thai guy was also happy that he could make money again with someone else.😀👍

11.03.18 Trip to the Cran Canyon Waterpark in Chiang Mai

Around noon, we met up with Sean, whom we had met on the trip the day before. The three of us went to the water park. Of course, we first went to the wrong one, unfortunately there were two different companies at the same place.😀 There you could only swim and relax.🙈

So we went out again and walked a few meters to the right water park.😀

It was really cool there. There was a small wakeboarding area, which I of course tried.😁 I learned how to wakeboard last summer with a good friend and I really enjoy it.👌

There was also a big jumping area, slides, and a zipline. It was a lot of fun, until the moment came when I went down one of the slides there.🙈

I had attached my GoPro to my head and when I came out of the water, I landed in the wrong way, I was in a lot of pain and the GoPro slipped off my head into the water and sank.😐😐😐

The water there is about 20 meters deep, so I couldn't dive down and find it again. I was pretty sad and then a few Thais came up to me and told me to immediately go to the reception and report it.

I still had a little hope, the Thai lady said there was a possibility for me to get it back. She would inform a diver who would search for it, and if they found it, I would have to pay 2000 baht (about 50 euros) to get it back. My GoPro is definitely worth that to me, so I agreed to have the diver informed. All I could do now was hope. It's usually the case with me that I have a bit of luck even in misfortune and that I manage to get out of tricky situations in one piece.

Yesterday, 3 days later, I received the hoped-for email that they found it and I can pick it up.😁😁😁 Once again, I had luck in my misfortune. 🙈🙈🙈phewwwww.😁

When we came out of the water park, it was already getting dark and it was pouring rain. There were no tuk-tuks available to take us back.🙈 We were about a 30-minute drive away from the city center.🙈🙈🙈 We stood under some cover and a few Thais asked us if we needed a taxi and where we needed to go. They then called a taxi company for us, but they wanted us to pay double the price we had paid to get there.

Finally, a Thai guy there decided to help us and offered to take us home in his private car for the same price we paid for the ride there.☺👍

When we arrived at the hotel, we went out to eat something. Gary and I briefly met up with Tom and his friends. It was nice to see a familiar face again.👌😊

After that, I had to pack my backpack because the next day I was going to Pai alone.

So it was also time to say goodbye to the last of our Phuket group.😐 Gary's time had also come and unfortunately, he had to fly back to Canada.

I will miss the guys, it was a cool and fun time with them.
But maybe we'll see each other again someday. I received an invitation from Julien and Gary to visit them in Canada, maybe I'll visit them there. 😁👍