I didn’t make it to the night market ☹ and it was open, just my bloody luck – lol – instead I sat outside the hostel talking to a young guy called Max, he’s been here for 4 months, but back in Thailand since the outbreak of covid. He was in Japan before working, however, again due to covid, he lost his job and had to come home – a bit like Pat. We had an awesome conversation, even though his English was a bit strained, mainly about cultural differences and Thai politics. He kept looking over his shoulder when we talked politics as he had nothing good to say about the king or the government and you mustn’t be heard talking negatively about them, you could get locked up for it! Something really interesting he told me about was the guy that owns 7 Eleven and how he also owns many other businesses and has made many people unemployed. For example, 10 years ago you could buy several brands of bread and tea and now only his. Max explained how he is now doing it to the pork farmers, and how many are losing business because they cannot afford to sell at the cheap prices that he sells it for. He said that to do this he must be good friends or family of the king or government or else is paying them a huge back hander. He also told me how he felt confused by western girls, he said he really liked a German tourist, and she went everywhere with him, in Thai if a girl does this it means she likes you and wants a relationship with you, if she does not like you she will keep you at arms length. It turns out the German girl did not like him the way he thought, and she ended up going off with a German guy, he said he was very upset. I explained that in Western culture it was not unusual for opposite sexes to just be friends, but close friends and always hang out together. I felt sorry for him.

I didn’t sleep well last night, having set my alarm clock so I would be up in time for the Chiang Mai Elephant Sanctuary Trip, I kept waking to check the time as I didn’t want it to go off and disturb the other 2 girls in the room – turns out they both woke up at 6:30 anyway – lol.

The elephant sanctuary was awesome, my guide was very camp and the driver very butch, but both were extremely lovely. I thought there may have been other people on the tour, but I was the only one! On the way we stopped at a morning market which was not as impressive as the one near the hostel. Once we were near the sanctuary we got out of the car and walked to a Karen hill tribe, they are Christians rather than Buddhist and originate form Myanmar. It was very interesting, all their animals are left to freely roam around, although some of the pigs were tethered, the women do weaving and the men are all farmers. Their houses are all on stilts due to rain and snakes. When we got to the sanctuary I had to put on a trainers top, Lucy (my guide) said it was for the smell. There were only 3 elephants present, normally they have 5, but one was in hospital with a damaged eye and the other roaming in the jungle somewhere. But 3 was more than enough for me, 2 females, one 15 years old and the other 16, both had been rescued form a circus, and a baby (one and a half years) that had been born at the sanctuary. Elephants live up to the age of 80, eat 200 tons of food a day and poo at least 10 times a day – that’s vegetarians for you – lol. I fed them, attempted to cover them in mud, walked to the river with them and bathed them – bloody awesome experience even though I was quite weary of them, they are more than happy to push you out of the way and being so big and me so little …. After the elephants we did a short trek to a beautiful waterfall, I think Lucy was surprised I didn’t go for a swim, but the water was bloody freezing and standing under the spray was as much as I could handle. Behind the waterfall was a cave area with a sand carving of the Di Inthnonan, which is where I am going tomorrow. Lunch was decent and plentyfull and I was accused of not eating a lot (why am I so fat then?). After that we got back in the car and went to the bamboo rafting place, unfortunately Lucy told me to leave my phone in the car, why did I listen to him, the river and surrounding areas were so beautiful and I have no photos. The guy punting the raft said that many people end up dropping their phones and cameras in the river as it gets quite precarious in places due to the rapids. And that was the end of a fantastic day, however we had finished an hour early. On the way back I checked the itinerary and Lucy had missed out the hours trek from the sanctuary to the rafting place, I was very disappointed, but perhaps it was because after lunch I told him I was very tired. Tomorrow, when / if exhaustion creeps in I will keep my mouth shut. Anyway, it was an absolutely fabulous day and I highly recommend it.

Sitting here now, whilst writing this, I’ve seen a few tourist head into town, probably going for a drink, but do I have the energy or want to join them – no I don’t and it’s another early start tomorrow so I think I’ll take a stroll to the 7 eleven and get a bottle of something or another and sit here for the rest of the evening.