Long Neck Women, Chiang Mai

She's beautiful huh?

JS promised a day full of adventure for Monkey. I think he felt guilty that he went to play golf everyday in Chiang Mai for that one week. HoHoHoHoHo :P
So in the morning we had elephant ride, bullcart ride and my first adventure on a raft...and then followed up a visit to the hill tribe of long neck ladies :)))


They are actually pretty petite
or maybe I am just FAT

Long Neck Women also known as Kayan are actually not natives of Thai. They are from Burma, so technically they are Burmese. But due to the endless military regime in Buma/Myanmar, many of the Kayan people were displaced and many fled over to the Thai border. Oh yes Chiang Mai is pretty far up north in Thailand.


Their village has now become a tourist spot
what I admired about this village is....it has got no financial assistance and the tribe is self sufficient through incomes from tourism.

Both I Ching and Prince C were so intrigued bcoz it was a surprise visit
not knowing they will be meeting these long neck beauties, when they first saw the Kayans walking around.....both of their eyes almost popped out and asked whats' that???? why is that??? how come???


the very same beautiful Kayan then lead us to her mother I presume??
they are really colorful people with skills on handicrafts and lots of smiles actually :))))))))))


Through language barrier, we interacted with sign languages hahahahaha and visited their simple homes. The roof were made from dried  palm leaves and they have to change it every 6 months due to wear and tear. See the stacks of firewood lying neatly underneath their home? Yeah they still use wood fire instead of gas.

at the top of the hill is a small lil church
most of Kayan people are roman catholic


They are really good with weaving coz I saw so many young ladies were bz at work.


plenty of shawls on sale
they are really really colorful people :)))))))


Lil gals started wearing these brass coils around the age of 5 years old
don't u think they are so cute and adorable???

JS u fancy getting a new wife? kekekekekekekke
I am sure she can yarn golf shirts and pants for u :P
anyway both of u looked so alike that's why I must must must snap this pic...hahahaha

Monkey took a stroll at their paddy field
it has dried up after the harvest

those are not cows but oxens. They can really work hard bcoz its such a tough animal.


Finally Monkey tried it on.....OUCHHHH. U like my LONG neck??? more like long face coz it was really heavy and painful and I was only wearing the "frontal" section of the coil.

so why do they suffered through all these? there were many theories but I guess it's for beauty?? :)))) yea humans are very vain.

technically their necks are not elongated, but the heavy brass coil pushed their collar bones down and further compressed their ribs. OUCHHHHHHHH.
this gave the illusion of a longer neck.

After the visit to the tribal village, our driver drove us down the hill to an orchid farm :))))))
Orchid farming is a huge industry here in Thailand.

They are as big as my cheek!!!!
of coz no plucking and I had a difficult time controlling my itchy hands
wuahahahahah

Thank you Mr. JS for this wonderful excursion
and the following day, I flew to Bangkok solo to meet up with my friends so that JS can continue to play golf till his arms fall off :P
hehehehehehehe

Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai

Golden Buddhas

I know I know...I've been lagging in my posting..am trying and doing very very hard to keep up before the next trip next month......grrrRRRrrrrrr....

While we were in Chiang Mai, JS and his family golfed every day from sun rise till sun set *Oh well almost, u know I'm a drama and exaggerate Queen* That leaves us the non-golfers free and easy leisure time...woohoooo...so apart from shopping and exploring this city, we whacked bowls after bowls of noodles, have all the snacks and street food we wanted and Massage + Spa all we want. What a bliss~~~~

Monkey read that this temple on the mountain of Doi Suthep is a must visit for its view. Located about 15 km from the city, on a clear day u can actually see it from the hotel. As the sun shines on its golden chedi reflecting the glimmering golden glare to ur eyes. It's so sacred and beautiful that it made me so so so drawn to it.

so one morning, our driver was at the lobby greeting Ms. Monkey as usual. He speaks no english and I speak no Thai.
"Doi Suthep.....u know go to the Wat...I don't know what Wat...but that WAT on top of Doi Suthep!!!"
Wat = Temple in thai
Driver looked at me with a puzzled face *_*"

soon our gigantic vehicle was climbing the mountain and Monkey knew she wasn't taken for a ride to somewhere unknown...this got to be the way to Wat Phrathat.


When we arrived....oh my holy gawd...we have to climb this???
anyway if u are lazy there's a funicular which u can ride all the way up to save some leg work. But u gotta purchase ticket to ride it.


Multi heads scary face snakes or some mythical reptile at the base of the stairs
GAH!!! Don't eat me!!!!! I'm just a Monkey

oh wait...u guys were being eaten too huh?
hahahhahahaha


On the way up, there was a doggi begging for money
ohhhh ouch!!! how did they train the dog to sit here all day to beg??????
:"((


When we arrived, the first time we saw was this Golden Chedi
really stunning!!!
this was the very same Chedi that reflects sunlight everyday

built in 1383 by King Nu Naone of the Lanna Kingdom, the location was selected when the White Elephant used to carry a piece of a very very special relic with magical powers climbed up to this mountain, the white elephant stood on this spot, trumpeted 3x times before collapsing and died.

hmmmm wat a bedtime story hahahaha. Anyway this was the legend written all over including wikipedia.

This must be the mutli-head-snakes-eaten-by-bigger-snakes' mother....
Hello Auntie....do u know ur lil kids are being eaten by a dragon down there?


From the top u sure can see the whole city of Chiang Mai


and the Chiang Mai Airport

Monkey ran to these rows of huge thick heavy brass bells and started Ker-tong Ker-tong Ker-Tong
:P
from left to right.....right to left
top bottom and so on
to the disapproval parents with kids who wanted to do the same too
heeeeeeeeeeee sorry I'm such a bad influence.

Think we spent about an hour here mesmerizing the calmness of this place
and the beautiful views :)))))

On our descend, we saw these cute lil gals....
I felt like pinching their cheeks
hehehehehe
U wanna follow me home? *evil grin*

 There were stalls selling local fruits such as baby green apples, Wild strawberries the size of raspberry and bigger ones...it's so cheap.

 Freshly squeezed local oranges juice was everywhere for RM 2 a bottle.

Yummy fried quail eggs to be eaten with fish sauce and white pepper....wow these looked so good and cute.
bite size...yummy!!!!

deep fried local bananas with fragrant pandan leaves
it is quite normal to find sesame seed in their fried bananas. Just elevate the toastie notes.

If u are thirsty after all these yummy food, get some local passion fruit juice..
oh yummsss!!!

Our descend took so long....bcoz there were just so many distractions!!!!
FOOD!!!!
our driver was -_-"
hehehehehe
sorry Mr. Driver that we took so long just to visit a small temple. He must be wondering if we made offerings to every single Buddha up there. hehehehe...More like we made pit stop at every single stall that sells food.:P

Okie Mr. Driver...now next destination....u know khao soi? KHAO. SOI.
bring us to the best Khao Soi...the one that you will go to.
Kao Jai Ma???
he then nodded his head....but before that we need to go and pick the men up fr the golf course.
hehehehehe

Bamboo Rafting, Chiang Mai

This is a follow-up post from the elephant ride. It was a day full of adventure from riding the bull/ox then the elephant and finally ended with a bamboo raft ride...hahahahaha. There were all FIRST for me >.<

Definitely better than riding fun rides in theme parks hahahahahahaha. This city slicker Monkey has never done these kind of rustic adventure rides before so it was suuuuurrreeeeee FUN!!!


Who are these 2 vietnamese gals???

"Hey u think this raft can accommodate our weights?"
"I have no idea....told ya not to eat so much for lunch just now."
"But the kuey teow soup was soooo awesome....I had 3 bowls!!!"
-_-"

If this raft is limited by weight...confirmed we are sinking~~~~~~
sing me the Titanic song now :P


I Ching and Monkey

JS: "Vietnamese gals, please turn around...I wanna have a nice pic of u ladies!!"


Actually this man-made bamboo raft was really steady
never wobbly and it was a pleasant 45 minutes ride down the river

There were 2 handlers of the raft....each at the other end of the raft
with 4 city slickers passengers hahahahaha

the 3 of us sat as still as possible, for fear of falling into the water.
only JS the agile one walking up and down the raft like he works here -_-"


throughout the ride, we saw more elephants...flora and fauna
This tree must be really really old!!!!


When Monkey dipped her feet into the water...it was ICE COLD!!!!!
so I guess the best year to visit Chiang Mai is year end when the weather is this cooling


More tourists ahead....some of the European tourists tried their hands in handling the bamboo stick and soon proved to be too difficult. It's not as easy as it seems!!!!

very soon the ride was at its end......:((
and our driver was already waiting with our transport to fetch us back to the busy hustling bustling city centre of Chiang Mai.

I've never live in a jungle before
Time to search for some nice resort to stay in the jungle :))))))))))
Any recommendations?? Could be in Malaysia or out of the country.