ทัวร์ - Tour

So our first day in Chiang Mai this weekend we went on an all day tour in the Chiang Dao District. The guide's name was Bob (well that is the English name he gave himself) and he picked us up at the train station around 8am and dropped us off at our hostel at 7pm. The first attraction on our tour was an elephant show and an hour and a half elephant ride.

This was the first thing we saw.

And this was the second...

After the bridge we saw the elephant show!!

It began with the smallest elephant raising the flag. 

Them getting up from bowing.

Helping the trainers back up. 

Putting his trainer's hat back on.

We finished with the elephant painting!! He painted everything from 

the tree branches to the grass. It was incredible. 

Next was the ride!!!

The trainers directed the elephants by nudging their feet a 

certain way underneath the elephant's ears. 

Our view. 

We stopped at a village half way to buy some souvenirs... 

and take pictures with our elephants!

This little boy was playing an instrument in the town but he

 refused to play it when we pulled our cameras out. Too cute!

The village.

The baby...

... and me feeding him!

Second on our tour was lunch! And it was SO yummy, with a fantastic view!!

Dessert!!

Next stop: Temple!

First few steps.

Many of these lined the stairs. Our silent climb was lined with these 

Buddhist phrases.It really added to the tone of the temple.

Inside the Temple

One of the first woman monks that we saw!

Inside the top structure.

Serpents in Buddhism are known to be the connection between life and 

the heavens. Many line stairs at temples to represent the ascension of spirituality.

It was overall a very spiritual experience. We saw no other tourists there. Only monks and other Buddhist who had come to worship. It was a very beautiful temple and the view was spectacular.

We stayed at the top for a while to just reflect on how blessed we were to be there. 

Caving.

These caves were found by Buddhist monks around 300 years ago. The monks used the caves as a temple where they could meditate. They carved statues in the rock as well as brought in their own statues. This hidden temple was found about 80 years ago and excavation began about 40 years ago. They left the statues inside and people can still pray and mediate inside. 

Bats!

The caves were VERY fun!! We only had one lantern so it was pretty dark in there. 

I couldn't believe that we were inside a mountain in Thailand, crazy!

Lastly, the long-neck tribe. The tribe is originally from Burma, (or Myanmar) a neighboring country to Thailand, but many are now refugees in Thailand. The village we saw was mix of different tribes. Some were known for stretching their ears out, but they all had the same feel to them. The ladies were interesting; they all had their own shops to sell us things and some even had props for us to wear as we took pictures with them. It was different than I had expected but incredible nonetheless. 

The first grouping of rings is put on at the young age of six.

This young girl is wearing a Disney princess night gown.

Their village/market for tourists.

This young girls was very sweet and talked to me for a while.

You can kind of see the rings around her legs; this was very common.

Young boy who wandered the village without pants on.

This woman seemed to be the most famous. She had fake rings ready to go to

hold up to our necks. We later noticed her picture in the advertisements around Chiang Mai. 

This woman was very cute as well. She was constantly smiling. 

We still do not know what had happened to her teeth but they were either rotted away or rotting.

She had this hat to put on me ready when I asked if I could take a picture with her. 

Our tour was phenomenal! We had a great tour guide and saw and experiences things that I will NEVER forget. My eyes were opened but so was my heart. I realized that the people we saw on our tour, whether it be the elephant trainers from the mountain tribes of Thailand or our tour guide I saw my Savior's love for me. I saw how blessed I was to have the truth in my life. My life was changed.