Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Some pasts are meant to be left behind and to be forgotten, but what if it keeps chasing after you?

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Hmm, I shall spare the details and go straight to the point. The main point of going to Thailand was to visit my father and have some family time together. We could have went to Bangkok too but there wasn't much time for two places. So in the end we only went for Chiang Mai.

The first plane we took was to Bangkok and later we had a transit flight to Chiang Mai. We spent three hours above the clouds and after we got down, we're happy to see our father waiting for us at the airport. Our tour guide, Peter was also waiting for us and told us to get on the van.

The first hotel we stayed at was the Imperial Mae Ping Hotel. It's huge and very pretty. Before we went for dinner, me and brother went exploring around the hotel. Dinner was delicious, especially the fried chicken. They had cultural shows but we didn't stay long to watch the whole thing.

Mm hmm, the Thai people really love their king. It's a wonder for me because Malaysians don't have that respect towards ours. I don't even know what's our Agong's name.

Some lantern we released that is supposed to give us good luck. Did it outside the restaurant.

DAY TWO

Peter asked me that won't I feel cold wearing shorts in the morning. Well, if you compared the weather with Chiang Mai's and Malaysia, there's definitely a difference. The nights and mornings are colder but in the afternoon is almost the same. The sun there gives warmth and the moment you enter a shade, it's like the surrounding temperature had suddenly dropped.

We went to the Maetang Elephant Park that day. The activities available there are bamboo rafting, elephant riding, elephant shows and bull cart riding. I'm not sure if they're bulls or oxen, or even cows. My father said they're oxen, though. I don't know.

We went to bamboo rafting first, as suggested by our tour guide. There were seven of us, and the bamboo raft does look fragile. But it was okay, the current wasn't strong so there's nothing to panic about. I guess we're supposed to enjoy the scenery but all I see are greens. Oh, and floating elephant dungs in the river. Splendid.

Given the chance to steer the raft, but there was no currents so I didn't do much ._.

After that, we went to see the elephant show. The elephants there are definitely smarter than the ones in Malaysia. This can be proven by the paintings painted by the elephants. The Thai elephants are actually capable to draw a picture of birds, trees and plants whereas Malaysian elephants just playing with their brushes, resulting a paper with colorful strokes.

Owhmaigawd, the elephants there are so cute. Especially the smaller ones. Did I mention how bright the sun was?

< Smexy elephant butt on the left.

Bull/cow/ox cart riding was next. I kinda pity the two poor fellows carrying six of us, including the driver. And they have these heavy things on them, and my father isn't that light either :c Ughhh, I bet they were tired as hell after they dragged us up hill.

'Look at that smexy lady over there!' >

After the animals bought us up to a hill, we had to get down the hill by riding elephants. We had to get on a platform to get on the elephants, because they're just so large and tall. We never rode on the biggest mammal on earth, so it's kinda scary to get on it. My brother who was afraid of heights, was panicking almost every moment the elephant was moving.

Don't expect to enjoy relaxing ride, because the chair we're sitting on are unstable throughout the journey. It's just like that. In fact, I think it's exciting. A man guided our elephant through the forest and even crossing rivers, it was really fun. There was once the man jumped off the elephant and guided it on the ground, we begun to feel scared because you know, who knows what happens if the elephant decided to jog off, with only us on board.

Failed snapshot, but I don't know why I love this picture, LOL.

We had our lunch after the elephant riding  and we decided to feed the elephants too. A basket of bananas costs 100 Baht, RM10. Blargh, my father wanted to take a picture of me feeding the elephant but the banana flew off my hand immediately because the elephant is just too strong. You should hear when they munch on sugar canes, it sounds like bones breaking.

If you look closely, I'm shiny!

We then begun to set off to Chiang Rai, and it takes three hours to get there. Along our way, we stopped at a hot spring. Well, they had a geyser there and according to the sign it's the highest in Thailand. I think the source of the waters are natural but it had already been modified by humans and it looks like a fountain now.

We soaked our feet in the hot springs while my mother boiled some pigeon eggs, also using the hot spring. Hmm, it's nice to soak your feet in warm waters in a cold weather, but I was wearing my Converse so it's a little troublesome. The eggs are delicious too.

If you notice carefully, my mom's Galaxy Tab is right beside her. Just sayin'.

Omnomnomnom pigeon egg.

After we reached Chiang Rai, we checked in to the Chiang Rai Grand Room Hotel. The hotel is lousy because you can't boil water and if you don't lock your door, people can freely enter your room. The only good thing about that hotel is the WiFi there is stronger.

DAY THREE

Brrr, it was cold in the morning.Our next destination was the Long Neck Karen Village. There you can see women wearing brass neck coils. A brass neck coil can weigh about four kilograms, very heavy mm hmm.

All the women there look almost the same, because according to Peter they marry among themselves. There are many different stories behind why they wear brass neck coils, like protecting the women from getting bitten by tigers in the neck or just refraining them from marrying other tribe men. Normally the girls wear the neck rings at the age of five and they continue to wear it until they die.

It isn't their necks that have elongated, but it's actually the weight of the neck rings that pushes the collar bone down and compresses the rib cage. The women there preferred not to take it off because they got used to it and their neck are already weak and needs the support of the rings. I just think that this practice is very wrong, what happens if they crushed their lungs as well?

I just joined their tribe. LOLJK.

No, but seriously, it hurts to wear the neck rings, and I'm just wearing the half of what they're wearing. It's heavy and it hurt my clavicle. I wore it for less than a minute and there were already red marks on my collarbone. Imagine all the bruises they get after wearing it for so many years, ouch.

Dog #1.

Later that day we reached the northern most of Thailand and the boarder between Thailand and Myanmar. We were given the chance to cross the boarder to Myanmar but it costs a fee, and my family decided not to go because we were only given two hours. We shopped nearby.

Bought myself a bag, a shirt with a hoodie and a Gray Fullbuster T-shirt, kyaaaaaah. I forgot to get myself a wallet.

Later that day, we went to see the Golden Triangle. It's nothing like the Bermuda Triangle, it's just the river between Myanmar, Thailand and Laos, and people used get the drug, opium from there. They even had a museum for it. I didn't like being there.

They have all information about opium, even down to the information like what is the best position to enjoy the drug. My parents keep telling me it's just extra knowledge but I think the museum can really teach bad things there. It's bad influence I tell you, bad influence. That's why I didn't like being there.

No photos for the museum, me just no likey.

Land and water, Golden Triangle mm hmm.

The next place we visited was probably my favorite. The White Temple, or Wat Rong Khun is a Buddhist temple designed by Chalermchai Kositpipat, a Thailand artist. Just like the name, the whole temple is completely white (it symbolizes purity), and it has tiny pieces of mirrors at almost everywhere around the temple. It's really, really, really pretty.

It's even more pretty inside the temple where the artist paints about what is happening to the world. I think it's like the trends around the world. You can see Superman, Ben 10 and even Angry Birds on the walls inside the temple. I'm not surprised if PSY appear there. If you're in Chiang Rai, you've gotta see the temple. Everything in and out of the temple is so detailed and I'm awed.

Photography is prohibited inside the temple, so .. hmm you know.

Have a glimpse of hell.

I checked already, they all have fingernails carved on. So detailed.

*spamming photos 'cause I love this place*

Well, after that we went back to Chiang Mai, another three hour drive to get there. Our driver drives really fast and he overtakes every single car in front of him. A car overtook him before but in the end our driver overtook and zoomed his way to Chiang Mai. It's pretty scary.

We spent our night at the Imperial Mae Ping Hotel again. We also went to the night bazaar. There's this green jacket that I liked but the woman wanted to sell it for 900 bath, that's like RM90 and it's so expensive. In the end she didn't accept our bargain and I was kinda sad. My mother bought another suitcase to carry the honey we bought.

DAY FOUR

We went to the highest point of Thailand, the peak of Inthanon. The weather was like the time I went to Australia. In other words, it's really cold. The temperature was 13°C, if I'm not mistaken. A cup of hot beverage is ideal in these situations, mm hmm.

We head to the Twin Pagoda next, it's on our way down the from the peak so it wasn't really cold. The sun was everywhere. Shiny, bright sun.

The Twin Pagoda was built as present to the King and Queen of Thailand in commemoration of their birthdays. The King's Pagoda was built first before the Queen's, and they're on different hills. Visitors can go up the hill by escalators. There'a also a garden for each pagoda.

The queen's garden was much more beautiful than the king's. Spent a lot time there looking at flowers, some I had never seen before. My brother snatched my camera and took lots of photos. They had a lot of, some kind of flower that looks like cabbage. I kept telling my mother, 'Look! They're cabbages!'

Queen's.

At the garden.

I shall not post anymore photos. Anyway, after visiting the two pagodas (I didn't visit inside them because I was lazy to take off my shoes) we went to some place where they sell a lot of vegetables. I don't know I didn't pay attention there, I was reading the final Harry Potter book in e-book format.

Vegetables don't fascinate me.

Dog #2.

Gah, finally we went to our final destination (not the movie), the Wachiratharn Waterfall. Don't ask me what the name means, because I have no single idea what it is and I'm just typing what the itinerary gives me. It's the first time I'd been to a big waterfall. The one in Cameron Highland is so tiny.

^ My finger on the top left.

Rainbow all the way.

We had the whole day for ourselves after that. I don't remember what we did though, watching movies in the hotel, maybe. In Thailand they kept repeating movies, so we already seen 'The Grey' countless times. We only went out during dinner at a fancy restaurant. I was lazy so I wore my sandals. Really felt out of place there.

DAY FIVE

No activities for us that day, just going straight to the airport. We bid farewell to our tour guide and our driver and checked in. My father didn't follow us back to Malaysia, but going back to Bangkok where he's working. So we went our own ways after that.

Aww daddy, we miss you. Can't you come back during Chinese New Year? :C

We flew from Chiang Mai to Bangkok and had to wait for four hours before we can get on board the plane to KLIA. My brothers read the sign wrongly and went to the wrong terminal. Me and my mom had to walk a long distance to stop them, but of course we were slow so I had to run another long distance to call them. And then we had to walk from one end to the other, again.

Read finish Harry Potter at the airport. Shocked and confused about the ending. Spent lots of time thinking.

Anyway, it's great to be back at Malaysia. Now that I'm back, I'm back to my sleep-late-wake-up-late routine. It sucks, mm hmm. I wish I can wake up at 7AM like how I did in Thailand. *sigh*

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I joined two newly created FAMs in one day. Joined both and left immediately after not longer than six hours. Because it feels weird to be in the same FAM with people I don't know. I think in VSP we did make an effort to make the new members feel at home by, I hate to say it, bullying them.

*ahem* It's a tradition to bully newcomers in VSP, especially the guys.

Spent the early hours of Christmas with two VSP members and a former member, and it really felt great to be back together. I do miss being in VSP. It's the only place I feel truly like home.

I think I'm not going to join any FAM anymore, since I'll leave anyway. Going back to VSP, still seems impossible to me ..

Merry Christmas everybody.