Journey to the Jungle – Thailand

The journey to the jungle begins.. We were on a holiday in Thailand but on a backpacking budget, so after a unique 3 day non sober experience on Khoa San Road in Bangkok where its the perfect location for travellers and backpackers to unwind, I say unwind, its a short road of bustling bars that boom. We drank cocktails out of buckets and worried our senses by trying scorpions, watched a questionable ping pong show that would make anyone feel slightly uncomfortable, watched the night boats glow on the Khoa San river and got what we all go to Thailand for, that full body massage for a price as cheap as chips!

We embarked the night train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, travelling this way is one of those Thai experiences that every traveller should have. It takes around 13 hours and unfortunately for me, I really struggle to sleep unless i’m in a bed and its got to be quiet, so I spent the 13 hours of this long but beautiful journey through Thailand, awake, struggling and envious of my friend who was catching flies next to me. So I raw dogged the whole journey as my phone couldn’t charge due to their being no electric sockets in the budget seats, I need strength at this point.

Booking the Train
This was a simple process, you can book it online through the official Thai railway website or use the various travel agencies around Bangkok that offer this service, that is how we did it. From my personal experience, I would highly recommend paying the extra Thai Baht for a first/second class sleeper for a comfortable ride because I went down the ultimate budget experience and sat on a chair for the whole duration of my journey.
Arriving in Chaing Mai
A long 13 hour journey later departing from Hua Lamphong station, we arrived into Chiang Mai train station and got on a back of a truck with a bunch of other random travellers, but who knew if this was a legitimate ride,we did ask to see their taxi ID though to be safe but we were in Thailand and it seemed anything goes and if that meant it was the norm to jump in the back of a caged truck with a bunch of other travellers, then go for it, just stay safe.

Shan and I after arriving into the station!
After a short ride, we jumped out the truck with our back packs attached and were welcomed by a beautiful market in the Hussle and bustle of Chiang Mai city! Hoping to see a few of the 300 temples in Chiang Mai, We wondered around, trying to find our accommodation and thankfully it was within walking distance. We decided to treat ourselves with a bougee hotel as we knew the next coming week was going to be in a hut of some kind in the jungle as we volunteered in the Elephant Nature park. We refreshened up, and took a wonder around the market and to find some dinner. Chaing mai is known for its laid back vibes but it boasts a vibrant night life however they all close by midnight. We ended up finding this super chill regaee bar where they required us to remove our shoes and climb up a ladder to a roof top layout and be welcomed by a dark but cosy atmosphear of bean bags, laughter and chilled regaee music over looking Chiang Mai city.
We said to ourselves we’d only have a couple of drinks because we knew we had to set our alarms super early as we had a long journey to the jungle, to take us to our new accomodation for the next week. But lets face it, as the night wore on, our enthusiasm for drinking and meeting new friends from around the world led to a bit of overindulance. Thinking smart, we stayed close by our hotel and knew exactly where it was, so when the clock struck midnight, Chiang Mai falls asleep, so we stumbled across to Mc Donald’s to soak up all the spirits and as we found our hotel and decided this would be a perfect time to take a dip in the pool, so off went our clothes, and we dived into the perfect temperature pool in our hotel. Hoping we wouldn’t get caught but quite frankly it was one of those moments that we felt young wild and free.

The morning after- ouch!
ALARM ! yeah, that went off, we are not okay. We felt the full effects of our night out, we are still slightly intoxicated, unsure what day it is and panicking because we need to check out and be at the Elephant nature park head office in Chiang Mai by 7:30am. Thankfully, our hotel had breakfast included so we made ourselves eat and stumbled to the office. We were actually waiting outside a closed office in the wrong place, sat on the hot concrete pavement,giving off begger vibes and contemplating our decision, we eventually found where we needed to be, I am currently shaking at this point, its 29 degrees at 7:30am and I am truly feeling regret of consuming all the drinks from the night before.

The Journey
The one part of our trip that was actually planned, the countdown has ended as we booked this quite a few months in advance at STA Travel, so we were too excited for this day to finally come around. Unfortunately they no longer exist so I would recommend using Flight Centre or Trailfinders for these incredible experiences.
We checked in with the staff and it was all very organised, we got our volunteer T shirts and water bottles, we felt like part of the team and jumped in the mini bus from the city and trekked through the stunning lush jungle of Chiang Mai, our journey took around an hour and 45 minutes.

Arriving at The Elephant Nature Park
We arrived, chucked our bags down on the floor outside the hut of a muddy reception area then felt a bit lost. We eventually got directed to have lunch, thank goodness as we are so hungover (shock) and hot at the point, it’s humid, 30 degrees and busy, so that just doesn’t go well with travelling and feeling a little sorry for yourself after a very bumpy ride to get here. There was a delicious locally sourced vegan lunch made for us all and we could finally relax, making friends with like minded explorers, over looking some extraordinary jungle views where you could hear the trumpet sounds of happy elephants playing, I remember closing my eyes and feeling the warm air blow through the open decking of where I was sat and hearing these beautiful animals sound.
Well I say we could finally relax, or so we thought! We were taken to our room for the week and there were 2 double beds in a room on the first floor, our beds had mosquito nets covering them and as we lay and look up, we could see animals crawling around the ceilings and climbing into our neighbours rooms. It sounds worse than what it looks, because by the end of our day volunteering, we were so tired, we had our cold showers then fell asleep, ready for another busy day.

Volunteering – The Elephant Nature Park
As the days went on, Shan and I worked in group B and there were about 15 of us working hard together in the warm heat, preparing medical rice balls for the eles, scrubbing veg, clearing out the elephant dens(they poop a lot and it’s huge so this was hard work), feeding them fruit, bathing them in the river that surrounded us, getting shredded by corn leaves as we spent hours in a field chopping corn in corn fields and learning so much about these magnificent friendly beasts.

Although we are absolutely exhausted, we never sat on the elephants whilst we were here, we never rode them either because they’re backs aren’t designed to been ridden. We were educated and shown a very important video of the importance of elephants not to be ridden. Unfortunately, the tourism industry is rather ignorant to the pain and torture they suffer for us tourists to ride them for that selfie we want, but definitely do not need.

Spreading awareness(trigger warning of animal abuse)
The reason I am so highly against riding elephants is because of what Is involved: it’s called ‘crushing’ (dare you to YouTube this) – a practice inflicted on wild elephants to make them carry tourists on their back. It’s a way of deliberately breaking the spirits of animals so humans can control them and use them as a money maker. Crushing involves tying up and literally beating, starving and dehydrating an elephant into submission in a squashed wooden cage that is designed to be too small but accessible for the torturers to be able to beat them and burn them. so I encourage you to please, do not ride elephants!
But let’s spread some positivity into this, where I volunteered, the elephants were never ridden, beaten or ‘hooked’. They were controlled by love and fruit. And they were free to roam the 100s of acres of land they were rescued in. Yay to Lek, the founder of the Elephant Nature Park which is the first ethical and award winning sanctuary in Asia, click the link https://www.elephantnaturepark.org/enp/visit-volunteer/projects/weekly-volunteer-45/view to volunteer! One of only a small handful of sanctuaries where its forbidden to ride an elephant. However we did this in 2015, so I am hoping the voice of us volunteers and Leks incredible charity work has spread across Asia and encouraged other facilities not to allow them to be rode.

The end of the jungle experience
After kitten cuddles from the cat sanctuary, elephant washing, dog walking in the jungle from the dog sanctuary and making lots of dog friends, we finished our week here with a fun activity with a cold beer in hand and we went tubing through the river which wrapped around the beautiful sanctuary of the elephant Nature park which sits in the middle of the jungle, this experience was full of laughter as we made friends, incredible memories that will last a life time and finally relaxed. Then we packed up, took an awesome photo with everyone and a photo bomber (can you spot the elephant in the background).

We said our farewells, got emotional as we said our goodbyes then embarked on a very long, hot, budget friendly 24 HOUR bus, boat, taxi and walking journey to the party island of Koh Pangan to let our hair down for the world famous, FULL MOON PARTY to have some much needed fun in the sun!
Do you want to hear more? Leave a comment below and I will continue this story. Thank you for reading my Journey to the jungle.