Planes, trains, and automobiles...and elephants too!

Transportation throughout Thailand is varied, cheap and easy- not unlike the women foreign men are picking up at the bars- but I digress.

On our travel adventure, we've mastered the art of negotiating cheap rides from our drivers, particularly in rural Chiang Mai. Tuk-tuks are the fastest, most direct form of transpo- these can best be described as three-wheeled motorbikes, outfitted with a tarp-covered metal cart with a bench seat for our comfort of course. These are ubiquitous and quite noisy (hence the name tuk-tuk for the sound they make). Riding in style isn't always sustainable so sometimes we opted to ride the 'bus'- or song tao which literally means 'two benches' because these pick-up trucks are outfitted with two long benches and a covered roof to hold luggage, sacks of rice and other cargo (sometimes even people). These are the main form of transit for city folks and budget conscious tourists (like us).

Province transportation is another story completely. For our trip to the limestone caves in the Chiang Dao province (about 1.5 hours north of Chiang Mai) we rode the Thai version of a 'chicken bus'- these look like school buses with rows of seats that seat three Thais, not two fat Americans.

In Chiang Dao, after our cave crawling adventure, we were suddenly hit by monsoon rain and hired a young woman to take us on her motor bike back to town to catch the last chicken bus back to the city. Here, it's quite common to see entire families riding around on scooters and motorbikes. Here we are riding around in the rain with three people on a motorcycle with a Thai woman half my size driving- no helmets- and in the states I won't drive to the grocery store without my seatbelt on...what can I say- you only live once, why not die having a blast?

Other forms of transportation we've ridden:

• Bamboo raft- wet, but fun!


• Elephant- these creatures are lovely, friendly and incredibly intelligent and gentle. Although I asked myself, how do you stop an elephant that doesn't want to be? Ahem.


• Longtail boat- this one took us snorkeling in the clearest blue-green water I've ever seen.


• Chartered mini van- with air conditioning. I felt like splurging.


• Ferry boat- this was quite stunning as we approached Ko Phi Phi. Check out the photos on my next post.

There's not much left to try I think except maybe rickshaw? Somehow I think we might have trouble with that in the city.