Easy rider Thai style

So this morning we decided that we should rent a motor bike, head into the mountains, and basically enjoy a day totally on our own schedule. What we forgot to add into that plan was a map that covered a larger area than the one we had (which for all purposes was as useful as a chocolate fire guard for a long distance motorbike trip). Who cares anyway...... maps are over rated.

We battled the roads of Chiangmai on our 400cc honda phantom, and made it out of the city in one piece. We knew that the tiger kingdom was to the north, so that's the direction we were heading. Once out of the town it was great to unbutton the shirt and just ride into the mountains, although I realized real quick that sun cream would have been a nice addition.

 I normally don't do animals in captivity, but tiger kingdom is actually a place were they have a breeding program for tigers that otherwise probably wouldn't make it in the wild. There are something like 35 tigers here, which when you consider there are only a total of 700(ish) in the wild, it's a pretty high percentage. Because many of them are born in captivity they are very tame towards humans, this means that against all my natural instincts you get in the animal enclosure with these guys. The cubs were fun and rolling around playing with you, but luckily the larger cats didn't really want to play ....... I'm fine with that. It's was actually a really cool experience, and I'm glad we took the opportunity to see these guys up close and personal. If you are ever in Chiangmai Mai, check this place out.

 After playing around with tigger and co, we jumped back on the bike and carried on heading north. We weren't really heading anywhere specific, we were just enjoying the winding mountain roads, great sunny weather and the amazing scenery. It wasn't until we were getting low on gas, hadn't seen any other tourist (or towns) for a while and couldn't read any of the roads signs at the t junction, that we started to think about how we might get back to town. Luckily we found this little old policeman and his dog, in his little hut at the side of the road. Once he had stopped starring at Rachel, we used our best sign language to help get directions to Chiangmai. He had a helpful map, which I'm sure he was amazed we weren't already in possession of, and then we were back on track. 50 miles later we were rocking into Chiangmai ..... albeit a little sore and supporting a red farmers tan. It might not have been the relaxing day we were after ...... but it was a fun day non the less.