Michael's and Walter's Thailand trip

It has now been some weeks of travelling for Mr. Dempsey and myself from the cities to the provinces to the jungles to the islands and even below the waters we have witnessed several wonders and terrors out there.
Clearly Thailand is not for the fainthearted. Luckily for robust travellers as ourselves this has proved to be no problem.
However hard and dangerous the animals migh be, the Thai people have managed to leave in harmony with them and have domesticated and mastered them. This was something we had to experience ourselves and so we went with some locals and mastered the most monstrous and tricky of them.

Our first experiences were deep in the Thai Jungle where we had endevoured on our earlier days. Although in the wild most animals have learned to stay away from humans there are some that use subterfuge and terror to survive the human encounters.
Here we have the yellow terror spider, it inspires terror by its size (+/-20cm) but is actually not that big a threat at all. Soon we had it walking over our hands and arms after our guides informed us it was not poisonous at all to humans.
A more devious encounter in the jungle however was a creature that we've come to call the Thai Mountain Hunting Twig. They disguise themselves as fallen trees and branches as it's smaller variant in Europe is also known to do, but the Thai version is a different story all together. Over the years it just keeps on growing and gathering size until it's big enough to attack a human and larger. They lay around in the jungles waiting for the inconspicuous traveller to come around and strike with extreme rapidity. One tried to attack us, but we quickly dispatched it with some well placed shots and here you can see Mr Dempsey posing next to the carcass..

Not all creatures of the jungle are so wild anymore. The creatures posted with the very first picture of this entry are revered and used as means of transportation. As the picture shows they have been and still are important enough for the Thai people to immortalize them in religious statues. We call them Ele-phants and have used them as beasts of burden during our treks.
These huge creatures can tower about 4 meters in the air and are as strong as 20 men. Let me tell you it is quite the experience to be stomping on top of one of them through the jungle, surely not for the fainthearted even though they are the kindest of creatures. They are bred and learn to live in close proximity with humans by the Thai people and are being taken care of by the Ong-Bak. They are kindhearted animals but you do not want to anger them.
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A different story all together is set aside for the tigers. These ferocious animals do not need to be angered to be a danger for any man. They are predators of all and yet the Thai people have also learned to master these animals.
Currently they are threatened with extinction and are therefore actually being raised by the Thai people. I guess that it is important for the Thai people to show off their mastery of these demons of the jungle to reinvigorate their faith. Tigers have historically a big place in Thai society. Certain remote tribes (The Karen) have taken the steps of prolonging their own necks and fortifying them with golden bands to withstand the mighty jaws of the tiger. But in general the tiger is the great predator of all wildlife in Thailand and as such is an essential part of the circle of life, a notion of which the Thai people are very aware off.
We've went to one of the camps where tigers are being bred and both me and Mr. Dempsey went into the tiger's den and assisted in their education. For of course these animals must know not to attack any humans before they are fit for release in the wild. There are still a lot of things though that make the animals dangerous for us and that's why the guides told us: "Do not stand in front of the tiger or it might think you want to play with him and he might kill you". Tigers are specifically fed only chicken so they can resist the urge to taste red meat.
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These creatures were so far the most dangerous animals we have encountered during our travels in far Thailand. But there are other animals that are more tricky and comical than others. We encountered several creatures of the kind that Charles Darwin insists upon that our far cousins. During our travels we have determined that if they are our cousins, then they must be cousins very far related to us indeed, perhaps to greatuncle Humphrey.
I am of course talking about the monkeys. If there is one thing about monkeys that we know, then that is that they never learn! They continuously do the most stupid actions imaginable and are as primitive as can be imagined.
We've encountered them and fed them and got amused by their simple intelligence. Though they did of course try to steal some trinkets from us.

So far our encounters with the animal riches of Thailand, if we encounter more, we will surely update you!

As will be described by my cooperative Mr. Dempsey we had arrived in Thailand travelled to and braved the jungles of northern Thailand and exerienced many wonders. We now felt it was time to delve into the history of the country and so we set out to explore the fabled legendary city of Wiang Kum Kam.
This city was the first to be settled in the area of Chiang Mai in the 13^th century and would hold marvelous architectural wonders. Since Mr. Dempsey and I had already discovered that Thailand is "The nation of why not" we quickly secured us some transport.
This moped as the locals called it of the model "Honda Scoopy" would prove to be all we needed to get to our destination, the Saraphi district.

The heat was hard to take, so you could only imagine the hardships we had to endure while venturing to this place. Next to this we had to cope with the local population, they are friendly and relaxed, but we had quite some issues with the language. There was nothing left but for me to master the barbarian language and with this we eventually found the location: เวียงกุมกาม

Wiang Kum Kam was hidden just below an existing village and all that was visible were some temples and ruins.

We noticed depictions of interesting and demonic creatures, but they did not frighten us, instead we conquered our fears!

"Let's go forward Mr Dempsey and document this ancient and wonderful place for future generations", and so we set forth and found several old locations in the area. This must have once been a thriving city but some disaster had befallen it.
Walking amongst this lost city's ruins we were impressed by the skills of the ancient Thai people and we contemplated on the history of this great country.

Soon however the night was falling and we had to get back to our base camp in the city of Chiang Mai another experience richer. What more will this amazing country bring us?

"I've got a daring plan, my good friend Mr. Dempsey", I said: "Let's follow in the steps of our illustrious ancestors and explore the far reaches of the world".
"My Irish ancestors did not get much further with exploring then Iceland, Monsieur de l'Enfers, so I have to assume that you refer to my French ones" responded my associate while enjoying his well deservered Cigar in The Custom House Gentelman's club. While puffing thick smokes in my way he added: "I do hope that you intend to use a bit more advanced equipment than those chaps back in the days! But well I'm always up for a bit of adventure, so let's go for it."

And so we went to Grand Irish library and digged through some chart and traveler reports. Weird stories of a country with jungles full of the most amazing creatures and islands with beautiful beaches resting on an azure blue sea soon enthralled us. The journey would be long and troublesome, but perhaps this made it only more interesting.
First and foremost we would have to travel to the country of the great Brittish enemy and escape its clutches while finding a pilot wild and crazy enough to take us the land of 1001 nights and from there on we need to find passage to the mysterious kingdom of Siam. And what might happen there is still left for the imagination.

We could not resist, so this is the story of 2 modern explorers searching for mystical and exotic experiences.

Adventure awaits!