Day 8, Wednesday 28th April, Chiang Mai

Collected by minibus at hotel at 8:30, then drove around town collecting others
(4 French, 2 Danish, 2 Korean). First stop orchid and butterfly farm. Here I was placed
in another bus with another group, whose programme was more compatible with mine.
I had TZ3, with treetop canopy ziplining, without bamboo raft ride.
The trekking was walking uphill to the top of the ziplining area, indeed about 40 minutes.
The ziplining was terrifying. Strapped into a harness, hanging on a pully rolling along a
cable stretched between two trees between 50 and 500 metres apart, you had to launch
yourself into space, careen across the gap, anywhere from 5 to 25 metres above ground,
waiting for a signal from the guide ahead to brake by pulling on the cable with a forked
wooden stick, then putting your feet up so as not to smash them against the landing platform.
4 of the 24 stations involved vertical drops by rope, actually not so bad as the guide
controlled the pace. After an hour the ordeal was over. Lunch was fine.

Then I had an elephant ride, another mistake. Perched on a metal and wooden platform I had to hang on grimly while the elephant swayed its way up and down hilly paths, difficult to keep a grip with a plastic water bottle in one hand and a camera in the other. It could only get better as we crossed the shallow river several times and returned on an even keel.
The bamboo rafters passed us by, that actually looked enjoyable.
The elephants were not happy bunnies, especially not an adolescent which was chained by one foot and kept rocking back and forth, lifting the one free foreleg.
After a wait we were taken to a waterfall, to relax. Some splashed. I had forgotten my swimsuit.
On the way back a brief visit to a "hilltribe village", whereby the others got to see
"longneck Karens" while I was only allowed to stroll around some souvenir stalls
(where I bought a water-bottle holder in hilltribe decor from a cheerful black-toothed crone).
So, no more such tourist attractions for me.
However, at all stops there was bottled cold water for sale and clean toilets were available, the vehicles were air-con and the organisation remarkably efficient, considering the challenges. The Tarzan experience was, from a safety viewpoint, exemplary.
Tomorrow I leave Chiang Mai without regret. And without a package, which might be another mistake, but I want to try to catch a cruise boat that only takes one day, so I will go as far as possible by public transport and inquire on the spot in Huay Xai, Laos border town.