CS91's Bar trip to Asia (ICN, CNX, USM & HKG)

[CS91]

Wow, you're getting these posts out quickly! Besides from the DMZ tour, was there anything you didn't do in Seoul that you would have liked to do?

I was bored today lol. I had planned to walk around Itaewon area after the DMZ tour (Tuesday afternoon) and then do the North Seoul Tower on Tuesday night. So I basically missed out on Itaewon and DMZ.

[sam28]

Wow nice tr keep it coming it looks like u have a kid that likes to sleep.

[yitzyul]

Did you see the shopping area (I can't remember the name)? there are approx 50 blocks of vendors cramming the streets? Mostly Junk and a bit further down they had some nice decent price stores

[yitzyul]

I was bored today lol. I had planned to walk around Itaewon area after the DMZ tour (Tuesday afternoon) and then do the North Seoul Tower on Tuesday night. So I basically missed out on Itaewon and DMZ.

To be honest I don't think you missed much with not doing the DMZ tour. Since you had a kid and couldn't do the JSA tour, the DMZ prob would've been boring.

[CS91]

Did you see the shopping area (I can't remember the name)? there are approx 50 blocks of vendors cramming the streets? Mostly Junk and a bit further down they had some nice decent price stores

Not sure which area you're talking about. But it could be that the vendors weren't out yet because we were there at around noon so still early.

[CS91]

Day 3: Animal Shows in Chiang Mai

After waking up and packing up for the day, we walked over to the Chabad for breakfast.



It was nice to have a hot fresh meal for the first time in over a day. The food at the Chabad in Chiang Mai is overall really good and the prices are really low. I opted for the Shakshuka and DW and my daughter had omelets.



After breakfast, we walked next door to Yisroel to start our day of activities. I had texted Yisroel the week before telling him that I wanted to do the animal shows on our first day, so he got us a driver. I believe that I paid 800 baht for the driver (she was really nice and the car was clean and spacious), and we were out for a total of about 5-6 hours.

Our first stop was the famous Tiger Kingdom. I went for the “medium” tiger, and DW and my daughter went in with the newborn tigers.





Even though the photographers offer to take in your camera for you to take pictures, I also just paid their photographer to take pictures. I think it was 290 baht and you get all the pictures that they take on a CD. I thought it was definitely worth it.



Though the tigers are probably (definitely) drugged up, it was still pretty cool to do. To get the tigers to wake up and look at the camera, they wave this like bush in front of their face. At one point, I think the trainer smacked the tiger in the face a little too hard and the tiger started getting up and gave a little roar so I immediately jumped back, only to get a response of “it’s okay; good picture good picture.” I’m sure it would’ve been great footage if I got mauled because they pissed the tiger off.

For the newborn tiger, I’m not sure if they made a mistake or not but they gave us one free picture printed out in a tiger frame. I also gave the photographer our camera so he took some pictures on it too.



We then walked around Tiger Kingdom for a bit and saw the white tiger and the lion.



After Tiger Kingdom, we drove over to the monkey show. Before the show started, they had Sam (one of the monkeys) go around and take pictures with people and shake our hands. The actual show consisted of the monkeys doing different tricks such as riding a bike, lifting weights, playing basketball, and untying coconuts from the trees. The show was definitely enjoyable, but at the same time it was sad to see the way that the monkeys are chained up and always on a leash. It definitely put a little bit of a damper on the show.







After the monkey show it was off to the snake show. We personally didn’t really enjoy it and thought it was pretty stupid. It’s basically 30 minutes of watching people do ridiculously stupid things with snakes and risk their life. It wasn’t that entertaining so if any of you reading this are planning a trip to Chiang Mai and are a bit short on time and need to cut out an activity, I think this is the one to cut.









The last stop of the day was Maesa Elephant Camp. The main attraction of the camp is the elephant show, but before the show started, we walked around and looked at some of the elephants and saw them getting bathed.





We then went to watch the elephant show. We saw the elephants play soccer, paint, throw darts at balloons, and do some other tricks as well. We definitely enjoyed it, as did our daughter.







We had originally planned to go to the crocodile show too but by the time the elephant show ended, it was about 2:45pm and our daughter really needed a nap. I had also made a reservation at Green Bamboo for my wife at 4pm (that’s all they had available) so we decided to head back. We got back to Yisroel at about 3:25pm and we spoke to him about activities for the next day (Friday). He called Eagle Track ziplining for us and asked them if we would be able to switch off going ziplining while one of us watches our kid and they said that it would be fine, so we reserved that for the next morning. We booked the bronze package, which is 15 platforms and takes about 1 hour to complete, but more on that in the next installment.

Once that was settled, one of Yisroel’s drivers drove DW to Green Bamboo and my daughter and me back to our hotel to hang out and wait for DWs massage to be over. Once she got back to the hotel, we went to the Chabad for dinner. During dinner, we happened to meet another couple there who also wanted to go ziplining the next day but their babysitter cancelled on them and they didn’t have anything to do with their kid. So we decided that we’d watch each others kids so that we can each zipline together.

After dinner, we walked back to LM stopping at some of the street vendor booths on the way. After dropping DW and our daughter off at the hotel, I went back out to New Moda Tailors to get my measurements taken for a suit and then it was my turn to get a massage. After my massage, we called it a day after a fun-filled first day in Chiang Mai.

[mochjas]

Nice TR!

The framed picture is included with the baby tiger. And I definitely wouldn't call it free as you pay a lot for that package!

[Yehoshua]

I was also wondering about how enjoyable all the animal shows were. Granted it's nice to see the animals up close and get cool pictures with them, but the fact that some are drugged, some are on leashes and all are kept in what seems to be small cages (or areas in the elephants case) kinda takes away from the fun of it all. I'm not a PETA person or one who thinks animals have rights, etc., but at the same time I'm curious to know what these places say in regards to the animals well being.

I recently became aware that animals in captivity like at zoos actually benefit from different shows they do, since even animals need mental stimulation that they get naturally in the wild by either hunting or trying not to get hunted but don't get in a zoo. Keeping them engaged by making them perform is the in-captivity equivalent. At the same time, zoos usually tell you how well they treat the animals.

Do these places do the same?

[elya]

Ahhhh that Shakshuka. My mouth is watering!

[shauly]

The monkey show left me feeling the exact same way.

[benjie1305]

The monkey show left me feeling the exact same way.

The monkey show is by far the worst of it and I was disgusted that I paid for it.

I was also wondering about how enjoyable all the animal shows were. Granted it's nice to see the animals up close and get cool pictures with them, but the fact that some are drugged, some are on leashes and all are kept in what seems to be small cages.

All are drugged.

[Yehoshua]

All are drugged.

The elephants are drugged too?

[benjie1305]

The elephants are drugged too?

You should google it. It isn't drugging but several of the places in SEA beat them half to death and some.

Example: http://expertvagabond.com/elephants-in-thailand/

[CS91]

Nice TR!

The framed picture is included with the baby tiger. And I definitely wouldn't call it free as you pay a lot for that package!

Guess it feels free when you aren't expecting it .

I was also wondering about how enjoyable all the animal shows were. Granted it's nice to see the animals up close and get cool pictures with them, but the fact that some are drugged, some are on leashes and all are kept in what seems to be small cages (or areas in the elephants case) kinda takes away from the fun of it all. I'm not a PETA person or one who thinks animals have rights, etc., but at the same time I'm curious to know what these places say in regards to the animals well being.

I recently became aware that animals in captivity like at zoos actually benefit from different shows they do, since even animals need mental stimulation that they get naturally in the wild by either hunting or trying not to get hunted but don't get in a zoo. Keeping them engaged by making them perform is the in-captivity equivalent. At the same time, zoos usually tell you how well they treat the animals.

Do these places do the same?

These places don't explain anything about how the animals are treated etc.

The monkey show left me feeling the exact same way.

The monkey show is by far the worst of it and I was disgusted that I paid for it.

The worst part of it was that monkey that was at the entrance on the table. Every time he fell off, I couldn't believe that the trainers just let him hang by his neck and struggle to clime back up instead of helping him. Just terrible.

[benjie1305]

Guess it feels free when you aren't expecting it .
 
These places don't explain anything about how the animals are treated etc.
The worst part of it was that monkey that was at the entrance on the table. Every time he fell off, I couldn't believe that the trainers just let him hang by his neck and struggle to clime back up instead of helping him. Just terrible.

Some of the trainees themselves were clearly not 100%

[shauly]

For me, during the show I just felt really sad that they were on those chains and were tugged around. The worst was after the show when I walked around and saw the little area where they had six or so monkeys chained to little trees. They were all pacing back and forth, but the chains were so short that they couldn't even make a full circle around their trees. Forget being able to climb, play, or interact with the other monkeys.

[Luvtotravel]

Some of the trainees themselves were clearly not 100%

maybe they should be the ones caged 

[Yehoshua]

For me, during the show I just felt really sad that they were on those chains and were tugged around. The worst was after the show when I walked around and saw the little area where they had six or so monkeys chained to little trees. They were all pacing back and forth, but the chains were so short that they couldn't even make a full circle around their trees. Forget being able to climb, play, or interact with the other monkeys.

So why is everyone here so into going to CNX then?! Sure there are things to do, but half if not more of the activities seem to be these shows which sound worse and worse with each TR that gets posted. Seems like if you don't do any animal shows you're left with zip lining and the log neck people thing, plus some cool hikes/waterfalls. Am I missing something?

[shauly]

So why is everyone here so into going to CNX then?! Sure there are things to do, but half if not more of the activities seem to be these shows which sound worse and worse with each TR that gets posted. Seems like if you don't do any animal shows you're left with zip lining and the log neck people thing, plus some cool hikes/waterfalls. Am I missing something?

The scenery is gorgeous and the people and the culture of the city are amazing things to experience. I went to the Baanchang Elephant paradise, where it seemed as if the elephants were treated nicely.

There are definitely things to do without going to places that abuse animals. In my case I didn't really think about that aspect until I was sitting there and witnessing it myself.

[Yehoshua]

The scenery is gorgeous and the people and the culture of the city are amazing things to experience. I went to the Baanchang Elephant paradise, where it seemed as if the elephants were treated nicely.

There are definitely things to do without going to places that abuse animals. In my case I didn't really think about that aspect until I was sitting there and witnessing it myself.

I don't doubt there are things to do, I just don't think 5 days are needed based on what I've seen. I'd say 2-3 would be enough.