Ying's in Chaingmai, Thailand I (Monster Fishing and Elephant Riding)

Our second stop on our adventure to Thailand was Chiangmai.  I have been telling people that this was our trip to the mountains or jungle of Thailand.  This was our chance to see the wildlife and we sure did.  We arrived in the morning and had a fishing trip booked for the afternoon.  The fishing was in a stocked pond but it was stocked with these monster catfish.  They were Maekong Giant catfish, each was no less than 20 kg (40+ lbs) and our biggest was about 30kg (65ish lbs).  They were a great fighting fish where they took about 15-20 minutes each to get to land.  In the 3.5 hours that we were fishing we caught 23 fish (10 dad, 10 Will, 3 Mark).  It was about $45 each that included our transportation there, the gear and some instruction.

We picked our hotel from TripAdvisor and it was a great choice.
We were able to get a room with beds for all of us.  It was close
to the city and walking to restaurants, etc.

A small temple close to the hotel.  We had a few
hours before fishing to explore.

Another view of the temple.

There was a women charging 100 Baht ($3) to release some sparrows.
It was for good luck, we think that they flew back to her...

About 6 per basket.

Gold everywhere, at least gold covering or gold paint.

Inside the small temple

gold, gold, gold

Will bringing in a big one.

One of his 10 fish, this one about 25 kg.

Baba's got a lunker!

Over a meter long for each fish.

These fish have been caught a few times each.  The guide said
the only food they eat is from the fisherman.

Mark got into it also, he caught about 3 fish but he didn't
fish the whole 3.5 hours.

A bit too heavy for him to hold, maybe in a couple more years.

This was probably about fish 8 or 9, a great workout but
worth it since we have been fishing deprived since being in
China.

We were reeling in fish more than we weren't.  

One of the bigger ones.

2 at a time!

That night we had some yummy Thai food then to bed.  In the morning we were met by our reliable taxi-driver who took us to the Elephant reserve.  It was about an hours drive but worth it.  The park had a ticket that included the elephant ride (45 minutes), a cart ride pulled by water buffalo, an elephant talent show, a bamboo rafting ride and a buffet lunch.  It was a reasonable price for about 4 hours of fun and memories.

On arrival we fed the elephants bunches of bananas, they eat
200 kgs of food per day.  

Els and Dagny on an elephant and the boys were on the
lead elephant.

The elephant would walk in and out of the
river and up and down some hilly terrain.

Nice shot with the hilly jungle in the background.

Looks kinda crazy wild.

Boys having fun!  It was a first for all of us.

Will was able to mount the elephant.

The ladies ride!

The family rides, a classic photo to hang
on the wall from our time in Asia!

Ride 'em cowgirl.

A nice stroll through the jungle.