The Land of Smiles

Northern Thailand has been one adventure after another and is certainly the highlight of my time in Asia.

The adventures started at the airport in Chiang Mai when three sets of couples ran past us, each trailed by a camera guy and an audio guy. We are pretty sure that they were part of the show The Amazing Race but when we asked them all one guy could say was "I don't know what you're talking about." Yeah, right.

So back to us...

On our first night in Chiang Mai we decided to take in a few matches of Muay Thai boxing. Going in we didn't know much about it and I'm still not sure I fully comprehend how one boxer wins. I'm pretty sure it has to do with how much contact he/she can make with feet, knees and fists. What we really weren't expecting was to see numerous bouts between what seemed like 8 year olds and quite a few young women. Nevertheless we enjoyed making small bets with the 3 guys next to us on who would win based entirely on looks and pre-fight rituals.

Chiang Mai is the hub for trekking tours in Northern Thailand. We had thought we would do a 3 day, 2 night trek but on the recommendation of our hotel we shortened it to 2 days (and thank goodness we did!...read on), heading out on our first full day in town. Our trekking group was 8 people strong on the first day. 2 Danes, 2 NYCers, 1 Brit and the 3 of us. We started off in a truck (covered, no windows, seated facing each other) and drove out of the city about 30km to a butterfly and orchid farm. The tours all have to do their part to help the tourist economy but I'm pretty sure nobody bought anything. From the farms we drove on to two hill tribes. The first was the Mong people, native to Thailand. The Mong people's dress is just beautiful and extremely colorful. We toured their village including the inside of their homes and saw them at work in the rice fields. At first I thought they only dressed in the traditional garb for our sake but I have since seen the Mong people outside of a tour setting and they were still dressed in the heavy material.
After the Mong people we visited a village of the Karen longneck people, originally from Burma. We learned the origin of the gold neck rings (to protect women from Tigers while men were out in the fields) and were shown the women's traditional silk weaving craft. In exploring the village I also came upon two adorable girls that were practicing their penmanship. Great photo ops!

From the hilltribe visits we stopped briefly at a market so our tour guide could could buy the fixings for dinner and then it was on to the elephant camp. As we approached the camp we spotted two elephants coming down the mountain and our excitement sky rocketed. There were a few other groups ahead of us so we ate a good lunch of Pad Thai and then were left to play with the one elephant who wasn't out on a tour. She was very well trained and extremely friendly. She didn't even need to be kept chained up like the other two. We decided to buy a bunch of bananas from the ladies at the camp and attempted to give the elephant a pre-ride treat. It took me a while to get the hang of it b/c I was honestly a little scared to just let it use its trunk to pick the banana out of my palm but eventually I got the hang of it. A few funny pics came out of the whole episode. Eventually it was our groups turn to take a ride. Because there was three of us I volunteered to actually sit on the elephant's neck with my legs tucked behind it's ears. I got a bit of mud and elephant spit sprayed on my legs but it was such a neat experience. After more photo ops and feeding of the elephants we headed out for what turned out to be a 3 hour hike. Normally I wouldn't bat an eye at that but I swear 90% of the hike was straight up hill. Ironically the two NYCers in our group had a bit of a tough time with the hiking (the girl looked like she wanted to kill her boyfriend). We hiked through rice paddies, over rivers and through hill tribe villages passing a few lovely waterfalls along the way. Eventually we reached the top of the mountain where our camp would be for the evening. The camp was essentially one large bamboo hut with a row of mats and mosquito nets. There were also outhouses and showers! Hey, we were prepared for no showers and sleeping on the ground so to find that AND cold beer was a pleasant surprise. After a nice cool sleep in the mountains we headed out the next morning for another 3 hour hike to a small village where we would eat lunch. Along the way we stopped for a swim at a waterfall. After lunch we hopped in a van and headed to a river for a little white water rafting and then a bit of bamboo rafting. The white water rafting was what you would expect but the bamboo rafts were just bizarre. The raft was submerged a few inches and we just floated down the river. It didn't help matters to see a water snake along the way.
By the end of the whole trekking experience we looked pretty rough but I would highly recommend it to anyone!

After the trekking we took a day to do some shopping in Chiang Mai and to treat ourselves to a wonderful spa day. We decided to splurge on a spa that was relatively pretty expensive by Thai standards but I'd say that $60 for a 2.5 hour body scrub, mud wrap and hot oil massage is a pretty good absolute deal. Jess and Lindsey even went in for 4 hours of bliss!
Completely relaxed we headed out to the great Sunday market. It only takes place one day a week and is really comprehensive. A big downpour put a bit of a damper on the market as quite a few vendors packed up and went home early but still it was a haggler's dream.

Our last adventure in the Chiang Mai area was a 100 mile motorbike trip up to the town of Pai. We had so many recommendations about driving our own bikes that we couldn't resist. I actually think we caught on pretty quickly to the bikes and were pros by the time we hit the steep and windy roads of the mountain just before Pai. The ride to Pai is half of the fun of going there. Along the way we stopped at two national park sites. The first was a triple waterfall and bat caves where we cooled off from the muggy weather. The second was a geyser and natural hot springs.
Pai is a real hippie town where vegetarian and vegan restaurants abound. I am embarrassed to admit that we succumbed to our cravings for mexican food but it was actually pretty good. We successfully stayed in Pai for $10 total and the next morning headed back to Chiang Mai. We tried to stop at a national park and go for a hike but apparently the park had no hiking and was really just a conference center....odd.

Back in Chiang Mai we closed out our Thailand visit with a traditional Thai Kantoke dinner and dance performance.

I'm now alone again and I've successfully made it to Siem Reap in Cambodia. I look forward to touring the Angkor Wat area tomorrow and the next day.