Chiang Mai

Friday March 18th - Bangkok

 We woke up pretty late today because there wasn’t too much we wanted to see while we were in Bangkok except the Grand Palace and our bus tonight doesn’t leave until 7 pm and we weren’t going to have anywhere to really be in between. When we finally made our way out into the world we decided that we were going to skip the Tuk Tuk and go by foot and our amazing direction instincts. It started off a little rough but after a bit we gathered our footing and were heading in the right direction. After experiencing a few “Where you going? The Grand Palace is closed till 3 today. But you can take a long boat while you wait!” we were finally there. And of course it was open and waiting for our business. It wasn’t as grand as we were expecting it to be, so it was kind of a disappointment to us.  Jason was pretty upset that after all the anticipation and build up and wanted to leave after being there for half an hour. We figured that we had to get our moneys worth, so we stayed and people watched for a bit. Some very interesting people are visiting Bangkok. After growing tired of that we began making our way to the reclining Buddha, a guaranteed hit. We walked for what seemed like a really time in the heat(finally) only to realized that we were actually walking in the complete opposite direction. Not ideal. So we headed in the right direction and it was chaos at the Wat Pho. But still amazing to see, even for the second time for me. When we left the temple we still had some time to kill and noticed that Chinatown was pretty close by. Didn’t seem like a popular tourist destination because when we got there it was a huge market for household items and hardware. Jason wanted to buy a new pair of slip on shoes, but he didn’t come to right country to look for size 13 shoes. It was finally time for us to head back to grab some dinner. When we were walking the market on our hotels road we discovered a table with weapons. Batons and tazors seemed to be their specialty and their selling features were that you could dismantle them so you can bring them back to Canada. I think you’d have a hard time explaining that to customs. Then it was bus time, after we had promised not to do another night bus after Central America.

Lisa

We found it!

Saturday March 19th  Chiang Mai


General rule of thumb, night buses are horrible any way you slice it. After a horribly cold night  thanks to the AC the two grumpy compadres were met by our guide who was holding a sign with our names... he picked us up sorted us out at the tours hotel. Not the nicest place in the world but its the right price. We got a few more hours of sleep before we went out to explore Chiang Mai. We sought out a highly recommended veggie restaurant which didnt disappoint and wandered around the moat that surrounds the town. We ended up running into the Thai Welter Weight Mai Thai Champ who was promoting the  saturday night fight. We ended up chcecking out a night market which was really busy and then heading to the fights. We were both impressed and shocked at the fights. Impressed at how ripped the fighters were, but they were so young, the first 5 fights were between 12-16. The headliner fight was between a local Thai and a Canadian... it lasted all of a minute with the Canadian winning with a knee to the head as the other guy was falling down... apparently it was a bit of a cheap shot. Lisa missed all of the excitement as she went to the washroom at the wrong time. We met up with the champ and had an evening of sign language convo's.  He invited us to go out to the bar with him after but we had to decline because of the trekking early tomorrow and we hadn't had a chance to have dinner. The funniest part of the night is we made a bet, picking either the red or blue team of fighters for the night, I ended up being down two fights before the headliner so I called double or nothing on whether or not the fighters were male or female (the guys name was sasha and the poster had a female fighters picture) but I guess I had one too many Changs because I pointed out about an hour before the guys warming up in another room... Whoops. A quick pad thai with a live english cover band and a short crazy tuk tuk ride and we were back at the guest house, time for bed.


Jason

Yup, those are 12 year old girls, this fight last 10 seconds with a red TKO, she knocked the girl down and then she decided that she didn't want to fight anymore. 

Sunday March 20th Chiang Mai

Early morning for us. It’s trekking time! We were supposed to leave at 8am, but that’s Thai time. We didn’t end up leaving with our super relaxed guide until closer to nine. A stop at another hotel and the tourist police station to make sure they know who is out in the jungle and we were on our way out of Chiang Mai. Our first stop was elephant riding. Pretty cool experience but a little sad at the same time. At least they have an endless supply of bananas. Ours, Dumbo Junior sprayed us a few times, and the both of us got a mouth full of whatever kind of liquid an elephant keeps up its trunk. Next stop was lunch and then another half an hour drive out and our hiking began. We were expecting a little more difficult walk and for the heat to be a major factor but we made it to our first waterfall and our camp in pretty good time, considering our guide Jack Sparrow made it seem like it would be a long grueling day. Our camp was a Thai man and his two daughters house. The two girls were the cutest kids ever. The language barriers was not a major factor with them, because they were right there with us for a lot of the night, just giggling and smiling and having a great time. The hut consisted of ply wood and a little patio chair mattress, something that we were used to after the Tip Guest House. It was a pretty early night for all of us, the sun was pretty draining in the end and Jack was warning of a long full day tomorrow.

Lisa

Monday March 21st Chiang Mai

After a horrible nights sleep in the Thai rain forrest (It was soooo cold and we didn't have many blankets) we were up early, drinking coffee around the fire with a solid breakfast waiting. I was finally feeling normal again and full of energy and ready continue our journey. We hiked all a river for most of the day enjoying many waterfalls and lots of swimming. The family that we stayed with had made us lunch and wrapped it in Bannana leaves which was cool. We ended up arriving at our next village a lot faster then we expected, our group was very young and fast which was good. There was a excellent swimming spot and a natural water slide right beside the village so we spent the afternoon playing in the water and getting 'duped' by local kids. They only knew one phrase, "Hello, 5 Baht" and then they'd tie a bracelet around your wrist.... they were about 7 years old. I ended up buying a ton of bracelets and gifting them to Lisa. They also had a weaving loom with really nice hand woven clothing... so after a few changs a few of us bought poncho's to the delight of the village people. We spent the evening socializing and hanging out in the village but I think we were all pretty tired because the majority of the people were in bed by 8pm. I stayed up and hung out with the guide (Captain Jack Sparrow as he calls himself) and he shared stories and his rice booze with us. Overall an extremely enjoyable day.


Jason

Tuesday, March 22nd Chiang Mai


It was pretty difficult getting the energy to get out of bed today and 
walking down the hill to wash my face in the river I could tell just how sore I was. My thighs are definitely getting a workout. Our first stop was the village that we stayed at last night. It was pretty cool to see that the people lived and slept just as we had been doing these last couple of nights. We were greeted by the “5 baht” gang, who clearly remembered Jason from yesterday, because the little girls were giggling and waving at him and tried to charge him “10 baht” for some more. We walked next to a rice and soy field and got to the waterfall that our guide had boasted that you could jump off the edge. Jason jumped but I took a pass and took some pictures instead. Next the gang of boys headed out behind the waterfall because there was a cave that you could jump out of and through the water. It was all good fun until one of the guys in our group jumped through and didn’t quite clear the rocks and smashed his back against one of the rocks. He was really badly hurt and most of us were in shock of what had happened. Meanwhile another guy jumped and hit his ankle really badly as well. Thankfully we had an amazing group and a couple people who were really skilled at first aid and knew how to handle the situation. It was a pretty sad way to end a great few days. We then headed for lunch and after to the bamboo rafting. It was a pretty relaxing way to end the whole trek, except for the local making it a mission to spray you with water. We even managing to catch some sun and give us a little bit of colour so it won’t be so obvious we just arrived from a Canadian winter. Luckily both boys seemed to be doing a lot better by the end, and hopefully a trip to the doctor and some pain medicine and they’ll be back to drinking Chang soon.


Lisa