After 4 days in Bangkok (it felt like a month) we'd had enough of the
pollution and constant offers to go see 'Ping Pong Shows' (you don't want to
know) so we headed up north to Chiang Mai. After finding the cheapest bus we
could ($10) we instantly knew why we had paid so little. We spent the next 15
hours rocking back and forth dangerously over cliffs, gasping every time we
swung toward the edge. To make things even more uncomfortable, the air con
wouldn't turn off, so if the fall off a cliff wasn’t going to get us, we were
pretty sure the hypothermia would. Inevitably, it broke down altogether.
Eventually we made our way into town. After Bangkok, Chiang Mai was a breath of fresh
air. Chiang Mai is a very old city, some structures dating from the 15th
century, and home to literally thousands of wats (temples). We were lucky to
have met an Israeli girl who had lived in a monastery in China for a
month, and who acted as our personal tour guide for an entire day as we did the
wat circuit. They were just gorgeous. The night markets were equally
impressive. Mile after mile of traditional Thai furniture, jewelry, food and
live music stretched out before us. It was just amazing. Ian even tried his
first fried grasshopper, to be followed up by a large water beetle. Gross.
We decided to book a three day jungle trek, to get out of the city for awhile.
There were twelve others in our group, from Australia,
America, England and Canada, oh, and one guide named
Rocky. Old Rocky, who for the longest time we thought was named
"Locky", who called all the men girly boys, and who laughed hardest
at his own jokes (mainly because no one understood him), and whose favourite
saying was "Oh My Budda!"
Early the next morning we all piled into a very small truck. With its back wide
open, and Ian and I holding on for dear life because we were the last two in,
we set off into the wilderness. For two hours we hung on precariously, white
knuckled while we swung over hills and around corners at break neck speed.
Unlike Australia which makes
you sign a waver for EVERYTHING, in Thailand this is just what they do.
If you get hurt, well, that's your problem.
We arrived later that day in a Hill Tribe village, where the children greeted
our truck by running from the bushes, jumping onto the back and attacking our
wrists with traditional woven bracelets they'd just pulled from inside their
pants....then immediately demanded 10 baht. Since the bracelets were impossible
to take off, we had no choice but to pay. Crafty little Hill Tribe children. We
spent the day trekking through the hills and forests, and then stopped in
another village for the evening. It was so beautiful. In the middle of no where
these villages exist with no electricity, farm animals running around
everywhere, and naked children hovering around fires, where their mothers cook
dinner. We ate dinner on the floor of a grass hut by candlelight and some of
the village women and children performed for us some traditional Thai songs.
Rocky played guitar and we sang them some of OUR "traditional" songs,
such as "Hotel California" (Ha!), until the last candle burned out. Then
we went to sleep on mats laid out on the hut floor.
We woke up the next morning to the sound of a pig being slaughtered. Nice. We
made our way into the jungle and after hours of hiking, came across a
waterfall, where we didn’t hesitate to jump into the surprisingly icy water. It
was beautiful! From there our hike continued until we arrived at a river where
elephants were bathing themselves. It was such an amazing site to see in the
middle of the jungle! The guides organized the elephants (and us) and in
couples we mounted each one. Now I've had some pretty surreal experiences, but
riding an elephant with Ian through the jungle is now pretty high on the list.
In fact, my already dreamlike state increased ten fold when Ian suddenly turned
to me and proposed, ring and all!....on an elephant!....in the jungle! Can you
imagine?! It took me a few minutes to register what he had said. He just kept
looking at me, saying, "So will you?". I eventually managed a
"Yes". That night we announced it to our group and we spent the night
celebrating by a campfire. We could not have asked for anything better. It was
a day we will never forget.
The next morning we were back on the jungle trek until we arrived at a river
with long bamboo rafts. There were three of us to a raft (standing) and a Thai
river guide who was more interested in pushing us off the raft and mashing mud
into our faces, than keeping us safe. For 2 hours it was full out chaos, with
everyone running and jumping from raft to raft, making it just before hitting
another rapid, people falling off, and guides disappearing, leaving people to
fend for themselves. The rest of the time we spent basking in the sunshine that
streamed through the openings in the jungle trees, while we ate these enormous
volleyball sized yellow fruit the guides picked out of the jungle for us. It
was one of our best experiences so far.
We headed back to Chiang Mai soaking wet and tired, but incredibly happy. We
were very lucky with the group we had. Everyone was so much fun, no one wanted
to split up afterward. That night everyone took us out for our "Stag and
Doe" night. We went to a Thai boxing match, and then split up, with me
heading off with the girls and Ian having a wild time with the guys.
The next day, with Angie and Alex (a couple who we've become friends with), we
rented motorcycles and drove up the steep and winding, but gorgeous mountains
outside of Chiang Mai until we got to this ancient temple called Doi Sutep that
had an incredible view of the city. Absolutely stunning! When we got back, the
girls picked me up for the continuation of my Hen's party. They bought me a big
white bow (in place of a veil) and they took me to a Thai spa where we all
treated ourselves to Thai massages. HIGHLY recommended!
Finally, our time in Chang Mai came to an end. It was hard to leave, but with
ten out of the twelve from our group, we headed off to Chiang Kong, the border
crossing to Laos, to begin
our long descent together down the Mekong
River.
