So, on my last day in Chiang Mai, I took a Thai cooking class. It was so much fun and I would recommend it to everyone! It was the Thai Farm Cooking School and they take you to a farm out in the country where you pick your veggies and the teacher explains what they are and what they are used for... Hopefully I'll remember everything I was taught so I can make food for everyone at home!
The next day I journeyed to Sappong and Cave Lodge. There I met up with my Swedish friend and made a few more while I was at it. Cave Lodge was definitely a little more rustic than I expected. My bathroom was a stones throw away from my room and it was usually full of bugs... not bugs like I'm used to in the US, but beatles that are literally 5 inches long. My room was very much open to the rest of the world and some of those 5 inch buggers decided to join me for the night. It wasn't those that I minded so much as the big flying ones that decided to buzz around my mosquito net for hours. Also, one of the many cats at this place decided it wanted to follow me everywhere as well. It is a little white cat with a tiny bell around it's neck... oh cute, right? Ummm, not really... She woke me up constantly throughout the night cause she wanted to cuddle with me... what's with cats liking me? Anyway, the little bell was tinkering around my bed just outside the mosquito net the whole entire night so needless to say I did not get much sleep the past two nights.
Other than that, everything else was great. A group of 5 of us ventured out to the Karen hilltribe village after breakfast yesterday morning. It was about an hour and a half long walk up and down really steep hills through mud and rain, but we eventually made it. Unfortunately, the remote hilltribe village aparently became somewhat modernized over the past few years with tv's, satellite dishes and solar panels. They still do lots of handmade crafts though, including the weaved purse that I bought.
One of the Karen men who spoke english came over to ask us if we wanted to see the caves near the village. We of course said yes and then proceeded to go on another hour long walk to the caves. Not knowing I would go hang out in a cave that afternoon, I didn't bring a flashlight. Going through the cave in the dark was probably not the brightest (haha, corny) decision I had ever made. Luckily I stayed on my feet for the most part and was able to take some really cool pictures. Our guide was really nice and let us wash off in his outhouse type bathroom. Everyone got dirty because the entrance to the cave was about two feet tall and the ground was slippery and muddy. The way back to Cave Lodge was really really really really long and when we finally made it back, a long shower(but not really because of the friends that were joining me) and some cold beers were in order.
Today, I went through a cave closeby and this one was absolutely awesome! It was massive and there were three different sections to explore with a bamboo raft trip in the middle. The caves were full of massive stalactites and very phallic looking stalagmites. The last section was probably the most interesting with ancient coffins dating back a couple thousand years.
After coming back from the cave, I gathered up all my stuff and took a bus with a few others to the city of Pai about an hour South of Sappong. This city is very reminiscent of 1960's hippie culture and there are dreadlocks and hemp to rival Jamaica. This should be a very interesting experience, but already it's been great... my guest house looks like a palace compared to where I stayed yesterday. :) A place that is calling me to finally go take a real shower!
