The scratchy, throbbing feeling in my throat woke me at 5
am. Of course the day that I was to travel to the tallest point of Thailand
would also be the day that my student’s sniffling would finally catch up with
me. My room was freezing, so I laid in bed, alternating my gaze from the alarm
clock to the ceiling for the next two hours. When I could wait no longer, I
jumped out of bed and proceeded to put on ALL of my warmest clothes.
Who knew that my fleece sweatshirt and gloves I was wearing
when I got on the plane in Alaska nearly a
year ago would be handy in Thailand.
I also grabbed a functional silk scarf that I had picked up in Laos and a
green hat I picked up at the Saturday walking street market the night
before. I dug around until I could find
a pair of socks; shook out my tennis shoes to check for spiders and dislodge cobwebs
from the previously unused footwear.
As one last measure, I filled up a cup with hot water and
green tea leaves before heading off to find a red taxi. As I briskly walked
down the street to a point where I could get a red taxi, I thought about what
it must be like in Alaska
right now. My stomach flipped, and as I jumped into the back of the truck, I
decided there was no point in contemplating it too much.
One of the teachers at the learning center had volunteered
to drive a small group of us up to Doi Intanon. This is the time of year people
flock to the mountain early in the morning to look at the frost that gathers on
the ground. I didn’t see any frost, but I did see my breath more than once. I
took a picture of the thermometer near the top and had to laugh. I would never
have thought I would experience 6 degrees Celsius in Thailand.
There is very little walking involved getting to the
“summit”. The parking lot is near the top, and a wooden path way leads a short
way into the trees. We took pictures while joking about the strenuous hike. However,
there are many trails on Doi Intanon, and we walked down the nature trail after
seeing the point. The trail was a short loop, where we saw the “highest lake”
in Thailand,
old growth rhododendrons, crazy moss, and birds.
We continued down the mountain a short distance to another
trail. This time we were required to get a guide. We only did a portion of the
hike, as two of us were fighting colds and we were also racing the clock for
time. It was a beautiful hike through the trees, by a stream. We turned around
when we got to the alpine meadow. I imagine that in the morning the view from the
meadow is amazing, but we were there in the early afternoon and fog obscured
the view.
We had a quick lunch, before continuing down the mountain to
some pagodas erected in honor of the Queen and King. We made a quick tour of
the area as we were pressed for time and we (I) really wanted to see a
waterfall. We actually had time to stop at two beautiful waterfalls before
taking one last lungful of such clean, refreshing air and heading back to
Chiang Mai.
