Week 7+8 Northern Thailand

As I begin to craft this blog entry, I can tell it is going to be one of my favourites already. You see, despite my initial reluctance to drag my lazy butt off the paradisaical beaches of the south, I may just have had the best week ever. 

Now technically I hopped over to Ayutthaya and Sukhothai first, but I'm too darn excited to tell you about Chiang Mai and Pai, so that's where I'll begin.

Chiang Mai

Now Chiang Mai itself is a pleasant enough place, but the sight-seeing is limited. It's unique selling point being that the city center is surrounded by a large, ugly wall and a slightly more aesthetic moat. It has a number of cool Wats (Buddhist temples) to take in, but quite frankly I'm a 40 Wat type of guy and Thailand has tried to plug a 100 Wat bulb in. There are just so many of them! Still, I can tell you're itching to see one, so here you go...

Clearly doing their best not to be photographed - but I got 'em!

The really cool thing about Chiang Mai is that it has an abundance of adventure activities you can do just outside of it. Prices are fairly decent and if you have my expert negotiation skills you can perhaps get a discount too. To be fair though, negotiation has never been easier. We found a three day trek through the jungle that we wanted to do. I asked for a 20% discount. The salesman paused a moment and then said "how about I give you a 25% discount because I want you to have a good time". Thai people really are just that nice.

The trek was insanely fun. It started with an elephant ride down an impossibly steep incline. I had no idea elephants were so sure footed. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of riding an elephant before; it's kind of like sitting on a giant sweaty, prickly pin cushion that punches you in the butt with every step. I couldn't stop laughing as I was jostled side to side through the trees - until of course, one whacked me.

For those of you looking for a more comfortable ride - sit in the basket!

Then it was bath time. An extremely perilous activity where my naughty elephant pooped in the water and then sprayed it in my face. This was apparently quite hilarious to the guides.

It's an elephant's life isn't it?

After bath time, it was time for a quick snack of several hundred bananas

We said our sad goodbyes to the elephants and started our trek through the jungle. Our guides would stop occasionally and show us interesting things. I chewed on some cinnamon bark, rubbed my mosquito bites with tiger balm bark and drank water from vines he cut down. 

I claim this as Tye Land!

We stayed in one of the hill tribe villages for the night which was interesting/ uncomfortable. We were the only tourists around. Intermittently you would hear someone in the group shout obscenities as they discovered some horrendous insect on them. My favourite moment was when I noticed a luminous beetle on my friend David and shouted "AHH! what the frick is that?!" I then followed it with "Ok Dave, don't freak out, but..." That was as far as I got before Dave freaked out.

Traditional village life, there you see a traditional village mobile phone

I caught a rat for dinner - mercifully we never got round to eating it

This was hanging just outside the entrance to our doorless/windowless room for the night

A spot of authentic jungle lunch

During the evening our guide would entertain us around a camp fire, although I'm not sure that was his intention. He gave me a bamboo mug of "Jungle juice" to try. This was actually rice whiskey brewed in the village (a.k.a moonshine) and made me cough and splutter. My guide shrieked with delight "It like whiskey, same same, but different.....WAAHHH". He was also fond of saying "Oh my Buddah, Jungle Joe like moonshine". Unfortunately he liked it a little too much and the next day was so hung over that he tried to cancel our 2nd day of trekking. Eventually we got 4 hours trekking out of him.

Honestly the most uncomfortable night of my life. At 4.30am it sounded like Old McDonald's farm.

Doing some bamboo rafting

This may have been the scariest thing I've ever done

 Upon returning from our trek we wasted no time in booking ourselves on to "Flight of the Gibbon" - a zip line activity through the jungle. It was apparently voted Thailand's best tourist attraction. My guide put on a huge show when I came flying into him and hit him square in the gibbons.

In the jungle, the mighty jungle...

So this is a gibbon - somewhat reminds me of my sister and nephew

Pai

After Chiang Mai we visited Pai. I cannot express how much I have loved Pai. It's this really chilled out, picturesque town tucked away in the rolling mountains. Waterfalls and hot springs dot the land. I was also really grateful to finally have the temperature drop below a billion for a few days.

Our little travel party rented scooters and whizzed around the area. I must admit I was really nervous at first to ride a scooter; the last time I did, I crashed severely injuring myself. It wasn't long however before I felt completely at ease and confident enough to reach the dizzying speed of 80km/h on the good roads.

 

My favourite waterfall (yes I'm wearing the same vest in every photo)

And this is why it was my favourite... we literally did this for about an hour.

 

Life of Pai - (Pai Canyon)

Me on my 0.1 elephant power scooter

Ayutthaya

I'm fairly ambivalent about Ayutthaya. The main activity here is renting a boat to go and visit the various Wats. You can take pictures of stuff where you're not really sure why its significant.

Big Buddha

 A river - (some photos are hard to caption)

Miscellaneous interesting things

Sukhothai

Sukhotai is very similar to Ayutthaya in that there is lots of old stuff to see (circa 13th century). It used to be the capital of Thailand (as did Ayutthaya at one point). It was a lot more fun that Ayutthaya, for one because the sight-seeing is more visually appealing and two, because you can ride a bicycle around the ruins.

 The main Wat in the Sukhothai ruins

 This view certainly didn't ruin my day

 Parked myself here for a bit of R&R

So that's Thailand! I've had the most incredible time here and would love to come back again some time. Unfortunately their silly visa rule means I need to exit the country (to Laos) tomorrow. I'm a tad nervous the bus gets me to the border crossing only one hour before my visa expires.

Trip Stats

Places Visited: 8 - Bangkok, Koh Phi Phi, Koh Tao, Koh Phang-an, Ayutthaya, Sukhothai, Chiang Mai, Pai

Distance Covered: 2600km