Amanda and I landed in Bangkok on the 12th and stayed for a few days near Khao San Road on a street called Ram Bhuttri which had a lot of cool, laid-back bars and restaurants....near the craziness of Khao San but not quite in it. We managed to see a few temples, get a tour of the city via tuk tuk, take a stroll through a huge park and eat some of the local fare. Bangkok is a pretty dirty and hectic city, so we decided to keep our stay there brief and start heading north to Chiang Mai, via Sukhothai.
Sukhothai is mostly a half-way point for tourists to stop in on their way up to Chiang Mai which would be about a 12 hour bus ride without the break. It's the old capital of Thailand and has a park containing a huge amount of huge ruins with stone Buddhas.
After two nights in Sukhothai, we made our way up to Chiang Mai where the real fun got started. On day two there, we took an all day Thai cooking class with about 15 other tourists from Europe, Australia, New Zealand and there were even a few from San Francisco. We've actually met a unusually large number of people from SF....almost every American we meet seems to be from there. The cooking class was a lot of fun....and a LOT to eat. We went to the market to pick up all the produce for the day and then started learning 5 different dishes of our choice throughout the late morning -> afternoon. By the end of the afternoon we were completely stuffed, though fully educated on the local cuisine and funny fruits that they use out here.
Day three in Chiang Mai is when we departed for a three-day trek through the remote mountains of Northern Thailand and stayed with an ancient Hilltribe called Karen. We heard of a lot of treks being totally commercialized and touristy...but this one was totally legit. The first day we drove about three hours into the hills....passing many farms and remote villages.....deep deep into the jungle. We took a little stroll on an elephant on the way to our trailhead. Then we hiked up and down a few mountains until we arrived at the Hilltribe village which was untouched by modern civilization. There were nine of us plus our guide, Date. He was 27 years old and never left the mountains until he was 25. Two years ago he started working in a restaurant in Chiang Mai where he picked up English amazingly quickly. He was a great guy and was happy to answer all our questions about life in the mountains and what his perception of the rest of the world was like. Date, along with a couple villagers, cooked us an amazing meal of fresh green curry and deep fried spring rolls. All ingredients were local which always helps. After dinner, Date took us down to a little hut where they made us tea in an old kettle on the fire and cooked "monkey nuts" on the fire as well. They were very similar to peanuts....but so much tastier when roasted over the fire. Obviously, no electricity was to be had in the village, so using candles and fire to light the room gave it a very spiritual feel. We slept in the "hotel" which consisted of a wooden cabin, straw roof, mosquito nets and a few blankets. A bit of a hard floor, but we slept well after the hike and huge dinner.
On day two of the trek, we first bathed in the river, which was a great refreshing way to start the day and then set off on an all-day hike to the next "hotel". It was about 6 hours of hiking, and gaining a total of about 4000' of elevation....pretty exhausting, but incredible views and wildlife put us in awe. Only set-back were the many leeches that got a hold of our feet and ankles. They look like inchworms out here and find their way through sneakers and socks and then suck your blood for a while. No real pain....but some nice screams came out of Amanda which was good entertainment for the group. We also saw a few snakes, spiders, 8" caterpillars and a few of us saw a gibbon, which is a type of monkey. At the end of our hike, we bathed again in the river and had a delicious warm beer which was waiting for us at the "hotel" which was a similar feel to the last one.
Day three was easy and FUN. The hosts of the "hotel" built a raft made of bamboo which we took down the river for about an hour. It was amazing how easily they built it with nothing but bamboo trunks and bark to tie them together. I had the pleasure of being the guy in the back that steers it which was pretty challenging, especially during the rapids. After the rafting, we drove to a huge waterfall in a National Park were we all took a swim underneath the pounding pressure. Pretty cold water, though very exhilarating. From there, we drove back through rural Northern Thailand and saw an amazing sunset.
Since then, we've been hanging out in Chiang Mai, getting $6 hour-long massages and shopping for under-priced souvenirs at the night markets. Pretty fun stuff.
We head for Pai tomorrow which is NW of here about 4 hours up in the mountains, much smaller and more laid back which should be fun to relax at for the next 4 or 5 days. From there, we head to the slow riverboat into Laos where it takes us to Luang Prabang. We hope to write again in a couple weeks!
All the best from Asia,
~T & A
