Chiang Mai (Day 3 & 4)

Day 3

So, I am very hung over this morning from staying up, watching the Packers lose, and drinking to many beers. I’m on vacation, so these things happen. But, I should really consider not getting loaded the day before a trek again. As I was waiting for my tour to to pick me up, I laid my head down for a short while. When they pulled up and gave me a honk, I grabbed my bag and jumped into the truck. As we were driving around picking other people up, I thought it would be a good time to rest my tired, hungover eyes. Half way to the first stop, I realized I did not have my phone!!! “Crap”, (and a few other select words came to mind). I attempted to call my hostel and phone to make sure it was still there. I could not get through, so the tour guide dropped me off at a taxi stop and I went back to the hostel. Sure enough, it was right were I left it on the table. Funny thing, the day before there was a girl calling around looking for her lost phone and I thought, “Stupid girl!!”.  Karma is a bitch sometimes 🙂 Fortunately for her, it was just on her friend’s bed. It is amazing how our smart phones have become such an important part of our lives. We use them for banking, photos, e-mail, social networking, games, reading books & news, etc. Really opened my eyes to the importance of not leaving on the table and jumping into a truck!!

Day 4

Lets start this again!! I have my phone now and wasted a day of travel. After a day of sitting around and sleeping, I was ready for some adventure. When I jumped in the truck, I was greeted by three Italian women. After that, a Brit, Swede, Dutch, and Aussie joined the crew. For most of the ride, to our first stop, I had a lovely conversation about world politics, religion, history, and travel with the Italians. I miss having intellectual conversations sometimes! Soon enough though, we arrived at the orchid and butterfly farm. It was cool, but a quick walkthrough.

      

From here we went on a trek in the jungle to a waterfall. The weather was really nice. Though it was warm, I was not dying because of humidity. I also opted out of going for a dip 🙂

      

      

After our trek, we ate lunch and went to the river to do some whitewater rafting and bamboo rafting. (Hopefully rafting pics to come!)

      

The rafting was good fun. I was paired up with the three Italian women. After the rafting, we went to go ride some elephants. I felt strange riding them because I honestly don’t know how well they are treated. Similar to how I don’t truly know if the tigers I took photos with were drugged up. Here is a little more scenery as we headed to see the elephants!

      

Here we are riding elephants! Unfortunately, this is the best photo I have at the moment 😦

After this, we then headed off to make paper out of elephant, horse, and cow shit!! The whole shit-paper-making-process was pretty cool to see. Because of the high fiber diet, the poo does not smell! I was having to much fun eating and stirring up shit 😉

Here are a few for pics of the shit into paper making process!

      

      

While a few hung back and made poo-paper diaries, I was the only one to go to a small village to see one of the Long Neck Karen Villages. I felt really strange going here without anyone else from my group. Also, it was getting late and I was one of the only tourists at the village. I did take a photo of one of the women and bought something from her stand. This is another situation where I feel there is an exploited tourist gimmick.

I headed back to meet up with my group after the quick visit to this village and we headed back into town. Here is a picture of all of us outside the Elephant Poo-to-Paper place.

That’s it for the day! After I got back, I washed up and headed out to dinner. I had a seafood stir-fry with shrimp and squid. That hit the spot!! Tomorrow, I will be catching a bus to the Laos border. Because of my missed day debacle with my phone, I chose to skip Chiang Rue. That’s just how things go sometimes!

Chiang Mai (Day 1 and 2)

Day 1

My trip started with a 6am bus to Incheon Airport in South Korea. Luckly, the weather wasn’t to cold. I was kind of nervous about that because the last thing I want to do is bring a buch of warm winter clothes with me. I had looked at the weather for Chiang Mai and the highs ranged from 85-90 degrees F. I always seem to get to the bus stop early, so after 45 minutes of sitting around, I was on my way!

I got to the airport and on the plane with no problems. For some reason though, the airport was packed. Kind of surprising for a Sunday. Because of this, I didn’t have enough time to get much to eat before the plane ride. On top of that, I got stuck with fish on the plane. Not that great.

When I landed in Guangzhou, China, I was hoping to to get some noodles… but no real food anywhere. I did pay 3 dollars for a Snickers bar though! After a three hour layover, I was finally on my way to Chiang Mai. Strangely enough, there was hardly anyone on the flight. I did work a little of my Korean on a few Korean girls that were on the flight. Haha!

This time, I got chicken, which held me over a little bit until I landed and found a McDonald’s. I know most people tell me I should be eating ethnic food, but after a flight I just need something I know… and I need it now. I had only ate two meals the hole day which solely consisted of airplane food. After eating, I went and got a taxi to my hostel, Compass Backpackers Hostel. I wish there was a larger social area, but it isn’t bad. Met a few cool Germans I ended up bunking with.

Day 2

I woke up at a bout 10am and got rolling around 11am. I don’t know what the heck was going on, but most of the morning all I heard was singing, chanting, and kids playing going on. Come to find out there is a school behind the hostel.

Now, I went to a let of Wats (Buddhist Temples). After seeing so many, burnout occurs!! The first one I visited was Wat Chiang Man. This is the oldest temple in Chiang Mai, built in 1296.

The next stop was the Tree Kings Monument. It is the venue of the Kings birthday every December.

Then the Wat Sadeu Muang

Here is a nice picture from Wat Phabong.

Wat Phra Singh has one of the most sacred images of the Buddha. It was constructed to house the ashes of King Pha Yu’s father. I found this temple to be very beautiful.

At this point I needed a little R&R. I stopped by a park where a lot of people go, rent a mat, and relax for a bit. With the weather so nice, I did hang out for a little bit on a bench and take a break from all my walking.

After a little relaxation, I headed back into the sun to the Chiang Mai Gate. I found the nose piece broke on my shades, so here I was able to find a shop to fix them up for me! From here I headed to Wat Jetlin. I’m not sure what this temple is all about, but it was the coolest hole-in-the-wall war I came across. Even if it is for this old face sculpture!

Here is Wat Muentoom. This temple was built around 1478.

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The next great war I visited was

Shortly after this point, I ran into a woman who gave me some insight about Myanmar. Hearing about the changes that are coming to bring in tourism, I wish I was going there now before all the BS. But, won’t make it this winter. After chatting it up, I grabbed a tuk-tuk to the Tiger Kingdom. I got to hang out with the tigers and take some pictures. If you ever make it here, I strongly recommend you going!

After the Tiger Kingdom, I pretty much just headed back to the hostel a bit and then went to a bar to type this out! Tomorrow I am planning a little jungle trek. I guess I’l see how that goes soon enough, but first i have to watch the the Packers play the 49ers!