Well, I made it home safe and sound. After over 30 hours in the air I arrived back in the United States on July 29th. 

Sorry everyone, I really meant to stay up to date with this blog. My last couple weeks in Thailand got the best of me and I wasn't able to post all of my adventures. A combination of school work, procrastination and simply enjoying the wonderful country of Thailand kept me away from my computer. 

But, as strange as this may sound, I'm going to retroactively go back and post on some key events that took place. So, for those of you who don't have the ability to hear about it from me in person, stay posted for more updates on Steve-in-Thailand! 

*UPDATE 8/8/12

Okay, now I'm entirely caught up with this blog. Even though I had to write the last 5 entries while I'm back in the United States I'm glad that I was able to log all of my adventures in Thailand.

Thanks to everyone who followed this, and thanks for all of the positive feedback. 

I'm not sure how long I'm gonna keep this online, but it will be up at least through the end of August. 

I had class at 9am on monday wednesday and friday, and at 1pm on Tuesday and Thursday. I took Buddhist Philosophy, Thai Language, and International Business Management for a total of 7 credit hours. 

On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I usually woke up around 8am , hopped in the shower and put on my uniform. Some days if I was feeling tired I would also make instant coffee. I would then head down to the first floor and unchain my bicycle and begin my ride to class. I'm not really a breakfast eater so I think I only had breakfast at the cafeteria once or twice. 

View from my commute to school

I had about a 10 to 15 minute ride to class , where I would try not to get hit by scooters and red trucks. The majority of students at CMU rode motor scooters to class, but some walked and took shuttles to different parts of campus. 

I'd get to the humanities building slightly winded and sweaty, lock up my bike, and then I would stop by a little Cafe located right outside our buidling where I would buy a tea and a Chicken Pie, for a total of 30 Baht... about 1 dollar. I guess that counts as my breakfast. Just to clarifiy a chicken pie is like a mini breaded dish with chicken inside that you could eat in  a few bites. 

I would then go to class, for 3 hours or 2 depending on the class, then I would get on my bike and head back to Uniserv. It was cool having class at the humanities faculty because there was always something going on. We would always see tables set up, people passing out fliers, or some other type of event happening in the lobby. 

It's interesting to note that class often started at 9:10 or 9:15 rather than promptly at 9:00am, in Thai culture punctuality doesn't have nearly the priority it does here. 

The university itself was huge. At least as large as Ohio State's campus. it took me about 40 minutes to walk from Uniserv to the humanities building. and Uniserv can basically be considered on campus. 

Also the university was beautiful, it was right next to the mountains, had a reservoir on campus, and had beautiful vegetation that made campus seem more like a park than a university at some points. Everything seemed less neat and tidy than an American campus would though, the sidewalks were broken in some areas and some of the campus looked overgrown, definitely a stark contrast to the perfectly manicured landscaping of Mount Union. 

Lobby at the Humanities faculty

After getting back from classs I'd get to Uniserv and have lunch at the cafeteria. My usual choice was rice with crab or rice with chicken. For some reason, maybe dehydration or my anti-malaria medication I was on, I would almost always get a headache in the afternnon, so usually after class I would take a nap and wake up around 1 or 2. 

more like a park than a campus

After that I would usually write a blog, work on homework , or head out to a coffee shop to check email. 

Usually at night we would go out to a restaurant or bar, or go down to the night bazaar to haggle for souvenirs. 

On tuesday and thursday I got to sleep in, but would usually wake up around 9 or 10 am in the morning anyway, that's when I would work on homework for class, read, or pick up laundry. 

We had a pretty cool laundry place where they would wash dry and iron your clothes for a really good price. They were extremely friendly and seemed happy to get alot of business from foreigners. 

College dog

Also, I had Thai massage class. Not officially for credit, just for fun, that I would go to a few nights a week at 5pm till 8pm... It was a really nice way to wind down the day and just relax. It was really intense though, we learned alot of massage and had to practice for hours to get the technique right. 

Courts where we got beat

We had a favorite burger place called G-Long that I would frequent a few times a week. I would ride my bike by after massage and often see someone I knew there. We always said that G-long had some strange gravitational pull on everyone from the USAC group. 

One day I just decided to head down to the old city and  explore by myself. I got on my bike at 7pm and  rode down there and visited a few shops and stores, my primary mission was just to explore, it was refreshing not to really have any goals and get a chance to just see the city. There was so much to see in Chiang Mai; going down a street you hadn't been down before was a new adventure. 

So yeah, that was an average day for me... go to class, get some food, maybe explore Chiang Mai, and then go out with some friends at night. It might sound mundane but the little adventures that happened every day really made the weeks fly by. 

Highest Hot Spring in Thailand

Unfortunately the hot springs were not  like the ones I had enjoyed in Pai. In Pai they were organic, natural hot springs, but here you could tell they maybe had some natural element but were basically built up to be extremely tourist friendly.

At the Hot Springs there was a section where you could dip your feet in a tank and little fish would nibble off your dead skin. It sounds gross, and well i guess it is pretty gross now that I think about it. But we just had to try it. It's one of those things that you do just so you can say you did it.

Dan G. was the brave one and put his feet in first. The fish immediately swarmed to his foot covering it from toes to ankle joint. At one point it even looked like he was wearing a sock. 

my foot getting tickled by the fish

The rest of us reluctantly put our feet in and drew some of the fish away from Dan. I didn't have the self control to keep my feet in for longer than a few seconds, not because I was grossed out, but because my feet are extremely ticklish. 

The White Temple 

Our next stop was the White temple. the White temple was a modern Buddhist temple built recently by a local artist. From what I gathered, it seemed like more of piece of art than a functioning temple. It was definitely a tourist attraction either way. 

It looked like something out of Narnia, The white temple was ornate and intricately detailed, and "white temple" is a perfect description of what we saw. 

The temple had some nice landscaping outside of it and a moat, and there was a bridge you had to cross to get into the actual temple. 

The most striking thing I saw was when looking down from walking over the bridge. There were hundreds of hands made out of cement that were reaching up from  he ground, some of them holding skulls. Since there is no concept of heaven or hell in Buddhism, I'm not really sure what that was all about , but it was pretty visually arresting. 

Creepy hands

There was an interesting mural inside the temple .. it featured such pop icons as Keanu reeves, kung fu panda, and characters from Star Wars. Though I studied Buddhist philosophy for 6 weeks, I still had no idea what this had to do with Buddhism. 

It's kind fuzzy, you weren't supposed to take pictures inside the temple

Our next stop was lunch at a mall. I gave into my cravings and had McDonalds, but i guess it was good because I was able to see if it was any different from American McDonald's . It tasted the same to me.

We got back on the vans and headed to another Hill-Tribe village where we would be staying the night, this time however, we would be doing a homestay and living with a family for the night. 

Hill Tribe Tour (Reprise) 

We took a quick pit stop before the village at the Ban Jalae hill tribe museum. Which, no offense to the people who made it , was a pretty lame as far as museums go. It was one room, about 20 by 15 feet, with captioned pictures covering the walls, and a few artifacts of hill tribe history. It was underwhelming. Anyway, next we went to the hill tribe village where we would do our home stay. 

Myself, Dan G. , Alex and Dan (Dan G's) roommate all lived together with our host P.T. Wat. P.T. was a very hospitibal host, he was in his late 20s and not married. We found out that he spent a year in Taiwan working. 

We found our hut and sleeping quarters, much smaller than the other hill tribe visits.After getting settled we, talked to P.T. for a bit and then headed out to explore the village. 

As I was walking around, Daniel,  Dan G.'s  roommate, told me that he was going to play a game with the village kids, so I joined in. We walked and jogged for about 15 minutes until we got to a field where there was a low hanging badminton sized net. 

Turns out, the game we were playing is called Sepak Takraw, which was awesome . The game features a small woven ball that each team kicks over the net. It's pretty much volleyball but feet only. We weren't very good at it... 

Sepak Takraw courts

After playing around for a little bit, trying to get that ball over the net we headed back and had dinner with our adopted family.

After dinner we got dressed in traditional Hill-Tribe clothing so we could participate in a traditional dance. Our group each got vests to wear, but others in the USAC group got hats and different clothes. 

Dinner

The dancing was interesting. We all stood in a circle and linked arms and chanted and tried our best to do the correct arm movements the villagers showed us. 

Dan and Jaja dancing

The Golden Triangle

The next morning we got up, got back in our vans and headed to the golden triangle. The Golden Triangle is an area where the borders of Thailand, Burma, and Laos all meet. 

We arrived at a river and were told that the other bank was Laos.  We then got life jackets and got on board a narrow motor powered boat. The boat ride itself was a pretty cool little adventure, the combination of speed and being in such a small boat was pretty exciting.

We then went across the river to Laos where we did some shopping. One of the most memorable shopping experiences I had was buying snake Whiskey. Yes, exactly how it sounds except worse than you are imagining, snake whiskey is whiskey with a snake inside of the bottle. It looks like some old elixer miracle oil from the late 19th century. 

We all got free samples from a massive vat that had a big cobra's head hanging out. It didn't taste bad at all, but it's really not appetizing. I did buy a bottle though out of sheer novelty. 

snake whiskey

Laos Flags

After the stop at Laos we got back on our boats and continued down the river. We passed a giant statue of Buddha on the shore. evenutally we came to a meeting with another river where you could simultaneously see all three countries. Our boat drivers commented that if you keep going straight down the river you get to China. 

After hitting that point in the river we headed back to the Thai shore and had lunch. 

We then stopped at the Hall of Opium. Which is a museum about the history of the drug trade in the area. It was very informative, but there's not a whole lot to say about it. It had some neat displays and was interesting if you like history. I was disspointed that they didn't have a good giftshop. 

No, Buddha is not the guy with the large belly you see in Chinese Restaurants...

The original title for this post was "Why I chose to sit in a room for two days with my eyes closed instead of going to Bangkok". The same weekend that we went to a Buddhist temple to learn about meditation, I had the opportunity to go to Bangkok for a business trip. Obviously, most people thought I was crazy in choosing the former...

The retreat was for my Buddhist philosophy class. Since meditation is such a major component of Buddhism, our teacher thought it would be good for us to learn about it through personal experience. Meditation, in the most simple form, is simply focusing your thoughts on one object, generally something like your breath, or a mantra ; it's  the art of clearing your mind and not letting your thoughts wander. 

We headed out to the retreat on Friday and arrived about an hour later at a temple near a mountain. The first thing we did was unload our bags and find out where we were sleeping. 

The guys slept upstairs in the temple right underneath some giant statues of Buddha. The floor was hard and we only had some light padding to sleep on. I wouldn't have wanted to sleep anywhere else though, sleeping in that temple was one of the most memorable places that I've slept for two nights. 

Do you want prefer your tile firm or extra firm?

After getting settled in we went to the meditation hall, another building within the temple complex, and met our meditation instructor. I don't remember how exactly to pronounce his name, let alone transcribe it in English, so I'm not even gonna try. I know it at least started with P, so let's just call him P. for the sake of this post. 

P. was a monk, and had been one for 14 years. He was currently staying at the temple where our retreat was, but said that he really didn't have a permanent temple to call home. P. told us that to him Meditation was happiness. 

The first thing we did after meeting P. was called "working meditation" where we helped clean up around the temple area and meditation hall. We cleaned bathrooms , swept floors and prepared dinner. P. told us to be mindful of what we were doing and really try and enjoy our chores... it sounded like something my dad would say.. "Get out there and enjoy cutting the grass", it builds character. But none the less we did our chores and I tried very hard to clear my mind and focus on each time I swept the broom. 

After "Working meditation" the head monk of the temple came to greet us and welcome us to his temple. He said he was very happy that we were there and he was glad to see us. 

Over the next 2 days we established a routine of eating, sitting meditation, walking meditation, learning about Dharma ( the teachings of Buddha) and break time. This routine was repeated more or less in that pattern. On Saturday I only ate two meals, because the monks only eat two meals a day and don't eat after noon, I thought it was interesting to experience how they live so I gave it a shot. 

Just hangin out... contemplating the universe

During one of the breaks in meditation I decided to walk up a set of stairs I saw which apparently lead to the top of the mountain adjacent to the temple. I had heard our professor say that there were over 1,000 steps to the top, which for some reason didn't register with me when I made the decision to walk to the top of the mountain. 

So I started up the steps, trying to be mindful of each time my foot hit the ground and simply enjoy my walk. I got about 15 minutes in and thought about turning back, because we only had an hour break before our next meditation session. But i figured "Well, I've come this far... I'm sure it's not much farther to the top" so I kept walking... another 15 minutes later and the same thought ran through my head "well, i might as well keep going".About 10 minutes after that I finally reached the top of the mountain where I found another temple... Drenched in sweat I walked inside, and then immediately started back down the mountain.

When I got back to the meditation hall, about a half hour from when I reached the top of the mountain , everyone was laying on the floor doing a relaxation excercise... which was exactly what I needed at the time.

We ended up doing a walking mediation up those steps the next day, which I was not overly enthused about.

Sleeping Meditation?

Monks in Thai culture are an interesting phenomenon. It's a custom that every man should be a monk at at least one point in his life, though I believe this tradition is fading and starting to be viewed as old fashioned by the younger people. P. was on his second round of being a monk, he had been one when he was very young, age 7 or so, and lived a normal life and had a job until he was 25. At that point P. decided that he wanted to be a monk, so he quit his job as a restaurant manager and gave away all his possessions.

Monks are very revered and respected by the Thai people, on public transportation when you normally see something like please give up seats to an elderly person, there were signs that said please give up seat to a monk. Also, women aren't allowed to touch a monk, or give anything to a monk directly, so at the retreat the guys in the group had to give P. any food and water that our teacher wanted to offer him. 

It's interesting to note how pervasive the idea of mindfulness was on this retreat. P. tried to make it clear that we should try and spend every moment in mindfulness. Even when we had our meals P. reminded us to chew our food very thoughtfully and really taste it in our mouths. It seems kind of silly, but how often do we go throughout our daily lives not really experiencing the moment we are currently in. 

When it was time to leave the meditation retreat I was glad. It was a great experience that I'm glad is over. Being alone with your thoughts for 2 and a half days can be a very trying experience especially when you are 8000 miles away from home. But again, I wouldn't trade it for a trip to Bangkok. 

Despite the innate boredom and difficulty not being allowed to talk, I definitely learned alot from the retreat. I learned that learning to calm your mind takes alot of practice and cannot be mastered in two days. I learned alot about how much I missed home after being in Thailand for 5 weeks. I also learned the value of just trying to live in the present moment and not worry too much about the past and future. It's really something lost on today's society of high stress jobs and fast pace. 

After leaving the retreat we had a pit stop at another temple. Apparently there are 8 major temples in Thailand and this was one of them. So we stopped and walked around and got to see an absolutely beautiful temple. 

Pretty cool pagoda

 P. and a fellow meditator

I didn't remember hearing about the elephant ride before this, but I was pretty excited when I did. We walked for about 10 minutes through the village and came to a clearing at the outskirts of town where we found a few elephants and trainers waiting for us. The elephants each had bench-like contraptions strapped to them so multiple riders could comfortably sit on them. 

We could sit 3 to the platform part of the elephant, and one person could sit on the elephant's neck. My group consisted of myself, Dan G. (also from Mount Union) , another student named jacob and his girlfriend Mila. Mila opted to sit on our elephant's neck. 

Elephants, ready to ride

Riding on the elephant was a little scary because it felt like our platform was ready to slide off the elephant's back at any minute. The platform itself was  metal, and was held on the elephant by rope that attached all the way under the elephant. There were about 25 thick blankets that shielded the elephants back from the platform. 

fellow elephant riders

As soon as we assumed our elephant riding positions our elephant started to move. Every step rocked us up and down and side-ways like we were on a boat. I constantly felt like we were about to fall off. We started down a path at a brisk pace. Sometimes our elephant got hungry so it would face into the jungle and grab some leaves. A few times we commented that it looked like he was ready to just walk straight into the jungle and leave the path altogether. 

Our elephant continued down the path and the elephants with other students followed. There were some trainers who stood nearby but the elephants seemed to know where they were going. 

After a little while we headed straight towards a group of water buffalo, who promplty got out of the way. Then our elephant headed towards a pretty sizeable river... and to our surprise walked in it. We sunk low, but the river wasn't high enough for us to get wet. 

Water- Buffalo

The elephants followed the river for another half an hour until we were back at the village where we had dropped off our backpacks. Throughout the journey we encountered a few more water buffalo and we had to duck down to avoid being hit in the face by tree branches a few times. 

This ride was one of the memorable moments on the trip where I just stood back and thought "Wow, I'm riding a freaking elephant in Thailand right now!" I'm pretty sure Dan actually said that sentence a few times during the ride. 

After getting back to the village Dan G. (from UMU), Ryan, another student in the group , and myself walked down to a different part of the river and just hung out and cooled off for a while.  

We walked back up to the hut we were staying in and saw some village children playing. They were fascinated with what looked like rubber hair ties and a squirt bottle, and they appeared to be having the time of their lives.  It was cool to see kids that had so little having so much fun. 

We arrived late for lunch at the main hut, I wasn't lucky enough to be sleeping in the kitchen hut this time. We ate some noodles that were simple but perfect to appease my appetite. We also tried some spiky fruit called rambutan, that was almost as interesting in taste as it was in appearance.

After lunch relaxing

After the last group of elephant riders came back we went down to the river to learn how to build bamboo rafts. We would actually be using the rafts the following day to get back to the trucks to return to Chiang Mai. 

The rafts were probably about 30 feet long. They were made entirely of  cut pieces of bamboo strapped together. Sang was the expert, and he showed us how you tied the big pieces of bamboo together using small pieces. It was an interesting process to see. The Hill-Tribe people did most of the work... which was good, because if I had to build a raft i would've never made it home. 

Raft building

We finished getting our lesson in bamboo raft building and headed back to the main hut. Jaja told us that it was time to go to the village school. I'm not sure what the equivalent of the school would have been in American terms, high school, middle school etc, because we encountered a vast range of ages there. 

When we first arrived at the school, which was only a 5 minute walk from the main hut, we saw a group of young children standing, looking fairly uncomfortable to greet us. I had a few stickers with me which I tried to pass out to the kids but apparently I just give off an unfriendly-to-children vibe because they didn't accept them and never warmed up to me. After 10 minutes of failed attempts to befriend the children I went to play soccer with some older kids. 

The kids we played soccer against were probably in their teens. We played a 5 on 5 soccer match against them. Though we lost by about 7 goals, it was really cool to see the universality of sports and see that kids are kids all over the globe. 

Note the condition of the field

After the soccer game we all had plenty of bumps and bruises. It was a fun game but team U.S.A got pretty beat up, just from falling, twisting ankles,tripping, and so forth. 

We headed back to the hut where we had lunch and we sat around and hung out until it was time for dinner.We had more spring rolls than we could have ever wanted, and then we had, of course, more rice and vegetables. 

That night we got to see a traditional dance that the children put on for us. It involved the names of fruits and certain dance movements. I guess it can be compared to the Hokey Pokey or Chicken dance, which we ended up teaching them afterwards. 

I went to bed pretty sore from the soccer game and slept better than I had the previous night.  

We woke up the next morning, had breakfast and headed down to the river to raft home. 

There was a pyramid of bamboo on each raft where our belongings were stored to keep them out of reach of the splashing water. There were about 6 of us to each raft, and the guys on each raft carried long polls to help steer the raft. the current did all the work getting us down the river, but under the guidance of a hill tribe villager, we used our bamboo polls to keep our rafts from smashing into the rocks or sides of the river. 

We hit a few pockets of white Water where I thought someone was going to fall off, but everybody stayed dry. At one point on the raft ride we saw the raft of students in front of us stop. There guide pushed their raft near the side and jumped in and waded towards the shore... We just watched in stunned silence not sure why he abandoned ship, until a few moments later when we saw him pull up a huge fish on a fishing line. Apparently he had set a line near the bank the day before and just jumped off the raft to check it. 

A little farther on we stopped our rafts at Sang's home village, where I bought a few bracelets and necklaces from the villagers. 

We made it to our trucks safe and sound with only a few people falling off rafts, don't worry we had life jackets. Unfortunately I don't have any good pictures of the raft ride because my camera was stowed away inside my bag. 

Though it looks like a hammock, I slept underneath the protection of the blue mosquito netting

I walked down to the river after dropping my bag near my sleeping area. A few of us decided to go clean up and cool off for a bit. The water looked muddy and you couldn't see the bottom of the river, but it was the perfect temperature and was one of the most refreshing experiences I've ever had.hat dip in the muddy river  washed away the exhaustion of hiking. 

We came back to the hut where my sleeping accomodations were, feeling rejuvinated. Luckily for me our hut also happened to be where the cooking was done. There was a small room where two hilltribe people were cooking something in a massive iron pot. That something turned out to be rice. We waited outside the main kitchen and helped stir fry some vegetables, tofu, and chicken. 

Stir Fried Chicken!

The multi-talented Sang, showing off his cooking skills

Dinner was prepared, and there was even a vegetarian option. We all served ourselves and had dinner.We each received a plate of rice and served ourselves the rest of our food by piling whatever else we wanted on our plate. 

I went to bed almost immediately after my belly was full. It was difficult to get comfortable on the wood floor. We only had a pillow and some thin blankets to give us any padding. But I did end up falling asleep quickly. 

I woke up a few hours later to the sound of screams from students in another hut. "Kill it , Kill it" , "That thing is Huuuuggee!". The other, more awake, students had apparently been up playing a game of "dare and truth" as Jaja, our resident director called it. They had the misfortune of discovering a massive spider in their sleeping quarters. I'm sure there were some creepy crawlies near me that night as I slept, but I chose to remain blissfully ignorant and keep my flashlight turned off. 

At some point somebody from our hut yelled at them to be quiet, and reminded them that we still had a two hour hike to complete the next day. Being awake this long made me realize I needed to use the restroom so I stumbled outside of our hut and discovered some students quietly having a conversation and smoking cigarettes with Sang.

I walked down the steps of our hut and looked up at the night sky and saw an immesurable number of stars. It looked like a planetarium. This sky was an amazing contrast to the night sky I'm used to, that is obscured by lights from the city. Out here in the jungle there was nothing but darkness and stars when you looked up. 

After returning from the out-house I decided not to join in on the conversation with Sang as I was still extremely tired. So i went to bed.

The next time I woke up it was to the sound of roosters crowing, it was still dark and I think I remember checking my watch and it being around 4am, but that might be my memory exagerrating how early it felt.. so let's just assume it was 6am. 

Anyway, after the insessant crowing from the roosters I woke up and went out to the main eating area and found some instant coffee mix and tea. There was a kettle of hot water sitting on the embers of the fire we used to cook dinner last night, and we all drank our morning beverages out of bamboo cups. 

We headed out on another hike after everyone was ready. I grabbed my hiking stick and got in the group closest to Sang.

Hike number two was considerably shorter than hike #1 but there were more rapid changes in height. i.e. more steep hills than hike #1. 

Nothing too memorable  stands out to me  during hike #2.  I remember being sweaty and seeing some great scenery, and at some point arriving at the next village. 

View of the village

After a bit of a hiatus It's crunch time! with 9 days left in Chiang Mai hopefully I'll get all of my adventures documented before I'm back in Ohio. 

Not really a relevant picture... I just appreciated the fact that a baby panda being born makes the news here

I feel bad using the term "Hill-Tribe". Unfortunately In English "Tribes"has a connotation of primitive or primal. None-the-less in Thailand it has become the accepted English term for the people that we visited. In reality "Hill Tribes" is an umbrella term used to describe groups of people who migrated from China, Myanmar (Burma), and other countries in the region, and now live in the mountains of northern Thailand. The groups each have their own language and customs and have a culture unique to that of Thailand. For the purposes of this post I will use the term "Hill Tribes" to describe the groups collectively. 

Here was the overall agenda of the trip. 

• Visit a market for breakfast and general shopping
• Head to a  noteable watefall in the region
• Hike to the first village
• Stay overnight
• Hike to the second village
• do some cultural activities
• Stay overnight at the second village
• Head home 

We hopped on a red-truck early saturday morning. Red trucks had to be used to get us there because the hills were too steep for a bus or van to reach.  

Our first stop was at a market, I believe it was in a town in northern Chiang Mai province, but I'm not sure. The term "authentic" comes to mind as a perfect description of this  market.  I remember seeing giant bins of rice, and also a pig's head fresh from the slaughter.  I didn't buy any real Thai food though... noting to myself that my willingness to try new Thai foods  is directly linked with my distance from a western style toilet. 

I think i ended up buying a few snickers actually. Just tried to get some sustenance for the impending hike. 

Our next stop was the tourist police... which also sounds like something that it's not. It sounds like police that deal with keeping tourists in line, but really they were there in case we needed help. 1155, was the equivalent of 911 for us at this point.  They were very friendly and it was comforting to know that we had somewhat of a safety net before heading up into the jungle 

Mork-Fa Waterfall

The next stop on our trip was Mork-Fa waterfall. Mork-Fa was much more accessible than the other waterfalls I had visited. There was even a small beach where you could set your belongings down before swimming.

 We swam around and played and part of the fun was trying to swim to a little rock formation behind the main falls. It was tough though because the current caused by the falls would push you out of the way. The sheer force contained in falling water is impressive. 

We had a lot of fun in the falls which were the perfect, refreshing temperature. 

After getting our fill of a refreshing dip, and taking a ton of pictures we packed up, applied bug spray and got ready for the first hike. The hill-tribe villages are only acccessible by walking for a few hours to get there, or by motor bike. Which appeared to be how they got most of their supplies. 

So anyway, our red trucks arrived at the beginning of the hike where we received bamboo walking sticks. 

Who is Sang? 

Sang - Jungle man extraordinareWe couldn't have asked for a more memorable tour guide. 

Unfortunately words and pictures cannot adequately capture the essence of such a fascinating individual. But I'll give my best description. 

The first thing I noticed about Sang was how differently he dressed from all of us. Where we were dressed in short sleeves and short pants designed to keep cool, Sang wore a longsleeve turtleneck that looked like it was made of wool, and he wore long pants. His only concession to the heat was his rubber shoes in which he cut holes in the tips that he referred to as "air conditioning".  He also wore a woven hat.

Sang's personality overflowed with energy in such a way that just being around him made the hike seem easier. He told us stories, taught us about interesting plants of the jungle, and would occasionally yell out a "Woooo", to try and lift our spirits. 

Sang was actually a native of one of the villages we stopped at. It pretty clearly showed; we were absolutely exhausted after our two days of hikes but at one point in the trip I saw Sang literally running through the jungle as though walking had become too boring for him. 

Apparently Sang was in the millitary when he was a child. He told us a story about how difficult the hiking was and how he cried for his mother. It was difficult for me to imagine Sang being too  tired to Hike... he really did have some infectious positive energy to him. 

So... we started our hike, and seperated into little sub groups.. the fast walkers who kept up with Sang were a pretty sizeable group and there was a decent amount of people  towards the back who walked with JaJa our resident director, and the other tour guide. In between the bookends there were a bunch of people, which is where I hung out. I walked a comfortable pace to just try and take things in. It was kind of refreshing to  walk with one or two people and  get to experience  the beauty of the jungle. 

Sang showing us a cool plant

I had been on a few hiking trips to the Rocky Mountains with my uncle before, so I knew what to expect in terms of difficulty and pacing. Though hiking in southeast asia is certainly a different experience than hiking in Colorado or Washington state. My new hiking shoes and backpack served me well. 

Green mounds rose up all around us as we walked on the path. The views were fantastic. About an hour into the hike we stopped at a Hill tribe village as a midway point. Sang told us a story about Tarzan the jungle man... and sharpened our bamboo sticks. This was also the first opportunity for everyone to check for leeches! 

I found one leech in my shoe, but I didn't get bit by any... My capri length hiking shorts and soccer socks  seemed to do the trick in keeping them away. A few of my fellow hikers had a few bites though. Some of the less outdoorsy types had some pretty memorable reactions to finding leeches on their skin.

To be honest, I'm slightly dissapointed that I didn't get bit. I sort of viewed it as a mark of honor or at least a great story to tell. I guess it's easy to say that now that I'm safely in a warm bed that contains zero leeches though. 

The next portion of the hike included some great sight seeing opportunities. Sang pointed out some mountains that were adjacent to the Burmese border. We also saw some water buffalo just hanging out in the woods. 

There were three time that Sang pointed out some really interesting vegetation. There was one plant that shriveled up quickly if you touched it. Another you could break open and blow bubbles with the sap, and a third he called "jungle firecrackers" which were leaves from a plant that had an air bubble that you could pop and make a loud noise. 

Just before sundown we arrived at the first village.

View of a villageWater Buffalo

Day 2 in Pai was not as adventure filled as Day 1, but it definitely deserves a posting. Also, I realize that I actually covered one and a half days in the last entry, some of my more grammatically inclined friends are sure to notice... just accept it as artistic freedom. 

After heading to bed with a belly full of pizza, we woke up pretty early to try and do some more exploring around Pai. Dan and I had to catch a bus back to Chiang Mai at 1pm so we were trying to make the most of our limited time. Unfortunately we could have stayed longer but a certain business professor just had to give us homework that was due Monday. 

Just another picture of the bikes

We all hopped on our bikes, after getting a light breakfast, and hit the road. We originally planned on seeing another waterfall, but we reached the trail and found out it was a 3 hour hike, which was 2 and half hours past our hiking tolerance. I've noticed my hiking tolerance drastically declines when I have the ability to use a motorbike to get around. 

Morgan remembered seeing a coffee place with some pretty cool looking "rainbow chairs" , as she described them, so we got on the main road and looked for something resembling a "rainbow chair" establishment. 

Seeing the countryside in the morning was peaceful. I'm starting to run out of adjectives to describe Thailand so I guess I'll have to swallow my pride and use "picturesque" again. Actually "Postcardesque" would probably work too. Anywhere you looked from the road could easily adorn the front of a postcard. 

We came upon the "rainbow chair" place which was pretty much a viewing platform for the scenery which also served coffee. There were hanging egg chairs that were decorated, astroturf flooring and a multi-level structure that all combined to create a perfect atmosphere to take-in the mountains. Sitting around in egg chairs, drinking coffee, and enjoying time with friends was another one of those memorable "Thailand" moments for me. 

Postcardesque

rainbow egg chairs

So, after getting our fill of the mountains and coffee we drove down the road some more to find the "Pai Canyon". Seeing the canyon was worth the brief hike that we all complained about. The canyon was fun to explore but a little bit scary at times. It was just narrow enough that you could never feel entirely comfortable walking around. My hiking shoes were very much appreciated.  

narrow enough

another stray dog

One of my favorite pictures (NOT PHOTOSHOPPED)

On our drive back we found a  curvy road going up  and around a hill. We followed it. I probably could have guessed that it would end at a Wat, it was a 50/50 chance that it would be that or another waterfall.

Each Wat I've seen feels the same in some ways but different in others, they each have their own personality but all seem familiar. The architecture and design of the pagodas all appear to have the same influence, but I think it's the unique layout and different buildings of each complex that make them interesting places to explore. 

Daniel looking excited about those stairs (Good luck Wat man)

After checking out the Wat, we drove back to Sawasdee Pai and headed to the bus station. where I loaded up on drammamine and prepared for the winding road home. 

Last weekend we took a trip north to Pai, a popular backpacker's destination

On friday afternoon I left Buddhist philosophy class a bit early with some fellow Hostel dwellers to catch a bus to Pai. A few of them approached me a few days before and asked if I wanted to go to Pai for the weekend. "Sure" I replied knowing absolutely nothing about the destination. All they said was that it was a tourist destination with really great views and waterfalls. Sounded like a great way to spend a free weekend. 

So we got to the bus station, bought tickets and waited around for the bus... Bus was definitely a generous term, as our vehicle was basically a mini van with slightly more spacious seating. The bus trip was the only bad part about going to Pai as it consumed a significant portion of my dramamine reserves. There was one leg  of the drive where there was literally NO straight away. Left, right, left right, curving... basically the ring of hell reserved for motion sick people; like myself. But  making it through the hills, and being stopped at a millitary checkpoint on the way (who may I add were extremely friendly). we were able to travel on and reach Pai. 

We didn't really know where we were going, but my first steps off the bus were  pleasant. Pai was quiet. It was a small town with basically no traffic. There were small bars and coffee shops with only a few people in them. There were people selling crafts sitting on blankets in the street. I couldn't get over how peaceful everything was.

We  were recommended a  restaurant by a street vendor so we headed there, we were it's only patrons at the time.  After dinner we wandered around until we found some riverside bungalows to stay at for 300 Baht per night (about 9 dollars).  

Our bungalow, we fit three people in there

Our bungalow was  called Sawasdee Pai ; Which translates to hello pai. It was a very interesting place to stay, the mosquito netting added an authentic touch. 

The next morning I woke up and checked out the Pai river, literally 10 feet from where I was staying. I was pleasantly surprised to see some Water Buffalo grazing on the other side of the river.

Pai River , you can see a water buffalo if you look closely

 We walked back into town; which was just as quiet during the day time as it was the first night, and rented some motorbikes. Our plan was to go to some waterfalls and finish the day with a stop at a national park that had natural hot springs.We rented the bikes, which were incredibly affordable.. About $3.00 for 24 hours and another 5 dollars to fill up the gas tank. After looking at a map we had a vague notion of where we were going but just exploring with the possibility of making it up as we went along was freeing. It was especially liberating not being a part of the USAC planned program for a weekend. 

Jenna really really trusted me

 We stopped at a pretty cool Wat on our way, not having a schedule and just exploring was  the beauty of this trip. It was probably the second most beautiful Wat next to Doi Suthep so far. It was very scenic and the pagoda with the rolling mountains in the background was great.

The scenic, yet kind of deserted, Wat

A cool thing about going to the first waterfall was how the road changed as we got closer. We started on a two-lane road, which branched off into one lane, which turned into a dirt path... until we had to get off of our bikes and hike to the falls. The journey was just as much a part of the experience as going to the actual waterfall ... Wow, after reading that sentence it looks like my Buddhist philosophy class is rubbing off on me.  It's true though; I had a moment where I was riding through a bumpy dirt road and passed a woman working a rice patty where I just had the thought “wow... I'm in southeast asia, and this is too cool."

Anyway, we made it to the first waterfall... and it was picturesque. We saw a few  tourists playing in and around the falls so we decided to hike down and check it out. There was one section of the falls and river where you could slide down like a tiny water slide which was a lot of fun ... you could also slide down in to the main pool, which Dan unwittingly discovered. He tried to cross over the  falls but slipped an went from thinking he was gonna die to finding himself safe in the bottom pool.

 It was especially awesome when some local kids came and swam with us. They made us all look bad with backflips and cannonballs into the main pool. We left when it was time to go and headed out to find another waterfall.

en route to waterfall #1

Good luck survivormanPlaying in the Waterfall

Cute puppy we found by the falls

We drove around for a while and again ended up on a dirt path. Finally we came to the second waterfall, which was alot less impressive than the first. Though it had alot more jungle hiking opportunities which was a unique experience in itself.

that bridge felt very safe...

On the way to the waterfall we had seen a sign that said "fresh fruit juice". So we decided to stop there on the way back. There were two little huts outside. We expected to purchase fruit juice but were instead told to sit down in the second hut by a man who came out and greeted us. So we followed his instructions and took a seat. We sat for a few moments and the man brought us fresh passionfruit, bananas, fruit juice, potatos and wine.

Lunch!

We sat and ate and while the man's wife and daughter prepared more food in the other hut.  After eating we walked up the side of a hill to check out the infamous “land crack” that had decimated their crops. We read a sign that said that the man's family used to farm the land but now only grew small crops and fruits because of the fissure. 

The Land crack was pretty wild. "Land crack"is a perfect description. It was kind of my stereotypical view of what I thought a crack in land should look like. After exploring around  the crack we headed back down to the huts where we found the family holding bananas and other fruits to give to us to take home. We thanked them and put money in their donation box. That meal was worth every Baht. 

Land Crack

By far the most memorable meal in  Thailand yet. The food was great and the family's kindness was exceptional. They seemed genuinely happy to see us and it seemed to go deeper than a need for donations and sustainenance. They treated us like old friends who they hadn't seen in a while.

(photo courtesy of Morgan) us with the family

Land crack #2

To finish the day's travels we headed to the hotsprings we saw on the map. The hotsprings were located inside a national park and we arrived just before sundown. We walked around and explored a bit and saw where the hotsprings originated. The water was very very hot! definitely hotter than most hottubs i've been in , but it felt soo god to sit and relax after a full day of adventuring. 

Another picture from Morgan

This part of the springs was 80 degrees Celsius

After the hot springs we headed back towards Pai. When we drove back into town we were pleasantly surprised to see paper lanterns all over the sky. It was  a great way to end  the day. Myself , Dan, Daniel and Kelly ate at an Italian restaurant and had some  Pizza.  I slept like a rock that night.

Paper Lanterns

I'm writing this about a week late... but it's worth it to revisit last weekends adventures. I also just realized that it's already July and I'm headed home in 27 days... I'm really gonna try and be more diligent about posting on here!   

After surviving our first week of class at CMU we were rewarded with a field trip.  "City tour" was the official title of the weekend's excursion according to my calendar, but that was a bit of a misnomer. It was really a field trip to some of Chiang Mai's nearby attractions. 

Maesa Elephant Camp. 

Our first stop was Maesa elephant camp. Maesa was about a 15 to 20 minute drive outside of Chiang Mai. The scenery alone would have been worth the trip. Going anywhere outside of the actual city portion of Chiang Mai seems to turn into mountain and jungle pretty quickly.

Oh yeah... Elephants. We drove to a beautiful location not to see the sights but  to check out one of the most interesting creatures in the world, the elephant. They were well trained and highly entertaining. Our entire tour group took pictures with the elephants where they would wrap their trunks around you and put a hat on your head while you posed for a picture. 

Me posing with an elephant

We got to see the elephants bathe in a nearby river which was pretty cool. Though Indian elephants, the kind we saw, are much smaller than African elephants, they still seem like some alien creature to me. Their sheer size, and the fact that they have this crazy appendage called a trunk makes them fascinating to watch.

Elephant Bath Time !

We also got to see an Elephant show. They showed us a variety of talents including how they lifted the trainers on and off their backs,  a  soccer  game and even painted pictures, which could be purchased n the gift shop. Though I'm sure it took a ton of training, the wide variety of skills these elephants displayed shows how remarkably smart they are. 

They were quite the artists

Tiger Kingdom (or orb kingdom)

There were Tigers at Tiger Kingdom, but the word "Kingdom" is a bit generous.  It was mainly just  a restaurant that had a designated location where you could view and take pictures with Tigers. 

After we ate, some of the group enjoyed playing inside these massive balls that floated on a lake outside the restaurant. Watching my fellow travelers run around inside of them was even more fun to watch than the tigers. The progression from "this is pretty fun" ,"look I'm in a ball on water" to "This is miserable and hot" was clear after a few minutes. 

there be orbs!!! (someone in boardman is laughing at this description)

Doi Suthep

Doi Suthep, as I've noted in earlier posts, is the Buddhist Wat (Temple) located on the Mountains directly east of Chiang Mai. It's informally Chiang Mai's landmark and can be seen from just about anywhere in the city.  

Since I've been in Chiang Mai I've wanted to visit Doi Suthep. The Wat has a certain mystery and element of intrigue due to it's far-away yet close at the same time location.

It was exciting to finally get to see Doi Suthep up close. Unfortunately the road up the mountain wasn't overly comfortable for those of us who suffer from motion sickness. 

The best way I can describe Doi Suthep is "a contradiction". My idea of what makes sense in terms of how "holy" or "sacred" places are supposed to be treated was entirely thrown off by this place.  There was a  mix of touristy commercialism and genuine reverence that were entirely opposite each other. 

There were over 300 steps up to the actual temple complex which added to it's mysterious personality. Huffing and puffing all the way to the top made me feel like I'd completed a mini spiritual pilgrimage by just walking up the stairs. 

The Long stairs to the temple

The Temple complex was highly decorated with gold, which in Thai culture expresses reverence. The inner pagoda is difficult to describe in words and even pictures. The feeling you get when you're standing next to a massive gold covered structure is humbling. 

Seeing the inner pagoda was one of the reasons I describe the temple as a contradiction. There were probably 100 people  in a serious meditative state of mind, who came to the temple to satisfy a spiritual need, yet there were also a handful of professional photographers soliciting tourists for business. The photographers would take your picture next to the Pagoda and give you a professional print, much like Disney-World Photographers,  but what struck me was there aggressiveness. If you happened to be standing in their shot you would get some pretty angry looks. 

Pagoda at Doi SuthepThere was a coffee shop inside the temple compound.... Just for the sheer novelty of buying a cup of coffee at a Buddhist temple I ordered a Cafe Mocha. This just added to the surrealness of the situation. 

Sitting in a Coffee Shop inside a Buddhist Temple

Doi Suthep was definitely the most memorable temple I've visited yet. The experience of walking around barefoot and checking out the architecture and statues of Buddha while occasionally seeing a monk walk by really made me  feel a sense of serenity. Despite the touristiness, the place has a real atmosphere of tranquility and spirituality.

Yeah... the view was outstanding too. Seeing Chiang Mai from the temple was everything I imagined it would be.

View of Chiang Mai from Doi Suthep