Chillin' in Chaing Mai

We arrived in the northern Thai city of Chaing Mai after a long and uncomfortable 12 hour bus ride across the country. We pulled in at six in the morning, and quickly found a place to drop our bags, and our bodies for a few hours. After a bit of rest, we were up and ready to tackle the Chaing Mai Night Market. We wondered around the market for over four hours, and we still didn't see half of what there was to see. It was huge!! So, in our weary state, we resolved to return the next night when we had a bit more energy. Our second day in Chaing Mai was spent organizing the rest of our time here. By mid-afternoon we had booked ourselves a solid week of experiences. In addition, we had also found some time that day to make it up to Chaing Mai's highest peak and see the beautiful temple perched high on the peak of the mountain. And of course, as we had vowed the night before, we returned to the night market full of energy and with our bartering gloves on. We scored some great finds at the market, and returned as satisfied customers to our cozy guesthouse! The next order of business while in Chaing Mai was to master the art of Thai cooking. We signed up for a full day of cooking, and it turned out to be worth every baht!! Not only did we learn how to cook tantalising Thai dishes such as Pad Thai, Green Curry, Spring rolls and Masaman Curry (if you're really lucky we'll cook them for you one day!!) but we also had a load of laughs and met some really great travelers!! On top of that, we were able to eat all of the tasty dishes that we had made. Eight hours and six courses later, we went back with big grins and bigger bellies. As usual, we don't like to waste too much time lazing around, so the next day we began the first part of our three day/two night trek into the misty mountains of Northern Thailand. We were ready to go, had our bag packed, but there was one small problem... the rain. And not just any rain, but the "monsoon that will soak you to the bone in 3 minutes" kind of rain!! This didn''t stop us, or the 10 other travelers who were joining us on the adventure (including DAVE, a 76 year old Aussie bloke who was still "alive and trekking"). We tossed on our raincoats and headed for the hills. About 5 hours later we arrived at our campsite, soaked to the bone and drenched in mud. However, we were all smiles because rain or no rain, it was still an amazing experience. We settled into a large thatched roof stilt-house in the local village, ate our dinner and sang by the firelight! The next morning we were up again and ready to head out. We trekked again for about 5 hours through the mountains, visiting different hill tribes along the way and even stopping for a dip in a beautiful waterfall. It rained off and on throughout the day but it usually did nothing more than cool us down. The group morale was high, and we enjoyed the laughs and bruises together! Our third and final day was spent with less trekking (only about an hour) and more activities. We went elephant riding through the hills for an hour, white-water rafting (this time we had helmets and life jackets, woohoo!) for another hour and finished it all off drifting down the river in on a "half-submerged" bamboo raft. It really was a great time, and a great experience overall. Upon arrival back into the city we couldn't pass up the chance to browse through the Chaing Mai Sunday market! What was only going to be one hour ended up being about 5 because it was so darn big (seemingly endless on closed-off streets and alleyways), and it was so interesting to walk around and see the arts, crafts and other goods that were on display. Our next day we woke up much sooner than our bodies desired and we hopped in a van bound for the Thai border with Myanmar (Burma). We drove for about four hours, stopping along the way at a butterfly farm and a Burmese cave temple. By mid-afternoon, we arrived at the refugee village that is home to the "longneck" tribe, from Myanmar (the women wear large metal rings around their necks to enhance their beauty) as well as the "big ear", and the "black tooth" tribes. It was quite a sight to see and we were able to talk with the villagers and spend some time with them. After a few hours it was back in the van to our cozy guesthouse in Chaing Mai. Our journey through Chaing Mai, as well as in Northern Thailand had been a blast, but, like with any good thing, it had to come to an end.