More Chang Mai

Today we decided to take it easy, do some laundry, plan our trip south, and a few other small errands. A good idea, as today is very hot, and we're both moving at a sloth's pace. So now's a good time to catch you up on what we did yesterday. We had quite a wonderful day. Started the day lazily (pretty common for us these days!) and after breakfast, caught a mini-bus from Chang Mai to Doi Suthep, a peak about 16 km outside of the city, to visit Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. A mini-bus is a pick-up truck that has 2 rows of benches in the bed, one along each side, and a cover that can be open-air. At the bus stop we met a Japanese guy, Akira, who had just finished university and had spent the last month traveling around SE Asia. We shared the mini-bus up to the wat and then sort of kidnapped him for the rest of the day. From the wat parking lot, we had to walk 300 steps up to the temple grounds. The grounds were quite large and very beautiful, mostly open air with some indoor sanctuaries along the perimeter. There were many people worshipping, and it was interesting to respectfully watch them ringing the small bells around the stupa pagoda for fortune, lighting incense and yellow candles, and worshiping with bamboo sticks (I think) and lotus flowers. There was a nice view of Chang Mai and the surrounding valley from a view point outside the proper wat grounds, although it was very hazy.

After the wat, we hired another mini-bus driver to take us up to a hill tribe village (Meo) on Doi Pui (another peak). It was lined with stalls were locals were selling handicrafts, fairly touristy but still worth while. And very inexpensive. I bought a small purse for 30B and a larger one for 120B (about $1 and $4 respectively). The people live in ramshackle houses made of whatever materials are available; tin, tires, leaves, cardboard, wood scraps. The hill tribe people have a special license from the Thai government to grow opium for their own use, and we could see the plants encircling the village. Maybe that's why the village people were so nice and happy!

After extensive browsing, we took the same mini-bus (the driver waited for us) down to an entrance into Doi Pui National Park where we got out and took a hike along the Mon Tha Than falls. This was a series of 6 pretty little waterfalls along a dirt trail that was pretty steep in places. It was hot, humid, and we were dripping by the end. But it sure felt good. If I'm going to be sweaty, I would like to earn it! We finished off a good day chatting at a patio pub back in the city, enjoying a well-deserved beer (which tasted so good!) and a good meal.

All-together a very satisfying day! I'm so relieved that things have gotten better. We're hitting our groove, getting accustomed to the climate, culture, and time zone. Tomorrow, we're going to start heading back south.

Keep the comments coming. I really enjoy reading them! And feel free to drop an e-mail or two.

Cheers

PS Evelyn, it looks like we won't be doing any elephant trekking. After talking to a guy on the train to Chang Mai, it sounded like it wasn't really worth the 8 hour bus ride to Chang Rai just for a 1 hour trek.