Chiang Mai

The cultural capital of Thailand is Chiang Mai, up in the north near the Burma and Laos borders. It has universities, monks, temples, and jungle.

We spent 3 days in Bangkok getting visas organized and taking in the Bangkok nights. Khaosan rd is the travelers hub for all of southeast asia. You can get everything there. Good place to stop through, not a good place to stay.

We took a day trip to the floating market, women row around in rowboats and sell things, trinkets, food etc.

Chiang Mai is 13 hrs from Bangkok by night train. We were in 2nd class, it was nice, comfy and cheap. The seats turned into beds whenever you wanted to get some sleep.

The 1st day we walked around the city, then decided to get a tuk-tuk to show us around. They're small motorcycle carriage type cars. They're cheap and the driver acts as a tour guide. But you gotta watch out cuz they alsways want to take you to a 'shop', these vary from jewelry shops to tailors to hooker bars, they get a gift if they bring customers, either free gas or whisky.

We saw some temples and then saw a park area with a sign that said 'monkchat' there were monks hanging out with people. They called us over and we had a chat with a monk. Very cool, they are in the buddhist university and are practicing speaking other languages.

The next day we took a taxi to the 'longneck tribes' they are the women that have rings around their necks to stretch them out. It was strange to go pay to go into a village and stare and take pictures of the people, then leave. Interesting to see them but wouldn't recomend it to anyone.

That night Julie and I went to see Muai Thai fighting. Its the national sport, like kickboxing. We went to a local gym to see the fights. There were around 100 people, half foreigners and half locals who come to bet on the fights. Real fun to go and see.

The following morning was trekking. This is what most people come to Chiang Mai for. Basically, you get lost in the jungle for a few days. We went on a 3 day 2 night trek. 1st we rode on a bamboo raft down a river. The raft is not too sturdy and there are a few rapids. I fell in, but no problems. Then we headed into the jungle. We hiked about 3 hrs then came to a waterfall, swam and cleaned, then headed into a very small village for dinner and an early night in bed (there's no electricity in the village. Our bed was basically outside with a mosquito net, it poured all night but the straw roof kept me dry. In the morning we had breakfast, then hiked all day, and came to another waterfall in the afternoon. We showered there, then over to camp where we had a campfire, the sky was clear and the stars were out. The final day we came to our 4th waterfall, and then to an elephant camp. We took a ride on the elephants for a while, then a taxi back into town. Very cool to stay in the jungle for a few days (and it helps that we were fed like kings, great food!).











Craig headed back to Bangkok - as planned - and Julie and I went off to a Buddhist retreat in the hills. It was just for 24 hrs, and seemed cool. Again we were fed like kings and it was good to learn about Buddhism from the monks. There were 4 monks and 12 people, they taught us a lot and we did tons of meditating. A good way to spend a day.

After the culture in Chiang Mai, its off to bangkok, then to another quieter island, before cambodia. I got to get outta here quick cuz my visa has already expired, I just love it here too much, Thailand is great.