Chiang Dao, Day 1
Plenty of pics...
So, Monday Ben and Chara and Holly and I took a plane from Phuket to Bangkok and then caught an overnight train to Chiang Mai (12 hours northwest of Bangkok) where we were picked up by a minibus and taken to Chiang Dao (just 1 1/2 hours north of Chiang Mai).
Sounds like a lot. It was.
We arrived a few hours late (because the trains run on Thai time) to meet our guide and begin our excursion.
Wait, let me back up: About a month ago, we booked a 3-day excursion in Northern Thailand where we stay with 2 different hill tribes and hike through remote jungles, caves, and waterfalls. Chara's idea...good stuff.
So, we arrived just in time to grab some amazing egg sandwiches and head off to meet our first guide, Alope-eh. Took us to a cave. Spooky. The girls got a few hundred meters in and stopped there. Ben and I and Alope-eh continued on crawling on all fours at times. Beautiful, spooky, trippy. Holly was pissed that I left her and Chara in a dark cave with bats. That's fair.
After lunch, we met up with Ta-ta. Cool kid. 25. A wife and a kid and a house of his own. A Lisu guy. The Lisu are one of a few different hilltribes of this area. He took us to a cool waterfall. He taught us some Thai and we taught him some English. It was a fun trip. Chara fell in the water. Ha!
Ta-ta took us to our village we were to stay at that night. A Lisu village where we stayed in Elema's guest house. Nice. Mosquito nets. Wooden floors and GI JOE sleeping bags. Yes!
Nice dinner and then some Lisu moonshine and some cards. Wonderful people. Incredible view. Seriously. It looked like we were looking out on the Peruvian Andes. Not sure that I got a picture that really captures it. Perhaps Ben has one...
And we met Sam. Sam would be one of our two guides for the next day and a half. He was an incredible individual. Here is him with his home-made bagpipes.
So, Monday Ben and Chara and Holly and I took a plane from Phuket to Bangkok and then caught an overnight train to Chiang Mai (12 hours northwest of Bangkok) where we were picked up by a minibus and taken to Chiang Dao (just 1 1/2 hours north of Chiang Mai).Sounds like a lot. It was.
We arrived a few hours late (because the trains run on Thai time) to meet our guide and begin our excursion.
Wait, let me back up: About a month ago, we booked a 3-day excursion in Northern Thailand where we stay with 2 different hill tribes and hike through remote jungles, caves, and waterfalls. Chara's idea...good stuff.
So, we arrived just in time to grab some amazing egg sandwiches and head off to meet our first guide, Alope-eh. Took us to a cave. Spooky. The girls got a few hundred meters in and stopped there. Ben and I and Alope-eh continued on crawling on all fours at times. Beautiful, spooky, trippy. Holly was pissed that I left her and Chara in a dark cave with bats. That's fair.After lunch, we met up with Ta-ta. Cool kid. 25. A wife and a kid and a house of his own. A Lisu guy. The Lisu are one of a few different hilltribes of this area. He took us to a cool waterfall. He taught us some Thai and we taught him some English. It was a fun trip. Chara fell in the water. Ha! Ta-ta took us to our village we were to stay at that night. A Lisu village where we stayed in Elema's guest house. Nice. Mosquito nets. Wooden floors and GI JOE sleeping bags. Yes!
Nice dinner and then some Lisu moonshine and some cards. Wonderful people. Incredible view. Seriously. It looked like we were looking out on the Peruvian Andes. Not sure that I got a picture that really captures it. Perhaps Ben has one...And we met Sam. Sam would be one of our two guides for the next day and a half. He was an incredible individual. Here is him with his home-made bagpipes.
posted by Ryan Lee Sharp at 3:56 AM
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