Trekking in Chiang Mai

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Our day out trekking in the mountains around Chiang Mai was excellent.  It was an early wake-up and we missed the covered pick-up bus the first time it came to get us, but once in we bounced around for about an hour with eight other travelers.  A few dutchmen, swedes, and english composed the group.  We started at a small native village. They take you by in hopes that you'll buy something from the villagers. It was early and no one was really interesting. The elephants were our next stop and that perked us all up.  What fun to drive and drive and drive and then come upon five elephants waiting to give you a ride!  Eagerly, I was the first to board.  We bought some bananas and the elephant began demanding them immediately throwing his trunk back to us so that his finger like snout could grab them.  Our handler was great and took the camera without asking.  He also encouraged me to come off the seat and sit on the elephants neck. I spent most of our ride like this with the ears brushing my legs.  If you didn't already know, elephants have hair everywhere; it's quite coarse.

Next up was the hiking to a good-sized waterfall. It turned out to be a really adventerous hike.  I had a few minor slips, but my Merrell shoes kept me confident.  The water was decently cold at the waterfall and also refreshing.  The lunch stop on the way back was simple pad thai and oranges, but everyone was so hungry that point we wolfed it down with smiles on our faces.  The boys took some free time after the meal to use the slingshots.

I won't spend much time detailing the landscape as the pictures speak for themselves.

The slingshot muscles came in handy when our transportation stalled and needed a push to get started again.  A few minutes down the mountainside brought us to the water rafting starting point. We laughed about the quick, mangled English explanation of paddling and how not to hit others with your paddle instructions.  The rapids weren't very rough, but I enjoyed them a lot.  It doesn't take much to thrill me.

We all ended up getting more wet on the bamboo rafts. They show pictures of groups smiling, dry, and happy floating down river at the trekking offices.  Our group didn't see any of those in person.  We ended up squatting or sitting with our bums quite a few inches in water.  I also made the foolish decision to stand mid-ride and got my calf and ankle solidly stuck.  Fortunately was saved by our "captain" and am only sporting a small bruise on my ankle.

After an evening nap, I was able to convince a reluctant Dan to go to the hospital to get a doctor's opinion about a pulled/strained muscle in his back.  About $17 got us a doctor's opinion and medicine in less than thirty minutes. Healthcare in the US is really just that bad.  Yes, it is easy to seek treatment for minor ailments in Thailand than the US.

We ate dinner at a place called Good View which had a live band belting out songs in sometimes mangled, mumbled English. But after a long day trekking, I wanted a bed a lot more than drinks.