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Published: February 9th 2007
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The night of the 26th we left Bangkok to head North to Chiang Mai on an overnight train. I was extremely nervous (Josh wasn’t nervous at all!) at the thought of spending 15hrs on a train in Thailand. It was a pleasant surprise as the train was much better than I expected. It was very clean and the beds were reasonably comfortable.
We spent a night in Chiang Mai before heading out early for our Hilltribe Trek, about 2 hours away by songthaew (a covered ute with two benches down each side). Chiang Mai is like a smaller, cleaner, quieter Bangkok. After all the hustle and bustle of our first week in Bangkok, the slower pace of Chiang Mai was really refreshing.
We trekked through the hills for 2 days. 2 hours on the 1st day and 4 hours on the 2nd day. The terrain was quite steep at times, both ascending and descending. I was scared the whole time, as my shoes did not have the best grip. I slid over twice - I was the only one in the group who fell - sooo typical!! My leg and hands ended up grazed and stinging! Josh thought it
was hilarious! Both nights we slept in different Hilltribe villages, but the accommodations were pretty much the same. We all slept in one big room on wooden floors in a wooden hut. We had to bathe in the stream and use the squat toilets! For those of you who know me well, this was way out of my comfort zone, but I managed to rough it pretty well! On the first night 4 of our group members fell ill and were vomiting all night. They had to go home the next morning and missed out on days 2 and 3 of the trek. It was amazing because it is normally me who gets sick. I couldn’t believe my luck!
On day 2 of the trek, we went elephant riding, after 4 hours of strenuous trekking. Josh played soccer with the local Hilltribe Kids at the village school. Of course, this was his trip highlight and he wanted me to take lots of photos and movies! By that evening, both our bodies were gone. Mine from the trekking and Josh’s from his first soccer game in four months. Thankfully on that night we were offered traditional Thai massages from two
Golden Spire in the Darkness
At the temple on the hill overlooking Chiang Mai local Thai women. At 100 Baht (about AU$ 3.50) each for a one hour massage, we simply couldn’t refuse. On day 3 we left the Hilltribe on a bamboo raft, which took 4 hours down the river to get to our lunch location. Josh was the Jungle King who was steering at the back of the raft, and I must say that he did an excellent job - we only crashed once!
We returned to Chiang Mai for our last night in the North of Thailand. The following morning we awoke early (around 5am) to visit a Temple, situated high on a hill overlooking Chiang Mai. I could not believe my eyes when we arrived. No, I’m not referring to the promised spectacular views, but the huge stairway between where we were dropped off, and the temple on the hill. After the previous days trekking, this was the last thing I wanted to see! With a couple of rest breaks, we arrived just before sunrise. The view of the city lights was impressive, but as soon as dawn broke the familiar smog we had become used to in Thailand had obstructed the view of the city below. That evening
we took the overnight train back to Bangkok.
After meeting our new group & new tour leader (the people we are travelling to Singapore with) on our final night in Bangkok, we spent the last day visiting the only major tourist attraction we hadn’t seen: Wat Po, home of the reclining Buddha. As you can see from our pictures, this is one big Buddha. Although it was very impressive, it only took about 5 minutes to circle, so we were left with a couple of hours to spare before our southbound overnight train departed. Of course we could have visited more nearby temples, but we were pretty much templed-out! Even Thai people we had spoken to told us that all their temples are the same, and if you’ve seen a few, you’ve pretty much seen them all! Having an early dinner and stocking up on supplies for the train, we managed to kill the afternoon before boarding the train to Surat Thani.
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Trish
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thanks alicia
Great description of your trecking. you're holding up very well. Lovely to see that Josh can play soccer so far from home.