To the North of Thailand

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Hi All,

It is now Wed 11/14. On Monday night I arrived in Chiang Mai. It is considered the Northern Capital of Thailand. I was told that it would be cold; however, it is warmer than Bangkok. Chiang Mai is an amazing city. It has mountains all around, and it is much more "Asian" than was Bangkok. The best part is that the air is MUCH cleaner, to the level of British Columbia in Canada. You can smell the air here. It is also much older than Bangkok, with some of a French influence in the architecture. Like Bangkok, there is a LOT of construction being done. Hundreds of little Thai men and women, banging on rocks all day. No cranes or heavy machinery. But, I actually see them making progress, and they are building these very elaborate, and some luxurious buildings. There are more Wats (temples) in Chiang Mai than all of Bangkok, and it is about a quarter of the size. So you can imagine, all the Gold and Jade all over the place. There is an emerald buddha, and the city is flooded with Monks. The majority of the monks are young, being that most Thai's join the monkhood before they go to college, between the ages of 18 and 20. If you pass them on the street, they all look down. I was told that they are not to engage with somebody unless they are spoken to.

Everyone in Chiang Mai is sooo nice. I am also staying in an awesome hostel. It is run by an old Thai army guy. They call him the General, but I don't think he was. However, he was defnitely high up there. He staffs the place with all these young army guys. Chiang Mai is very safe though, much safer than Bangkok, and much more so than NYC. At the hostel, I have my own room with bathroom (no shared), and a tv (which doesn't do much for me being that there is only one English language channel and it is Australian). All for the equivalent of 14 US dollars per night.

Yesterday, I had the best day so far here on my trip, and one of the best days of my life. I rented a motorbike (kind of in the middle of a motorcycle and a dirt bike) for the day. I got it for 24 hours for only 6 US dollars. This thing goes SOOO fast. I brought it on the highway and was going 120 Kilometers per hour. 100 KM per hour is equivalent to 62 mph, so it goes fast. At first, to try it out, I was driving it just around the old town, and around the area where I rented the bike. It took a little bit of adjustment, being that I never rode one before. I almost returned it once I began thinking that I was crazy, but thank god I didn't. I got a decent map, and decided to ride it to the mountains. The bottom of which was about 12 miles away. I was told that towards the top of this mountain is this huge amazing temple called, I think it was Doe Thepp, so this gave me an intended destination. The road that I took was paved up until the temple, but I don't know how cars ride it. They also drive on the left hand side of the road there, so it took some getting used to. However, nobody pays attention to this, and just rides all over the road. Kind of crazy. After the temple it turned into a dirt road, then progressed into a rough path. The views off this mountain were amazing. At the bottom, it was like a jungle. I have some pictures. It was soo cool. It took about an hour and 15 to get to Doe Thepp, with awesome sights on the way. But, I noticed I wasn't at the very top. I saw a dirt road that went much further. I figured it couldn't be much further to to the top, but each bit I went, I noticed another mountain that went higher. I just wanted to get to the top. It got sooo cold so fast, and I ended up in the clouds. I even passed some villages on the mountain, lots of animals, and big waterfalls. It was amazing.

After about an hour from Doe Thepp, and about 30 KM, I stopped by this amazing viewpoint. Even though I wasn't at the very top, I was thinking about turning back. However, this westerner came by. It was great to finally see someone who spoke English. He was a Swede named Erice, really cool guy. He had a really awesome map, and he was looking for the Hmong tribe. They are one of the tribes that they bring you to see when 'treking'. He was a little lost, but we both knew how to get down at least. I wanted to get to the top, and he wanted to get to the tribe. On the way to the tribe, he had to summit the mountain, so we decided to go together. Good thing we did, because it started to get really rocky and off road. Cliffs and everything, and VERY VERY rugged. After another hour from meeting each other, we got to the top, it was amazing. At this time, it was more like a trail rather than a dirt road. I decided to continue with him to the Hmong tribe; it only appeared to be another 7 to 10 KM, but it was definitely more than that. The sights were amazing. Thank God I had my camera. Too bad I suck at using it.

Finally, after a bunch of turns, we made it to the Hmong tribe. It was the most amazing thing I've ever ever seen. Just like National Geographic. Thank God I was with Eric, or I would've shit myself. They looked like a bunch of canabals. He was a little skittish also, so we didn't approach them. They just looked at us. I'm sure we were safe though; I knew that they go to this tribe on some treks. There were all these shanty's, and I saw fields of cotton, rice paddy's (with the ledges), and opium. There were TONS of animals. I saw all these cute puppies; and they weren't even of the same breed. They were crawling all over each other, less than a month old. One was even a labrador. I also saw this big Pig, with all these little piglets crawling all over it, and tons of other Animals. I also saw all these little kids. Two of them were rolling these rounds things that looked like tires but thinner. They might've been bike tires. I got pictures of them.

I also saw a group of older kids. They were dressed normal; well, more normal than you'd think you'd find someone at the top of a 5000 foot mountain 50 miles outside of civilization in the Thai outpost. It was amazing. We stayed for a little, then turned back because it looked like it was getting a little dark. It was almost 6PM. We hoped to get to the paved road before it got real dark. We made it at least to the dirt road, and off of the rough trail. All the way down I kept stopping, looking at the sunset. It was awesome; I have some cool pictures of it. It was the coolest thing I've ever done.

Right now it is just about 3PM. I hung out this morning, thinking about my next move. I am booked for tonight in the hostel at Chiang Mai. I think I'm going to go to Pai, which I heard is amazing. It is sort of on my way. However, if I want to get to see all the countries that I wanted to, I figure I need to make it to at least Luang Prabong, in Laos, in the next three days. I'm venturing now more into the outpost, and it's going to get rougher. After Pai, and perhaps Thong Lo, which might be for a night, the travel will be all by the Mekong River, through Laos and into Cambodia.

PS: After writing this entry I was invited to a Hmong village for dinner (or so I thought). While eating village elders (some with rings around their necks) paraded every village girl past me for 'evaluation'. At first I thought this may be some sort of prostitution or something (it was Thailand after all). But I quickly came to notice that it was actually a presentation of every girl in the village available for marriage... Haha. Could you imagine me bringing one of these Hmong village girls back to NYC!

Ha. OK, I'm going to get going. I'm going to check into Pai, and see if there is any highly reviewed hostels that I should book. Then I'm going to figure how to get there. The best way will probably be to just take a jumper plane.

OK.

Talk to you later,

Dan

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Photos

I arrived
I left my bike and went on foot.

Along the way
A cafe at the start of the mountain.

Windy Road
The road was very windy as you can see.

A village
A village along the river that came from the summit

End of the road
End of the paved road, and the start of the path.

A little valley
A small valley nestled high between two summits.

The entrance
The front door of the Hmong tribe.

Hmong Village
Many animals.

Puppies
All the puppies were playing with the little piglets.

Hmong Hut
One of their huts.

Hmong Teens
They look pretty normal to me, but I wasn't taking any chances.

Hmong Kids
They love their bike tires.

On my way down.
A Thai village halfway down the mountain.

Sun Setting
I was racing to the bottom, trying to get down before the sun set.