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I feel like this whole trip I have either been starving or stuffed. Two extremes. We go longer in between meals and don't really snack, then we get huge, yummy, authentic Thai meals and gorge ourselves till we want to puke! I am actually on the starving side as I write this but I can't exactly run out and grab some Del Taco. I brought some BBQ Pop Chips with me in my bag but at some point in one of the airports those disappeared... some security guy better be enjoying them 'cause I sure wont be.
I should move on to the part where I start rehashing my day, but I can't move on past food. So. Hungry.
Maybe Stacy has another Special K bar.
Man I am missing those BBQ chips.
Ah ok, moving on—so we woke up fairly early and grabbed an “American breakfast” from our hotel and then called our buddy “S” or, Soriasit, to be our tour guide again. He doesn't speak 10 words of english so its not exactly a tour, but he is very
sweet and pretty good priced. Plus we knew he was reliable and wouldn't murder us. Can't be too picky as single American girls in a foreign country. We decided to explore Don Inthanon National Park which is two hours outside of Chiang Mai. First up was the Wachiratam Waterfall. We were expecting a hike so we packed water bottles, extra sunscreen, etc, but we pretty much ended pulling curbside to the falls. Bless Soriasit's little heart for recognizing that we were tired and lazy americans. Actually we did hike down to the bottom and clear up past the top, so I should give us more credit. Hiking up around the falls was very pretty and rain-forest-esque. The trail got pretty unkempt and steep, though, and there was literally no one else on the trail, so we turned around. Back to the taxi and then off to see a pair of Stupas, which are really tall, colorful upside down ice cream cones that honor Buddha and the King/Queen of Thailand. The surrounding gardens are so beautiful! Huge purple hydrangeas cover the grounds and there is a cute little hobbit bridge that reaches across the pond. The view is amazing from clear
up there, too. Cherry on top? There were escalators. Heck. Yeah. Interesting fact: the story of Buddha sounds veeeery similar to the story of Christ. Look it up.
Oh boy, off to lunch time. 50 Baht each for a large plates of fried rice and Thai noodles, what a steal! We even got bonus flies and many stray dogs for free. Despite the free sides I still highly recommend The Royal Project. We stopped at the Meo hill tribe market for dried fruit and elephant jewelry and let me tell you, I saw an even truer side of Thailand. The hill tribes live in pretty harsh situations. Shanty lean-to's with laundry airing and garbage piling. I don't know how they do it during monsoon season.
After all of that, we did more hiking to another waterfall. This one was supposed to be a pretty quick hike but we took a few wrong turns and ended up bush-whacking it through the Thai jungle. And the cicadas were deafening! I saw a few dead ones on the trail and they are huge! The size of my palm! I had to stop and
really take in the moment, I was hiking in Thailand!!! Pinch me! We stopped at another temple and wandered around barefoot, then headed back to chiang mai.
As soon as we got back to our hotel, we scheduled an in room 2 hr Thai massage. We made sure that they were legit masseuses (don't tell me you haven't heard of special Thai massages...), and they were up to our room in no time. It was a little awkward, but they do good work! They did ask to turn on the TV half way through since we were sleeping. Whatev.
Okay we are heading to bed pretty early since we have an early tour in the a.m., it's been raining off and on so we haven't been able to hit the night bazaar yet. Maybe tomorrow.
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