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Published: March 30th 2007
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OK, so things are going to be a bit out of chronological order here as I actually spent a few days in Chiang Mai before I made my way up to Chiang Rai, but Chiang Mai will have its own blog entry very soon.
Chiang Rai is the last city in the north really, after that most enclaves of civilization could be towns at best, hamlets at worst. I left Chiang Mai for Chiang Rai (hereafter to be called simply Rai) with the hopes of spending a few days at a hill tribe guesthouse that I had seen a pamphlet for while at my guesthouse in Bangkok. The guesthouse in Rai was called the Akha Hill House and was actually a good 20-30 km outside of Rai. So upon arrival I immediately headed to the Akha River House which was in Rai and operated as a sister guesthouse to the Hill House. The River House seemed awfully quiet when I got there but I simply chalked that up to the fact that it was mid-day and most guesthouse are relatively quiet at that time of day as most of the guests are out exploring. The 4x4 to the Hill
House was due to leave at 4, and sure enough when 4 o'clock came around I was joined by a couple who were also headed up, though only for one night.
The ride up was actually pretty fun though rather hard on my ass. We were in the back of the 4x4 as we thought it would be cooler (the temp was in the low 40's (over 100 degrees)) and the breeze would keep us cooler. A very good idea.....until the pavement ended. For the next 30 mins were thrown about the back of the 4x4 like dice at a craps table. The Hill House is located 1500m above sea level so mercifully some of the heat faded as we climbed into the hills. The hills themselves reminded me of the Adirondack mountains in New England, and with slightly more comfortable means of travel and 16 teammates instead of a nice Irish/Thai couple it would have been like a hockey road trip when I was at Hamilton College.
We finally made it to the Hill House and I have to admit that the pamphlet did not lie. The view was terrific. Well, I think it would have been
terrific if it werent for the smooke and haze in the air. You see, much of the north has been under an air quality hazard alert for most of the last month, as the locals have been busy burning waste and dried out vegetation for the last month in preperation for the rainy season. However, due to unusual meteorological conditions, the high pressure system over the north has not moved and as a result the air quality has continued to decline as the smoke from the fires intensified. That all said, it did make for some nice sunsets (when my eyes weren't watering.)
But back to the Hill House. Did I mention that we were the only ones there? No? Well, we were the only ones there. 3 of us. In the whole damn place. Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed. I had been hoping that the guesthouse was going to be the kind of place I might meet a fellow traveller or two, perhaps ones that I might click with and end up travelling with. No such luck. I dont know for what reason, but I have not met anyone with whom I would like to
travel with for a bit, and I have to admit that it does get a bit tough on ones own all the time. It was at that moment up in the guesthouse that I decided rather than try and do the whole south-east asian loop I would simple focus on Thailand and then head home at the end of it. Not that Rob (the Irishman) and Aom (his Thai girlfriend) weren't nice, its just that they were only there for a night and then were returning to Bangkok.
So I decided to shorten my stay to 2 nights at the Hill House. The first night I stayed up with Rob and Aom and chatted about his work (teaching english in Bangkok) and then headed to bed. The next day I went for a hike by myself to see the waterfall and the tea plantations (waterfall was pretty cool, the tea plantations not so cool...well, it is just tea after all). Then I came back to the Hill House for dinner. I had pad thai (pretty much the national dish here) with pork. Only this was the toughest pork I have ever had. I would not have wanted to meet
that pig late at night in a back alley. For the first time in my life I actually wished I had serrated teeth. I watched the sunset, which thanks to the suspended particles in the air was quite pretty and then headed to my bungalow to plan the remainder of my trip. I had mentioned earlier that the temperature had fallen a bit as we headed up to the Hill House, but I hope I didnt give the impression that it was by any means cool. It still must have been in the 30's, so just before I headed to bed I thought I would have a cold shower to help me cool down. So I flicked on the bathroom light and pretty much shit my pants. There was a spider that must have been a good 4-5 inches across (that is a guess, as I wasnt about to hold up my hand next to the spider and used my spread fingers to get a better idea of its size....after all, it could have been a jumping spider) just sitting on the wall near my shower kit. So I went to bed sweaty with my mospquito net wrapped extra tight
around my bed, which I might like to add was the hardest that I have slept on since I have been here. Well, I made it through the night without any puncture wounds and didnt see any sign of the spider in the morning so I jumped in the shower and then packed my things (remembering of course to shake out my shoes) and caught the 4x4 for the bone jarring ride back into town.
As for Chiang Rai itself, well lets just put it this way.........I think it must be the low season for tourism. Seriously, I expected to see tumbleweeds blow by at any second.
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Rachel
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Wimp
Well the spider doesn't look as big as you describe in the writing, bit of an anti climax. Was the pork as tough as the roast beef my mum served you up when you were at mine? (she will kill me for putting that) I hope your arse, not ass, isn't too bruised, you have a big enough bum to sort of act like an airbag afterall. Have fun, speak to you soon x