Blogs from North-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 474

Okay....where did I leave off? Oh, yes. We'd arrived in Chaing Rai, done the home stay and boarded the farm tractors.... The tractors took us up into the hills as far as they could - then we got out and started walking. The first day was almost all up hill for about 14 km. We went up about 1300 feet to the first village. I was totally exhausted and reaffirmed my belief that I'm not really an outdoors person. I was so glad I hired a porter to carry my bag, I probably would have kissed him at the end. :-) We arrived at a sort of guest house at the first village. It had definitely been built for tourists and over looked the village rather than was inside it. it was almost luxurious - by ... read more

On Jan 2, we left Chiang Rai for Chiang Mai. With our small lesson on the day we went from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai (with a 4 hour wait), we bought bus tickets in advance and secured the 9:45 am bus. ChiangMai is the second biggest city in Thailand, after Bangkok. (The air is not as bad as I thought it would be.) Most backpackers stay inside the old city, surrounded by moats, or close to the Tha Phae Gate. During the New Years, there were a lot of travellers. Many Thais come to Chiang Mai to celebrate the new year. We were lucky to secure a guesthouse in advance. Although ChiangMai is the second biggest city, there is only one local bus that travels to several locations. All other transportation is served by the ... read more

Before leaving for our next village, we stopped by the village school, gave gifts of pencils and notebooks to the teacher and learned a little about why kids there go to school and their chances of going to university. Most families are farmers and wish their children to stay and help, so education beyond primary school is not valued as we do. But, if children wish to go on to high school, they must live during the week in the city and be brought by truck back and forth on the weekends. Most families do not have money for this, so many kids do not go to school beyond the age of 10/12. Other than the teacher and one woman who was asked by our guide to let us see the inside of her home, we ... read more

My main concerns this morning were to make sure I got a good shower since I may not be able to bathe for a couple days and wondering if my Chronic Fatigue will be an issue on this trek. Here is the outline of what we are supposed to expect: Day 1 - 14 kilometers, all uphill - a 1300 meter climb; stay the night in an Akhu/Lisu combo village Day 2 - 6 kilometers, some uphill - a 700 meter climb; stay the night in an Akhu village Day 3 - 10 kilometers, all downhill, sometimes steep; van ride back to Chiang Mai for hot showers and real beds!!! I am really only worried about making it the first day, so I hired a porter to carry my packpack. I am sure glad I did! ... read more

Okay...since last writing, I've been in Chaing mai. Took a nice long, hot shower - yeah!!! Put on the clean clothes that I bought and met the group at the trekking store where we rented sleeping bags, mats, etc. for the hike. I'm renting a porter too to carry my bags. Is renting the right word? Anyway...then we headed to the night market which was a teaming mass of people. Did some shopping for a few gifts, had fresh pad thai and wandered. Athena did all my negotiating for me so I was able to spend a little and get a lot. If my phrasiology is weird - blame the australians. We're starting to pick up things from each other... :-) We went back to the guest house and had a beer. Athena and Rachel ate ... read more