I've spent the last week working 5-6 hours a day, 6 days a week, on Amee's Farm. It is owned by a Frenchman married to a Thai woman, though they are not currently here. We get to stay in their house though, which is quite nice accommodations. The farm is run by Amee's brother Alea, who lives across the way with his wife, 2 sons (4 and 6), and "the boys" (2 workers aged 18 and 19). They provide us with meals, and plenty of entertainment, but they speak virtually no English. There are also about 6 other Lisu who come [View Full Entry]

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The Trek! Birds, bats, bed bugs, mossies and cock-a-doddle-do!!!! We jumped in a taxi to the train station where we were due to be picked up at 7:30 to start our trek. After a two hour drive in the back of our party bus we were taken up into the mountains to the "Nest". A small hide away resort which provided a back to basics feel to it whilst still giving off a feeling of luxury and seculsion. I thought it was a very romantic resort. We left our bags in the main resort and were treated to an amazing [View Full Entry]

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I was told to catch the bus from Chiang Mai to Chiang Dao, which runs every half hour. I watch as several nearly empty buses leave, which I'm later told are going to Chiang Dao..."mai ben rai" (no problem) I'll wait the 30 minutes. It strikes 4 and another nearly empty bus leaves before I realize I should have been on it, so I ask another driver "Chiang Dao?" He responds by pointing to the bus that is driving past, honks to stop them, and I get on. I try and pay the driver for my fare, and he just waves [View Full Entry]

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By Sunday we felt that we had visited all that we wanted to in Chiang Mai and were a little bored so Mike suggested that we travel further north for a few days and possibly do some trekking. We found Chiang Dao in the Lonely Planet (once again it proved invaluable) and it sounded very enticing with opportunities to go cycling and trekking. On Tuesday 15th July we caught a local bus to Chiang Dao, 1.5 hours north of Chiang Mai. We checked into Malee's Nature Lovers Bungalows, staying in a thatch-and-brick bungalow complete with an en-suite. Malee was a middle [View Full Entry]

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This is why you travel. This is why you don't follow a predetermined itinerary. This is why you embrace opportunities as they come. This is why I came to Thailand. When people asked why I was quitting a great job to travel half way around the world, I told them because there was so much more out there to be discovered, and that I wanted to journey to the fringes of civilization and experience how the people who dwell there live such primal lifestyles. Well, we accomplished this goal in the first week of our trip. After a day traversing through [View Full Entry]

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Right we have made it to Chiang Dao. This is pretty much as far north as we are planning to go. The coutryside here is pretty amazing. Certainly I think it is the first time I have been to proper 'rain forest'. It is an interesting (???) fact that in the 50's 70% of Thailand was forest. By the turn of the century this had fallen to only 20% and currently the Thai government is making efforts to increase this back up to 40% over the next few decades. It is very noticeable that where we are staying there is an [View Full Entry]

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We booked a Trek through the Top North hotel. Wow WoW WOW!! Can't believe how much we took in in 2 days 1 night. Northern Thailand is in a word majestic. Our first stop was at a Boyscouts camp somewhere in the middle of nowhere. At first I was a litte sceptical - I thought they might make us join the kiddies playing simon says in Thai. Thankfully we walked past the camp and DIRECTLY DOWN A WATER FALL! Logic dictates that walking down wet rocks and a 30 foot falls = Death at best. Amazingly these falls were fed by [View Full Entry]

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After a short stopover at Sukhimvit on the Nut in Bangkok, we left the following day for a flight to Chiang Mai. Every time I mentioned Chiang Mai as a destination, I was told how wonderful it was. However, I was really excited about a hut I had booked in Chiang Dao, which was about a 1½ hour bus ride from Chiang Mai. We took a taxi to the bus station in Chiang Mai. Our taxi driver asked why we were taking the bus to Chiang Dao when we could take his taxi for only 1600 baht. I told him [View Full Entry]

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A few weeks after our eager return to Chiang Mai, Sa, a friend of Sodahead's, invited us to her home, a Lisu village near "the City of Stars", Chiang Dao. We enthusiastically accepted--although Mutti decided to remain behind. Joining us was Sa's good friend, Lek, who was not only pleasurable company but a reasonable translator. Sa, unfortunately knew no English so we could only speak with her in the limited Thai we knew. The initial leg of our journey began with an hour bus ride from the Chiang Mai Bus Depot to a ditch in Chiang Dao. From there we [View Full Entry]

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