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Published: December 24th 2008
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Taking the night train, I learned really quickly, that although there was AC, and considered the upgrade car; the foot clearance was not built for someone my height! This made sleeping rather challenging, since I felt I was in a sardine can squirming around to get the most comfy position I could.
Granted I couldn’t stay in a comfy position too long since inevitably some part of me would start to ache or fall asleep. My motion sickness pills helped immensely, since it has the nice effect of making me drowsy.
I will say that service is much better on the Thai rails; there was juice and snack service, like on a airplane! Even gave us some nice blankets to use. Amtrak, eat your heart out!
Chiang Mai is is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand, and is the capital of Chiang Mai Province. It is located some 700 km (435 mi) north of Bangkok, among some of the highest mountains in the country. The city stands on the Ping river, a major tributary of the Chao Phraya river.
Chiang Mai's historic importance is derived from its strategic
welcome sign
seen a few of these, much nicer than our own "open" signs location on an ancient trade route. Long before the modern influx of foreign visitors, the city served as a major centre for handcrafted goods, umbrellas, jewellery (particularly silver) and woodcarving.
Although there is much distinction in districts and for most visitors there is the newer city and the old city, which use to be the capital of the area. The old city center is surrounded by a moat, and a few sections of wall still stand. We're staying right outside this division, which makes it a good location to get to other areas of the city.
Chiang Mai is actually walkable, we've been alternating with tuk-tuks depending on how we're holding up. This is a good location to train for crossing roads. The busier streets is like a game of Frogger. While wandering around we ran into a Wat, but not Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep.
The most famous temple in the area, standing on a hill to the north-west of the city. This temple dates from 1383. Its builders allegedly chose its site by placing a relic of the Lord Buddha on an elephant's back and letting the elephant roam until it
The chedi at Doi Suthep
Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep: the most famous temple in the area. came across a place where it trumpeted and circled before lying down and eventually died. The onlookers took this as marking an auspicious place to build the temple. The temple's location also affords superb views over the city on a clear day.
As we strolled the open market we found a variety of products, local food, to textiles. Some were niche industries, such as the clothes by Indians. Taking a random turn, any direction is as good to us—we saw familiar sight—
Hmong fabrics! Lang says, it was interesting to see quality cloths, but a bit taken with the whole notion of Hmong items for sale in a store. Can’t think of something equivalent to compare it too, as homemade anything is rare in our society. Striking up a conversation with a vendor we discovered most Hmong don’t live nearby, but have returned to the mountains.
Today was about going out to the nearby mountains. Bare in mind the roads here are tiny and full of curves that make for some tummy turning fun. Dramamine to the rescue!
Most people tend to stay in the city and enjoy what can be done
bridge n polluted river
behind the veneer of beauty still lies the infrastructure people rarely want to see there. Not us, part of why we came up here was to interact with locales. In the middle of jungle chocked mountains, there lies a small village who in the past year, a private venture is keeping the area afloat economically alive by bringing in hiking adventurers.
I liked how, the area is making attempts to keep the jungle as pristine as possible. There are stern warnings to not disturb vegetation and to be courteous to the residents. You never know that banana you might be picking from a mountain side, might actually be someone’s crop. However, how much can anyone really keep tourist from changing the landscape?
Craving some excitement we hiked up a waterfall. The trek up was muscle burning, but worth the view. The trek down was slippery and steep.
Afterwards we skipped lunch to head over to the best part of the day…the cable zip lines strung out in the treetops. Despite being ridiculously afraid of heights, I seem to get myself into situations like this often. Even Lang had some height issues, but seemed to pale in comparison to mine.
Here is a kicker; this is no
Chinese Hmong
lang's contuial quest for more hats. Disneyland People Mover. These are cables and ropes strung out in real forest jungle, high
(VERY HIGH), where if you fall, it’s going to be a challenge to not just get you out, but to find you.
The “entrance” is easily missed, a patch of dirt nestled between some shrubberies along the road, that leads to a fast drop. Most of the time, couldn’t see the ground. I’m reasonably sure it was down there somewhere, but I really didn’t look down too much.
The adventure turned out to be educational and fun. Our guides David and Tao were very professional, but amusing. On the lines they were at ease as if they born for it. They answered many of our questions, and pointed out many features such as strangling fig trees, viper snakes, how certain plants grow and even how the village generates some hydro-electric power using a gravity based system.
By the end of it all, I was slightly wishing we could keep going. Our sleeping patterns are still off, taking naps as we can.
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