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Published: March 21st 2006
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Hi everyone...
Chiang Mia is a town in Northern Thailand. Much like other towns, their economy thrives on tourism. Many people travel Chiang Mia for to trek through the mountains. We decided that we were going to go on an overnight trek which included many activities that were of interest to us.
To start the trek off, we were taken to a place up in the mountains where there were 3 elephants waiting for us. There were 9 of us...3 per elephant. The ride was amazing...at the beginning i thought i was going to fall off! We were able to ride on the elephants head as well, so throughout our journey we switched positions each getting a turn. The elephants were very tame, as im sure any animal would be when having a a massive object with a sharp hook being pointed each time they did something wrong. After about 45 mins, we arrived back at the place we started out at and were able to go meet some people from the village tribe. Unfortunately, this was not where they lived, and it seemed like the small village was placed there to exploit the different tribes. Both people from the long
In the village
After dinner hanging out on the balcony at our cabin neck and long eared tribes were there. The next part of the tour was the long and strenuous trek. Probably the toughest 4 hours of my life, but i still enjoyed every second of it. We treked through the mountains, most of it uphill. Quite a change from being at work sitting on my computer. The only dissapointing part about the trek, was that since it was we were in the dry season, there were tonnes of bush fires, and many areas had no colour due to the lack of water. As well, there was a thick fog over the mountains, so we couldnt see too far in the distance. Finally after we finished our trek, we arrived at a village in the mountains...aka our house for the night. Upon our arrival we were given dinner and then left alone to do what we wanted, which consisted of sitting and talking amongst ourselves. Outside our cabin was 26 village families, probably 200 viscious looking dogs, some pigs, and lots of chickens. These dogs couldnt be more annoying if they tried...they were scared of their own shadows. At night, when somebody would try to go to the bathroom (outside of the
cabin), EVERY dog would freak out for about 10 minutes. Obviously this woke everyone up and the person who needed the bathroom would have a change of mind and end up going off the balcony of our cabin (i dont blame them!). We were served dinner and breakfast the next morning by our tour guide and after breakfast we were on our way back. During our 2 treks, we had stopped off at a couple of extremely cold waterfalls to cool down. After walking up and down the mountains, some parts having very thin paths where if we went an inch to the side we would fall down massive cliffs, we finally arrived at the next part of our tour. We were at the river where we were to go white water rafting! Since it is the dry season, the water level was lower than ussual..so we got stuck a few times on some rocks, but overall it was still a great experience. From there we went bamboo riding, where a local tourguide pushed us through the calm river. Definately the most relaxing part of this trek. Back to town....
We originally had planned to go to Laos at this time, but unfortunately we did not realize that we would have to travel for 3 days to get there. So what we decided to do was go to a place up north-pai,which we were recommended by many people to go to.
Pai is a small town, up in the mountains in which everyone is very laid back. We met an Israeli, who joined up with us on our tour. We stayed in Pai for 2 nights...During this time, each of us rented a scooter for 24 hours, which costed a very reasonable $8 including gas and insurance. We drove the scooter all around town and up in the mountains seeing many scenic attractions along our way. We first travelled through the mountains to a large water fall. Once again, since it is the dry season here, the water levels were not at its max, causing it not to look the way it should. We then travelled to a small canyon where we hung around for a short while. And then onto the hot springs. Not too much to see there either, but the best part about our travels in Pai was the scenary while on the scooters. And I made it out alive!
Next Stop 'Nam!
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