Chiang Mai - a modern city and a beautiful northern province surrounded by mountainous jungle inhabited by hill tribes. The old walled town still remains - now swamped with guesthouses, it has become the tourist hub of the north yet still retains its sleepier, coffee shop culture.
After a long day of waiting and flying through fork lightning, we were relieved to land - picked up by our kind hostel hosts, we spent the first couple of nights in a 'couples dorm' - strange concept - its basically a double bed bunk squeezed into what can only be described as a large cupboard with sliding doors. A space saver, maybe, but comfortable? Not so much, though the place was pretty kitsch, with a chilled out vibe.
A quick walk around the old town and you'll find small wats (temples) litter the city like regular churches, only more beautiful - these are adorned in gold, covered in colourful decoration and illuminated by hundreds of hanging paper lanterns as the city prepares for Loy Krathong festival (a Buddhist celebration that falls on the 12th full moon where locals send lanterns into the sky and sea to ask for forgiveness for the past and bring luck for the fufutre)
Tourism is big business here, the whole place swells with tourist traffic and offers plenty of quirky places to drink and dine. Tourist offices on every street corner advertise the latest trekking adventure, elephant sanctuary or tiger kingdom to feed the booming city's economy at the expense of animal welfare.
Not keen on posing for photos with drugged up tigers or riding atop a badly treated elephant, we decided to trek through the mountainous jungles of Mae Taeng instead and chill out with the hill tribe kids - learn about the ways they live.
Rising early and with slightly dodgy tummies, we reluctantly jumped into the pickup truck and met our guide Mr Chi and fellow trekkers, a small bunch of English, Irish and Scottish twenty-somethings who like us, were ready for an adventure.
Cruising past palm trees and jungle foliage, monkeys and the occassional elephant, we arrived at base and had a quick portion of fried rice and rambutan fruit and an all important toilet break - which we very much appreciated as it was quite possibly the last real working toilet we would see for a while.
We started ascending the mountain which was really steep in places, the heat beating down on our sweaty heads. As we scrambled the rocky, overgrown trail we spotted avacoado trees, coffee beans growing and still green and hazelnuts encased in their spikey shells. Mr Chi, brandishing a small machete pointed out fat bodied and equally leggy spiders, giant poisonous milipedes and even got bitten by a viscious caterpillar himself. Cobra holes dotted the hill sides, the undergrowth glowed different shades of green in the sunlight and the trail underfoot covered our trainers with an orange dust.
Arriving at nearby waterfalls we sought relief from the afternoon sun, stripped to our swimmers and slid down the natural water slides shaped and smooth from the eroded stones. Plunging into the deep rock pools took our breath away, an adrenalin rush and refreshing all the same.
Hiking on in wet clothes was more comfortable, Mr Chi, with his slingshot, entertained us along the way with stories of his life and his future ambition to become his village's cheif - before we knew it we were nearing the peak,.walking through the Black Lahu hill tribe village and just about ready to flop into our bamboo hut.
Massages were offered from the local hill tribe women trying to earn a living, lying down on a bamboo mat we began to unwind, though uncomfortable at times as an eight year old girl was put to work on us. Unruly hill tribe children tried to play with us - jumping their dirty little feet on our bamboo mats and playing havoc with our belongings, throwing and hitting too.
Some locals seemed happy to see us, welcoming the opportunity we bring. Others weren't bothered at all which was good as we didn't want to intrude. The children put on a little song and dance routine for us, some singing whole heartedly, others reluctant to perform whilst their teacher played on her mobile phone. Yes, mobile phone and remote hill tribe is a bit of an oxymoron and originally led us to believe that we weren't gaining an authentic experience of real life in the hill tribes - yet on second thoughts, perhaps this is authentic but not quite as romantic as the idea of remote village life sounds. Technology surrounds these people whether they want it or not, being only a couple of hours drive from the city, they're bound to have some mod-cons.
After a beautiful sunset overlooking the hills, we showered with a cold hose under a spidery rooved hut and shared a curry around the campfire on the bamboo deck. Playing cards, stick games, sharing life stories and guitar songs. We enjoyed each other's company and made the most of the absence of anti-social technology and shared a somewhat spiritual evening under the stars before wrapping up, spraying ourselves silly with repellant and retiring under our mosquito nets for a restless sleep as rain battered down and lightning lit up the room.
Dogs fought underneath the hut's stilts, howling and growling. Roosters cock-a-doodle-dooed premeturely and creatures scuttled among the bamboo beneath our heads. A recipe for a disaterous nights sleep, but an interesting experience to say the least.
We woke to freshly boiled eggs, bread and fruit - stocking up before a slippery and wet descent.
The views were spectacular from above the clouds in the morning light - walking down through the mist and dew covered overgrown grasses. A slippery walk in conversve, Mr Chi chopped and shaped appropriately sized bamboo hiking sticks for each of us along the way. Making bridges with fallen trees, we crossed the swelling river several times reaching the bottom for a pad thai lunch and to prepare for our elephant trek.
The elephants reached their trunks out to greet us, waiting for us to be popped onto the metal chair roped securely on their backs. Our elephant seemed reluctant. The mahout struggled to maintain control as the elephant reared up and whipped his trunk back to us as if to ask for a banana. Once out of bananas there was very little moving forward yet lots of grunting from the mahout and hitting with his spiked stick. Signs of where it had previously drawn blood on the elephants thick grey skin put me off and so we quickly turned back and got off, feeling sad about how the elephants are treated. Some of these gentle giants looked injured, walking with limp back feet so it was quite funny when a disobedient one led a mahout through branches of a nearby tree!
Next up was white water rafting down the Mae Taeng River. Kitted up, but with no instruction we took to the water with our raft hitting the worst of the rapids fast! 'Oh my buddah!' Bamboo rafting was meant to be the more gentle of the two but seeing as our bamboo raft didn't float very well with all 7 of us aboard, a sudden influx of boats and we were an easy target for a splash around. All good fun as long as the river water wasn't swallowed or inspected too closely!
After a long drive back to civilization, we flopped in our new hostel room and took the next couple of days to recover and enjoy a foodie experience of cafe hopping and enjoying fresh vegetable wraps and milkshakes and an unfortunate trip to a Thai dentist which I won't go into too much!
Our last night in Chiang Mai was an unexpected treat - lined with police and military officers, the main street in old town stopped to welcome an important V.I.P, a commander or chief. Escorted in on an open leapord print bus and accompanied by 2 large cartoon-ized police officer mascots, he saluted the friendly troops and continued downtown towards Saturday walking street markets for a stunning display of Aspara dancers and street music. The officers blended with tourists - smiling and welcoming us to join, clearly enjoying the atmosphere.
The event attracted heaving crowds and equally swarming insects to the seemingly endless market stalls which fringed the pavements for miles. Stopping occassionally for souvenirs, I excitedly spotted some extra small locally made clothes whilst Matt eyed up the street food - attempting to continue on whilst battling with the chopsticks!
Chiang Mai - it's been an adventure from the hill tops to the city walls...Next stop - Thailand's southern islands.
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