DAYS 26 - 31: CHIANG MAI, THAILAND
We exited the purple train in the northern city of Chiang Mai. It’s a fantastic juxtaposition of a place - a fairly big city snuggled into the foothills of beautiful, tree-covered mountains blanketed in a a luminous layer of fog. And while it’s definitely still got the the hustle and the bustle and the smells and street food, it’s much smaller - and felt to me, more manageable than its southern sister, Bangkok.
Our very first discovery was that public transportation in Chiang Mai is kind of a hassle and rather expensive, so most people, even visitors opt to travel by motorbike.
We were both a little hesitant at first. As far as I knew, Brad’s “scootering” experience had plateaued in his early teens with a fairly scary accident cruising the back roads of Cheboygan, Michigan. And the rental process isn’t all that reassuring. No waivers. No insurance check. No instructions. Just a quick conversation with a man speaking very little English, wherein the phrase “are you sure there isn’t anything else we should know before driving this?” was countered with a casual shrug - and we were off.
If I didn’t emphasize it enough in the last post, I’ll reiterate it again. Traffic here is absolutely insane. Three or four lanes of motorbikes swerving in and out of trucks, busses, crowded roundabouts, families of four strapped into tiny vespas, elderly women with coke bottle glasses honking their horns, hollering at you you to move out of the way. All the while trying to remember to stay to the left instead of the right. Thankfully I was the backseat passenger in this particular escapade, so I just held on for dear life and tightly closed my eyes every time we were nearly sideswiped by a truck filled to the brim with coconuts. And it turned out to be a pretty great way to get around for the most part.
Prior to our arrival, we were lucky enough to be able to have been connected with the sister and brother-in-law of one of our friends currently living in Chiang Mai. They gave us our very first acro-yoga lesson (which was a blast), took us to this ahh-mazing little diner and bestowed upon us lots of locals-only knowledge. In short, they were awesome. They also warned us about what to do when stopped in a traffic raid, which unfortunately came in very handy right away.
Police in Chiang Mai are known for creating traffic stops and asking you to show your proof of your Thai driver’s license. It seems to be a really grey area, (even after researching, I’m not exactly sure about what’s legal), and the whole thing kind of seems like a scam because they try to force you to pay cash - which goes who knows where...I would assume partially into the pockets of the officers.
But even with the advance warning, I don’t think anything has ever made my wimpy, rule following heart pound more than the sight of a Thai policeman decked out in an intimidating uniform and nasty scowl waving us down. I seriously think I almost peed my pants. But thanks to the advice to our new friends, and the fact that Brad did all the talking, we survived. We stayed firm on the fact that we weren’t carrying any money with us, which visibly aggravated them, and they spent quite a bit of time yelling at Brad in loud Thai and broken English (while visions of life in a dirty foreign prison danced through my head). Eventually though, they just wrote us a ticket. We fudged the name a bit and as far as we know, got out of that one scot free. Phew.
The next raid we encountered (seriously these things were everywhere) we spotted in enough time to quickly pull over and duck into a nearby restaurant. The cops saw this. We’re two gigantic white humans in a sea of tiny people with dark skin. There’s no hiding. We then had a heck of a time trying to discreetly back the bike up to the nearest get-away alley (well Brad had a heck of a time - I just nervously waited in that alley praying no one saw him in the process). Luckily though it wasn’t long before he scooped me up and we quickly zipped down a few side streets. Evading the police in a foreign country certainly makes your adrenaline surge. A lot of N.W.A. lyrics were quoted the rest of the trip.
But as annoying as it was to constantly be on the look out, having a scooter was awesome because it granted us the freedom to get out of town. Since the city is so close to the mountains, it’s only a quick 20 minutes on the highway before you’re cruising through windy rural roads lined with palm trees and rice fields that seem to stretch on forever. We took a few trips, one to a place called "Sticky Falls” a giant waterfall cascading over these strange rocks that were in fact “sticky” enough that you could actually climb from the bottom of the waterfall to the top, one to the Chiang Mai “Grand Canyon”, a glorified swimming hole that swallowed my iPhone whole, and one to Crazy Horse climbing area.
The climbing was not my favorite part of the trip. When we arrived I made the horrible mistake of reading the warning signs at the trailhead, cautioning climbers against killer bees that like to nest in crevices within the rocks and fuzzy little plants that apparently “itch very bad.” Definitely enough to kick my poison ivy PTSD paranoia into full swing. The first area we headed to was appropriately dubbed “the furnace” - I would assume because it’s in this little pocket of jungle that seams to trap the heat and humidity and hundreds upon thousands of mosquitos. We started climbing and I quickly learned that the huge limestone walls are totally different than the smooth and forgiving granite and sandstone we’re used to in Colorado. The rock is much more jagged and pointy and super rough on your hands and feet. And because the air is so humid and you’re so sweaty, the chalk on your hands dissolves pretty much instantly and it’s hard to get a grip on anything. On my second assent, I was about 10 feet from the top, when I blindly reached my hand right into one of the bee's nest pockets. I escaped without a sting, but the panic that ensued was quite enough for me. I’m really hoping the climbing we have scheduled for the second part of the trip is far more enjoyable.
One of the things I absolutely loved about Chiang Mai was the food. Oh my god, the food. Bowls of steaming curry, spicy papaya salads, soups and noodles and strange fruits that we had never before seen in all kinds of new sweet and sour flavors. Enough to make your tastebuds sing. Even though I was often a bit squeamish about the cleanliness factor of what we were eating (i.e. cats sleeping on the tables where the food was being prepared or flies swarming around sticks of meat that looked like they had been sitting out all day), we were able to find some amaaaazing restaurants and awesome street food.
On the third day of our week, we visited an elephant sanctuary…probably the thing I had looked forward to most this entire trip. Prior to 1987, elephants were widely used in Thailand for logging. However, once it was outlawed, areas were created in Northern Thailand for these elephants to “retire,” and their value shifted from their strength to the money they raked in from eager tourists. Unfortunately this lead to the creation of many elephant “camps” where they were chained, beaten, forced to do shows and give rides. And even more unfortunately, a lot of these camps still exist today under the belief that it is the only way they can make money. So when deciding where to go, we did a ton of research and ended up selecting a place called Chia Lai Orchid - a eco resort whose sole focus is to help change these practices. They are currently partnered with an existing “camp” to help model and encourage better treatment and are working towards raising enough money to buy this particular camp so they can start running it. Check out the website here: http://chailaiorchid.com/
Our experience was awesome. We were first taken on a hike through the jungle areas and surrounding small villages by a guide who pointed out a lot of the local flora, plants that blew bubbles, spiders the size baseballs (not even exaggerating) and showed us a local watering hole perfect for a quick swim with some of the village children. We then hopped on a bamboo raft and were guided through a soft rapids (Brad only fell out once). And in the afternoon we were permitted to feed, bathe and care for the elephants. And I cannot tell you how cool it is to be up close and personal with these gentle, giant creatures. To feel their slimy trunks grab something out of your hands. To look into their wise eyes and wonder what they’ve seen. My heart hurt thinking of the things that they had been subjected to by the previous camp, but it’s so reassuring to know organizations exist to help stop it.
Our last night in Chiang Mai was probably my favorite. We spent it relaxing and soaking in our last minutes in the city. We strolled the now familiar streets in front of our hostel, treated ourselves to fruit smoothies and Thai massages and ate dinner at one our favorite spots. We stopped at a food stand on the way home to pick up some fresh banana rotees which we later devoured on the balcony of our room overlooking the orangey-blue sunset and the people and the apartment buildings all haphazardly stacked on top of each other. The air was hot and the rotees were sweet and it was one of those moments I just didn’t want to end.
Because it’s all too present in the back of my mind that one of these days our year long adventure will be over. We’ll have to start paying our electric bill again. And go to work on Monday morning. We won’t have the luxury of spending a lazy Tuesday strolling around town, indulging in an afternoon massage or kissing baby elephants. And I just want to soak it all in. To slow it down and really relish the perfect moments in foreign towns with no one else’s company but each others.
Next up we’ll be traveling to Nepal and attempting a 14 day trek to Everest Basecamp. Probably a lot less relaxing. Guess who’s idea that portion of the trip that one was…
