Chiang Mai: Northern Thailand

Okay...so part two, or three, or whatever of Thailand. The great north. It was here that the traveling slowed down a bit. Finally in one spot for about a week, the same hotel room for more than 2 days...WHAT? Unheard of. I actually unpacked my clothes into the closet and quasi-moved in. Okay, ready for these connections? Phew...here we go. Derek was friends with Lindsay, who was traveling with Patty. Lindsay's cousin Aaron joined us, their friend from Aus Genia came too. We met with Steve from Calgary on the bus from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, and Georg, from Austria, met Lindsay and Patty in New Zealand. His two friends Christoph and Mathias joined him for the journey. Ooohhhkkkk. So that makes 10 of us, and what a happy family we were! In fact, if felt strangely like first year university. Befriending some wicked people from all over, and all staying on the same floor in a quiet hotel. We had some chair races in the hallways, and shared the party rooms throughout the nights. But, the best part of our journey...was our Jungle Trek. Three days and two unforgetable nights made for a wicked Chiang Mai experience. We hit the ground running with our Thai tour guides, Pooza and Whiskey. Both around our age, and both wicked fun. The journey started out with some elephant riding for almost and hour. We bought some bananas and sugar cane before, and when you are on their back and you say BONE, that makes...feeding time. So, up comes the trunk and in goes the food. Pretty fun, and pretty bumpy ride. The first part of the actual trek was kind of challenging, but we all kept up and stayed together. We were jungle bound, and even had our very own George of the Jungle! We hit a village near dusk, and had some celebratory Chang Beer. Pooza and Whisky made us some wicked pumpkin curry and all the fixings. After some guitar songs from Aaron, drinking games from Pooza and some wicked Thai songs "Do do do, do ther time..." we hit the hay, well the bamboo, in our bamboo hut...all 10 of us, side by side on some foam, blankets and mosquito (mossy) nets. Again, the morning came equipped with some delicious eggs, toast and fruit and off for day # 2. Treking and waterfalls sums up the day pretty well. Swimming, sun basking and some laughs. Night two was even better, our 2nd camp had a big picnic table, so we played some Canadian drinking games (Kings), a bon fire and some more songs. We created some pretty close bonds over the previous two days, as you really get to know people well when you're all out of your comfort zone and depend on each other. It was unforgettable. Day three was whitewater rafting and bamboo rafting and heading back home to Chiang Mai. We were super bummed to leave our tour guides, and I'm sure they'll hold a special spot in our hearts forever. But...wait, not so fast. The following night we RAN into Whiskey at the dance bar! ha ha! His little to no english didn't seem to matter much on the dance floor...he had moves that wouldn't quit. There were even some Korean hiphop songs that we share a dance or two too! ha ha. Patty and I stayed up until 5 am...ONNNLY because we were looking for the monks in the morning. Now, let me explain. The buddhist monks go around in the morning to vendors near the street market and are given offerings of food and drink. Its really neat to see. They receive food and the monks pray for them and bless them. The rest of our days in Chiang Mai were spent at some cool night markets, hiring motorbikes to go to small villages outside of Chiang Mai, $6 oil massages, bowling, eating, movies and thai cooking class (YES, I can offically say that I can make pad thai!) It was really sad to say goodbye to the new friends I made. They helped to make my journey memorable for sure. I'm sure we'll cross paths again....God works in strange ways like that :) (Buddha too...I've learned to appreciate and even take on Buddhist beliefs)...Now...time for an independent journey more south...to Malaysia....