Chiang Mai - Northern Thailand

It is now 8.30pm on Tuesday night. We have been in Chiang Mai since late on Saturday night. After some drama getting to accommodation we finally meet Damien and Claudia (See link to their Bangkok to Beijing by Blog on my website). It was a real effort getting to the Guest House because of the Lo Kratong festival (2 days celebrating the end of the rainy season). Very busy and no taxis available. Also no one knew were it was. We started walking into town at 10pm in a totally foreign place. Thought it was just a few ks. 10mins after walking at Tuk Tuk pulled over. After much trepidation and worrying especially because Bridget was not to happy with the idea we hopped in. All was well and 10mins later we were there. Many stories exist of literally and figuratively tourists being taking for a ride by the Tuk Tuks and getting into strife. All was well though much to my relif thinking I would get Bridget into an undesireable sitiuation.

It was great to meet Claudia and Damien and spend time with some people much more accustomed to living over in these parts. It was great to start eating street food and just being less paranoid with health and food (with caution still). We are yet to get sick and many meals we have though sometimes small are only about 40B. About $1.5. Very tasty to for the most part. Rottees a great. For about 15B you get a yummy chocolate one cooked in front of you. Hard to pass no matter what the time is when you walk by. All 4 of us love them.

The Lo Kratong festival was great. Heaps of parades and colour. Everyone lights cloth lanterns with a meths burner underneath. Much like a hot air balloon and let them rise into the sky from the street sides. A wonderful sight when there are hundreds in the nights sky, many getting well over a couple of ks high. The idea is that the releasing of these balloons lets the bad spirits and such you many have go out of your world and you get a clean start. Well it goes something like that.

On the Sunday we went to the Chiang Mai Zoo. It was really good and we spent most of the day there. Had a yummy lunch and enjoyed the weather and sights. Well and truly worth the $4.5 entrance fee :-). Penguins, monkeys, snakes, turtles etc. That evening we were all tired but hang out in town looking at the large and very cool (lively) Sunday Night Walking market. So much to buy but no room. Mum, you would love this place.

On Monday we all jumped in the back of a songtaew (Ute with bench seats in the back) and headed up through the mist/fog/haze and smog that seems to envelope the place up to Doi Sutep. It is about 1400m above the city and has a lovely Wat situated there. 308 steps later we reached the top from the road. Took a bit longer than usual with film star Bridget being dragged into multiple family photos of visiting Thais. Good to see, and she was getting very good at the poses standing about a foot higher than the rest of them. Chiang Mai was shrouded by the mist/smog and a good view was not had. One can only imagine it if it is every clear. New Zealand really does have amazing visibility and great vistas. The rest of the day was spent looking at another small Wat in town and generally relaxing. Due to the relaxing nature of it all I splashed out and booked a Mountain Bike tour for today.

At 9.30 I was picked up by Chiang Mai MTB Adventures. I was always a little dubious about MTB tours. I choose the hardest downhill route for experienced expert riders not really knowing what I was getting myself into. Anyhow got to the top of Doi Poi (1650m) ready for the 2hr 25km 1200m decent back to Chiang Mai. I got them to setup my brakes on my Mongoose (Black Daimond Double) to the moto style used by NZers. They buggered it up and the pin holding the leaver on fell off. They finally found a bolt to fix it. 10mins into the ride I crashed. I was coming up to a fast loose left hander. Went for the front brake and it was not there. The leaver had popped out and was forward 90 degrees. With to much speed I washed out and smashed up my left thigh. A massive bruise and lump is starting to appear now. (Formula brakes are no good). So they had no idea how to fix it. I found out they had zip ties so that is how I held it on. (Vic, bring back memories of some of your Hayes brakes). Anyhow keep heading down the hill and had some fun but was worried about the bike. The back end was squirming all over the place Vic like your old Mongoose. The pivots were shot. Anyway overall it was an ok day but will not do a MTB adventure unless I have a personal recommendation from someone I know or can take my own bike. Bush was cool, and I saw the biggest ants I ever have. I was also having fun with an America Pro BMXer and we had to wait so we could get a 30 40 sec clear run to reallt roost the trails. The guide was a bit slow too :-)

Tomorrow Damien and Claudia are off on their bikes heading north towards the border with Laos to continue their adventure. It has been a great few days with them, sharing many meals, sites and experiences around Chiang Mai. All going well we will see them again in Vietnam just after New Years. Bridget and I are off also. We are renting a small Suzuki 4wd and plan to explore the towns and mountains of Northwestern Thailand for 5 days. I really look forward to it. A road trip in a pretty crazy wee place. The traffic worries me though, especially in the city. I will need to learn to recognise that the hundreds of scooters and motor bikes zooming around look after themselves and just concentrate on what I am doing. Also using the horn will become a big part of my driving skills. Especially on blind corners. A favorite place for locals to pass. I have yet to see an accident however and hopefully I will keep it that way.

Sawadee Kah