Chiang Mai/Pai Trek

The 12 hour bus ride wasn't nearly as bad as we all expected. But what we didn't expect was to be dropped off at 6am in the middle of nowhere, loaded into songthaews, and driven to guesthouses where you have to listen to their trek options before they'll tell you where to go in town. We ended up at Nice Place 2, and after initially feeling not so great about this place, we decided to book at 3 day, 2 night trek and stay at the guesthouse. I'm glad we did because other people went into town and this seemed to be one of the better places to stay. It has a pool and everything! For 63 US (1900 Baht) we got our trek, food, elephant ride, bamboo rafting, and a free night at the guesthouse. US money really goes far here.

Chiang Mai is very laid back. Especially coming from Bangkok. It's a great little town with a ton of coffee shops, little restaurants and shops. They have a Sunday market that is enormous. We got lost for awhile there.

Our trek took off for Pai (about 2 hours north of Chiang Mai - we were assured it was not touristy and we would be alone) with 14 people packed into a songthaew. After a few hours we reached the village of Lisu, where we got to visit a school and meet the children. They come up to you and ask "Hello what is your name?" and move on down the line asking everyone. Very adorable. Then we took a 45 minute trek through the forest to the hilltribe village of Lahu. The children from the first village sang and danced for us. We all slept in one big room on a bamboo floor and it got VERY cold at night.

The second morning our group split off and 6 of us continued on the 3 day/2 night path. The 2 hour morning hike went through very steep up and downhill mountain passes. It was hot and we were all huffing and puffing, carrying our small packs. Our guides were doing the hike in flip flops! We played in a waterfall for awhile, ate lunch and continued on our way until we made it to the Elephant camp. This was truly crazy. Ianne and I rode "Papa" (we named them), who carried us through the forest and took us for a wild ride. He liked to climb up the mountain to eat bamboo trees and would often take us through the trees to get to the best ones. We were pretty scratched up. Jamie and Kasey rode "Phyllis", the mama, who had her baby elephant "Ross" following her. We were a little scared at first but this was probably the best part of the trek.

After the elephants we hiked to the Karen hilltribe where we ate dinner and played games with our guides "Beckham" and "Tom Cruise". Talk about some crazy Thais. Crazy but fun. They decorated us with charcoal when we lost the games. It was a pretty fun night. The last day we hiked to a river and rode bamboo rafts. Jamie and Tom Cruise piloted one raft, and two of the guys from the trek took the other. By the end we were exhaused but had such an amazing time.