Northern Exposure

So we've headed north now. It took some time but we finally made it up to Chang Mai. Chang Mai is an interesting place. It's a city, but nothing like Bangkok. Much more laid back. It's full of old temples, bookstores, monks, and bars run by British and Australian ex-patriots.

Our first night in Chang Mai we checked into the Janya guests. It was not a good experience. The beds were hard, the toilets didn't work, and the food in the restaurant downstairs was not so good. We only stayed in the Janya for one night, but one might was one too many. We did however meet a friendly young British guy named Sam. He'd been trying to make it up to Pai (our next destination) for several days, but was having trouble leaving Chang Mai. Not trouble in the "I can't book a bus," sense of the word, but in the "I love this place I can't leave," sense.

We ourselves only stayed two nights in Chang Mai before moving on. We used our one full day there to explore some temples, browse some bookstores and check out the infamous Night Market.

The Night Market could not have been a bigger disappointment. You see, our first night in Chang Mai we thought we found the Night Market, but it turned out we went to the wrong location. What we had found was a market that actually catered to locals. No bartering, no Beer Chang t-shirts, and very few tourists. When we finally found the real Night Market the next night it was just a long strip of stalls selling the exact same tourist garbage we'd found in Bangkok. Even though we had gone to the wrong market the first night, it really was the better one.

On the 19th we took a bus up to Pai. Pai is a smallish town up in the mountains with cool weather, natural hot springs, lots and lots of hippies. The bus ride to Pai was windy and steep, but nothing next to the white knuckle experience we'd been led to believe it was. People, I believe, have a tendency to exaggerate.

After checking into a guesthouse with bungalows right on the river, we wandered the town to look for some nightlife. We ended up bumping into a Canadian couple from Toronto who had been riding on the same bus as us (Dino and Vincent - yes those really are their names) and chatted with them for a while. They've recently married after being together for 22 years (22!), and couldn't be more charming. And to think people believe allowing gay couples to wed will destroy the institute of marriage. We parted ways only to bump into them again later that night at what we've come to believe is one of the hidden jems of Pai - the Mobile Bar.

The mobile bar is a vendor cart that serves beer, wine, and cocktails on the side of the road. That's right Seattle - as hard as it is to get a liquor license in our home town, these people can sell it right on the side of the street. The two girls who run the place are animated and personable. They have a drink called "Forget Your Home," that they claim will help you do just that. We met a number of characters that night, both local and foreign and had a great time.

The next day we rented scooters and rode around the town. We went to a waterfall, a natural hot springs, and then watched the sunset at a canyon. Later that night we ran into our friend Sam from Chang Mai (he finally made it!) and met up with some other travelers at a place called the Bamboo Hut.

The next day (today) was chock full of activities. We started off the morning with an elephant ride. Kathy did a lot of research and happened to find a place where the animals are treated extremely well. They have a rotation of animals that they use and let them live freely part of the time in the jungle. I got to ride in front on the elephants neck which was much less stable than the further back seats. After an hour in the nearby hills we got to ride through the river. Then the elephants sprayed us all down with water. I got pretty soaked, but that wasn't the end of it. As a bit of a prank the elephant wranglers told the elephant sit down in the river and we all fell off. Thankfully the water was shallow, so it was a good laugh.

After this we took a two hour pickup ride up to a huge limestone cavern nearby. Much of the cavern is foot deep in water so they have bamboo rafts that you ride through to certain areas and guides who carry gas lanterns and show you through the caves. We saw the largest spider I've ever seen in my life (ones at zoo's included), and heard a lot of bats. We thought for sure it would be cold in the caves but it turned out it was actually warmer than it was outside. I worked up a nice sweat and an appetite, and had a nice curry dinner after the ride home.