Chiang Mai Mountain Trek

When I spoke with the travel agent my first day in Bangkok, I told him that I was interested in doing some cool mountainous treks and he informed me that Chiang Mai in the northern part of the country was the place to do it. He described an overnight trek to a remote mountain village with promise of waterfalls, rice paddy fields, and bamboo river rafting. Sounded perfect.

After a few nights in Bangkok I arrived in Chiang Mai. Having an evening to kill before the big trek, I decided to check out the local night market. I was told by the people at the hostel that it was about a 20 minute walk, so when the pouring rain subsided I was out the door. After a few steps a little Thai guy on a moped rolled up and asked where I was going. I told him and he offered me a ride. Sweet. Well sort of....he was a super nice guy but wow, he stunk so bad. I literally had trouble breathing sitting behind him. He zipped around the streets and he made sure to point out where the "party" areas were, which I made note of as I was interested in grabbing a drink later in the evening. Before he dropped me off, he also mentioned that he had a sister and if I would like to go to see her. I chuckled to myself and respectfully declined.

I walked around the night market and it was pretty cool, but a lot of the tents were repetitive and it was mostly little touristy knick knacks, although there was some cool authentic looking stuff too. More importantly there was a massive food area and since I was starving I spent a good majority of my time over there.

After I was bored of the market I headed over to the street where my new buddy said the good bars were. I didn't make it very far before I realized this was just a huge strip of "girlie bars". A girlie bar is a place where you can go and grab a drink and shoot pool or whatnot, but you are going to be hounded by girls hitting on you in an effort to get you to take them home, for a price. Some of them will even grab your arm as you walk by and try to drag you in! The novelty is funny at first but it gets annoying. I suppose it could be fun with a group of friends, but kind of a sketchy scene to be at alone, so I decided to head back to the hostel and get a good nights sleep before the big trek.

Typical Girlie Bar

The next morning the truck pulled up bright and early and we hopped in the bed and were on our way. As was the case throughout Thailand, I was the only American out of our group of over a dozen. Actually, everyone was Dutch except for one German couple. It was kinda funny, they were all speaking rapid fire Dutch along the way, and then one pointed out that it was rude to do so, since I did not understand anything they were saying, and they switched to English. Haha I thought that was kinda funny, and a nice thing to do. Turned out to be a really great group.

After about an hour of driving, sitting in the back of the bumpy pickup, we hit our starting point - a pretty cool waterfall right next to the trailhead. We hiked down to the waterfall, and as I noted it had been raining the previous night as well as drizzling at the time, things were a bit slippery. As we traversed through little streams hopping from slippery rock to slippery rock, there was a bit of tension among the group as there were a few who were struggling a bit, including a couple of the younger teens. I was wondering if our guide was going to turn back but he seemed unfazed by it and we continued on, helping each other out where we could, and alas we made it to the waterfall. They allowed us an hour or so to enjoy the scenary and climb around a bit. There was one huge boulder in the middle of the waterfall that everyone was trying to climb up but failing, so I had to show em how it was done.

After getting our waterfall time in it was time to hit the trail! Ready?? Check out the video below to come along!

 

As you can see it was a really cool hike, through the mountains to this remote little village where a small tribe still resides. Along the way, our guide "Ray" was on the lookout for wild mushrooms which would later become part of our dinner. Yum!

We passed by a bunch of other smaller waterfalls, which were all pumping due to the recent rains.

After a few hours of hiking we arrived at the small village around late afternoon. Our guide Ray pointed to a small hut and noted that that was where we would be staying for the evening. I laughed because I honestly thought he was joking, but he was not. He showed us to our little hut which was basically just straw and bamboo strung together with wood floors. See those thin little mats? Those were our beds. Good thing I've always liked my mattresses firm!

Sleeping Hut

Our bathroom facilities were equally as posh.

Shortly after we arrived, a few of the villagers came around with beers for sale. Sweet! We all cracked one open and cheers'd to what had been a great day and was sure to be an interesting night! Our guide Ray had begun preparing dinner so I went to scope out the action. He was putting together a massive stir fry, which included our wild mushrooms, that looked really tasty! I hung around and shot the breeze with him while he cooked.

Dinner was on point, and along with the beers the villagers were selling, a couple of the Dutch guys smuggled in some Thai whiskey so needless to say we had ourselves a bit of a party that night!

I slept like a baby. The next morning we were up bright and early, and after a quick breakfast we said our goodbyes to the villagers, who had shown us nice hospitality.

And the animals too.

And were on our way.

After a bit of hiking we came across another little waterfall, which was perfect since we were all feeling a little grimy by that point, and slightly hung over.

Shower Time!

Feeling nice and fresh, we continued on through the mountains, zig zagging through a ton of rice paddy fields.

After a couple more hours of trekking we made it to the grand finale, bamboo river rafting!

It was actually a lot cooler than expected! There were three of us on the bamboo raft, in addition to the guide, who used a long bamboo pole to steer and get us out of trouble. We picked up some pretty good speed and narrowly missed careening in to some big rocks jutting out but our trusty guide kept us on course and afloat. There were a few minor mishaps with one of the guys bouncing off the raft when we hit some little rapids, but luckily the water was only about waist deep. Funny stuff. After our wild little rafting trip it was time to head back to the city. It was a really fun group and we all had a great time so it was a little sad to say goodbye, but I was ready to get home, shower up, and hit those girlie bars.

Kidding ;)

 

 

Posted with Blogsy