Thailand: Part II of II

Day 4 — My journey to Chiang Mai started by bus (pictured below).

(upper deck of bus)

(stairs to upper deck of bus)

The bus wasn’t comfortable, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. The seat reclined to around a 45° angle. The only problem is that the person in front of you is doing the exact same thing. You are lying there fairly comfortably, but there is basically no room to move. I slept off and on during both of my trips on the bus. I would do it again, no problem.

Once I got to Chiang Mai, I grabbed a tuk-tuk* to take me to Libra Guesthouse where I would be staying (pictured below: tuk-tuk). Libra said they would reimburse me for the price of the tuk-tuk.

* A tuk-tuk is a taxi. In Jakarta they are bajajs (pictured below). The tuk-tuks are a little more spacious and nicer than the bajajs.

Nu was the person who checked me in at Libra. Awesome guy. He comes from a small village north of Chiang Mai (more on that in a little), but his English is very good. He was extremely hospitable and helpful during my stay there. I will say this several times in this blog post – if you are ever in Chiang Mai, stay at Libra Guesthouse. They were terrific.

I dropped my stuff in my room and jumped in the shower. After that, I noticed that my backpack had a rip in it that was in danger of ripping off during my trip. Fortunately, the place right next door to Libra was a tailor. He was very nice and said that he would have it done in about 30 minutes.

Per Nu’s suggestion, I headed down to Blue Diamond Café to grab some lunch (pictured below). I got the brown rice stir fry with chicken and green curry. It was fantastic. I also had a large Chang and the total was only 165B.

After lunch, I went to go pick up my backpack. The guy did a terrific job. I don’t have to worry about my shoulder strap coming undone anytime soon. He tried to not charge me for it, but I couldn’t just let him do it for free. I forced 100B on him. I hope that I didn’t insult him by giving him that. Maybe it was too small? I don’t know.

Next up, I decided to walk around the moat. Chiang Mai’s downtown area is surrounded by a moat (pictured below: map of Chiang Mai; the blue rectangle is the moat).

Chiang Mai is an old capital of the Kingdom of Lanna and the moat served protection purposes. I decided that I would walk to the four corners of the moat. I reached the four corners (pictured below: remains of protection at the four corners) and then diced up the middle of the city.

It didn’t take too long to walk the four corners – maybe 40 minutes for each side of the rectangle. After seeing the four corners, I headed to Wat Phra Sing (pictured below). Just outside of the temple, I met a South African via England that was headed the same direction. Her name was Megan and we were able to chat for about 20 minutes and hear what had brought each of us to Chiang Mai. She was very nice and is another great example of why backpacking is so enjoyable – meeting so many great, different people.

Once done at Wat Phra Sing, I headed to the Three Kings statue (pictured below). According to legend, these three helped lay out the plan for Chiang Mai.

From there, I went to Wat Chedi Luang (pictured below). This was easily the most impressive temple in Chiang Mai.

(this was behind the main temple; a pyramid-like structure that was roped off)

Once I was done with my Chiang Mai exploring for the day, I headed back to Libra to shower before our scheduled meeting at 6pm to go over what we would be doing for our 2-day trek that started in the morning (pictured below: Libra on the outside; my room at Libra).

The meeting went well: about 20 minutes. I hurried out of the meeting to go meet up with a mutual friend, Andy, for dinner. Andy and his wife are missionaries in Chiang Mai. My best friends’ parents, Greg and Debbie, work with Andy and his wife, Carmen, through our home church in Wichita. Small world. Since the Allisons knew I was going to Thailand, they told me to contact Andy to see if we could meet up (pictured below: dinner with Andy).

He’s a Jayhawk !!

Andy is just as crazy about KU basketball as I am (Kelly Oubre committed while I was in Chiang Mai). We ate great Mexican food and bonded the whole evening. He was so generous, he invited me to spend my last night in Chiang Mai (after the trek) at his home. Terrific man.

Chiang Mai has a famous night bazaar that I wanted to check out, so I did that after dinner. It was a fun area where a lot of shops are set up on the side of the road.

I bought a Buriram United (best soccer club in Thailand) jersey for 120B. It will be modeled on me later in this post.

I headed back to Libra for a good night’s rest before the trek started in the morning.

Day 5 — Woke up and headed to the main lobby to have some breakfast before the trek started.

Loaded up for breakfast with a couple fantastic pancakes with banana (pictured below).

After breakfast, the nine of us piled into the back of a covered truck and headed north for our trek.

Here are the 8 amazing people that went with me on the 2-day, 1-night trek:

From England, life-long friends Richard and Matt (pictured below).

From Canada, married couple Tiana and Calvin (pictured below).

From Holland, couple Marco and Manon (pictured below).

From Holland, couple Paul and Lisan (pictured below).

I was very lucky to get to spend a couple days with these people. They were all incredibly nice and fun to be around.

The first stop on the trek was Mork Fa Waterfall (pictured below).

I had never really been to a waterfall before and this one was beautiful (pictured below). We got to go swim in the waterfall for about half an hour. The water was really chilly at first, but quite refreshing once you got used to it.

From the waterfall, we proceeded to a local market to buy bug spray and any other items we thought we might need for the trek. Once we were done at the market, we loaded back into the truck and headed up to where we would be starting our trek: a natural hot spring. But before reaching the hot spring, we stopped at a restaurant to have some lunch (pictured below).

Once we got to the hot spring, we were told we would have about 30 minutes and then we would be beginning the trek. The hot spring was, well, hot. It was pretty cool that the rocks and sun could make this water so abnormally warm (pictured below: time at the hot spring).

After changing into hiking clothes, it was time to begin (pictured below: beginning the trek).

I was the only one who decided to wear jeans. My philosophy was that it was going to be hot regardless, so I might as well protect my legs. I don’t regret the decision at all.

The trek featured a lot of up and down terrain that was highlighted by incredible views of the Northern Thailand rainforest. Here is how the 9km trek went, through pictures:

(first village we stopped at was Karen; Nu was born and raised there)

(big ol' tarantula hole; saw probably a dozen of these with tarantulas - those suckas were huge !!)

(at our last stop for rest they were selling Changs; Marco and I were the only 2 to partake)

We arrived at our destination roughly 4 hours after beginning the trek. I would guess that we spent about 40 minutes resting during those 4 hours. It was a workout, but I highly encourage it to anyone that gets up to Chiang Mai or that region.

The village where we spent the night did not have any electricity. The 9 of us were all under the same roof where they had placed sleeping bags and pillows for us to crash. We all had a mosquito net, but I don’t think they were helpful at all – not because they didn’t work, but because I don’t think there were any mosquitos at night (pictured below: village we crashed at for the night).

(nestled on the banks of the mighty Mae Taeng)

(where we all slept)

Our trek included 4 meals and the best was dinner on Wednesday night. The pictures featuring my fellow trekkers (from the start of the “Day 5” section) were taken at dinner. The spread was incredible (pictured below: dinner).

We started off with a bowl of rice and then it was up to us to pile on from the different plates of greens, vegetables, and chicken curry. The meal combined with great people, a great atmosphere, and a couple Changs really hit the spot.

Once we were done feasting, we all headed to the campfire to sit around and relax (pictured below).

Nu (our trek leader) busted out his guitar and provided the tunes. One cool thing that we all did was write down a wish on this plastic sheet. The sheet was then inflated like a hot-air balloon and sent up to the heavens (picture and video below). There were also fireworks attached, but I don’t know what their purpose was. If they were supposed to blow up the wishes, it did not work; if they were supposed to add cool sounds and visuals, it did work.

My best night of sleep in Thailand was probably that night. I didn’t feel uncomfortable in the setting and I was so exhausted from the day/vacation that I was knocked out. My sleep was interrupted at around 3am when dinner decided to make a rapid exit from my system. That took me on a fun journey to the outhouse squatter in the middle of the night.

Day 6 — In the morning, we enjoyed some scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast and then started our second day in the rainforest.

Our day started with washing elephants in the Mae Taeng River (pictured below: feeding elephants and washing them off in the river). The group we stayed with had 2 elephants that they let roam around the rainforest and then they go get them whenever they have a trekking group.

Each elephant could carry 3 riders at once, so the way it worked was that 6 of us would start on the elephants while the others started on the bamboo rafts. We would alternate who was on the bamboo rafts and the elephants after about half an hour. I started off on the bamboo raft with my Dutch friends Paul and Lisan. The bamboo rafts were surprisingly sturdy (pictured below: bamboo that would eventually be made into rafts). I don’t know much about bamboo, but I didn’t expect it to be as sturdy as it was.

I really enjoyed the rafting. The beauty of the rainforest from the river was quite breathtaking (“Sometimes you say a thing like that just to be nice”). The views were incredible and it was awe-inspiring to see how vast the rainforest is.

After our bamboo rafting experience, we switched with the group on the elephants (pictured below: riding an elephant).

It was tough at first getting used to the feeling of being on top of an elephant. They are massive, sturdy creatures that are much more mobile than I had imagined. There were multiple times when we had to go up or down pretty steep terrain, but the elephant just took it all in stride. It was a very cool once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Once both groups had taken their turns on the elephants, we all got onto the bamboo rafts and headed down the Mae Taeng for about another 2 hours. All 4 Dutch trekkers were on the same raft which led to some good-natured ribbing (pictured below: bamboo rafting). During our time on the rafts we were also given a bottle of the local “happy drink” to pass around to each other. It wasn’t tasty by any means, but it was hard alcohol. I am yet to find a hard alcohol that is “tasty.”

The Mae Taeng is very popular for white-water rafting, but we didn’t go through any major rapids. The toughest little stretch we went through was fairly swift. I was actually knocked into the river at one point. It was a combination of rapids, not having anything to hold on to, and being smacked in the head by a tree branch. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise, really. It was a very hot day with the sun shining on us constantly; the little dip in the river was perfect to help me stay cool.

After our 2 hours on the bamboo raft, our trek concluded with some pad thai at a local restaurant. Another great meal, but it was sad that our time together as a group was coming to an end. Great people. Great memories.

Upon getting back to Chiang Mai and Libra, I jumped in the shower before Andy was going to come pick me up. His oldest son, Connor, had a choir concert that night which I was lucky enough to be invited to. I had made a reservation at Libra for that night, but when I offered to pay for the night they wouldn’t let me. They said it wasn’t necessary. Even though I was checking out at 5pm, had just occupied a room (which they didn’t charge me for) with my stuff the previous night, and already made a reservation, they didn’t want to charge me for a night I wouldn’t be there. Can’t stress this enough: if you are ever in Chiang Mai, stay at Libra Guesthouse.

Andy picked me up outside of Libra around 5:15pm and we headed to his home for dinner. He lives about 15 minutes from downtown Chiang Mai. He lives in a beautiful home with an amazing family. He and his wife, Carmen, met in Hillsboro, Kansas while at Tabor College. They have 2 sons, Connor and Isaac, and a daughter, JJ.

The concert (pictured below), at Connor’s school, was very impressive. A lot of talented kids. The school has a cool set-up. It is in a former community center building and has a great campus, from what I could tell. The school is full of students that are children of missionaries.

Andy and his family were amazing hosts and they showed an amazing amount of trust in a total stranger which I am very thankful for. They are tremendous people and I can tell that God has them on a special mission in Thailand.

Day 7 — The kids had a half-day of school on Friday, so I was able to sleep in and have a very relaxing morning. Around noon, I got into the car with Andy, Connor, and Isaac to go pick up JJ from her preschool.

From there, we headed to the Chiang Mai Night Safari. At night, you take a tour around the place and see a lot of different wildlife. We went during the day, but it was just like a zoo. Got to see some cool animals and even hold a couple different ones. Here are some pictures from our day at the Night Safari:

(started off by having lunch in a restaurant with glass panels located right next to tigers)

(view at lunch)

(this was pretty cool; from left: Isaac, JJ, Andy, Connor, me)

(albino gator - eats one chicken per week; you can also see the Night Safari employee's "No Money, No Honey" t-shirt in the reflection)

(me holding a kinkajou)

(funny sign at Chiang Mai Night Safari)

(you can enter this area where birds will fly onto you and eat seeds out of your hand)

Friday night is always pizza night at their house, so we ate some pie and enjoyed “The Croods.” I had not seen it before; it was pretty funny. I love animated movies and this was definitely worth a watch. After the movie, I had to head up to the bus terminal to catch my overnight bus back to Bangkok so I could fly back to Jakarta in the morning.

I cannot say enough about the hospitality that Andy and his family gave me during my time in Chiang Mai. I am very fortunate to have met this family and that they allowed me to spend some time with them (pictured below: Andy and his kids at the greatest place on Earth).

Day 8 — The overnight bus back to Bangkok was the same as the one that took me to Chiang Mai (pictured below).

Once I got to the bus terminal in Bangkok, I was in a tough situation. It was early in the morning (about 5:30am) and my flight didn’t leave until 11am. The only problem was that nothing would be open on a Saturday morning from 5-8am and once things started to open, I would need to head to the airport. I just headed to the airport and lounged out there for a while. It gave me an opportunity to work on an outline for my blog (I try to put in work on this for you all, I really do !!) and listen to some music (pictured below).

(#airportflo #imboutthislife)

No problems on the flight back to Jakarta. A surprisingly quick taxi ride on a Saturday afternoon got me home around 4:30pm.

What an exciting, adventure-filled week. I am blessed that I am in a situation where I can see the world and still maintain a job that is helping me get better at what I want to do for my career. I say this a lot, but I say it a lot because it is true: I am very blessed.

If you want to contact me or have any questions for me, don’t hesitate to shoot me an e-mail at mattsphillips@cox.net

Thanks for reading and God bless!