Eventually we made our way into town. After Bangkok, Chiang Mai was a breath of fresh air. Chiangmai is a very old city, some structures dating from the 15th century, and home to literally thousands of temples. We were lucky to have met an Israeli girl who lived in a monastary in China for a month, and who acted as our personal tour guide for and entire day as we did the temple circuit. They were just gorgeous. The night markets were equally impressive. Km after km of traditional Thai furniture, jewelry, food and live music. It was just amazing. Ian even tried his first fried grasshopper, to be followed up by a large water beetle. Ugh!
We decided to book a 3 day jungle trek, to get out of the city for awhile. There were twelve others in our group, from Australia, America, England and Canada, oh, and 1 Guide named Rocky. Old Rocky, who for the longest time we thought was named "Locky", who called all the men girly boys, and who laughed hardest at his own jokes (mainly because no one understood him), and whose favourite saying was "Oh My Budda!"
Early the next morning we were all piled into a very small truck, with its back wide open and Ian and I holding on for dear life because we were the last two in. For two hours we hung on precariously, white knuckled while we swung over hills and around corners at break neck speed. Unlike Australia which makes you sign a waver for EVERYTHING, in Thailand this is just what they do. If you get hurt, well, that's your problem.
We arrived later that day in a hilltribe village, where the children greeted our truck by running from the bushes, jumping onto the back and attacking our wrists with traditional woven bracelets they'd just pulled from their pants....then immediately demanded 10 baht. Since the bracelets were impossible to take off, we had no choice but to pay. Crafty little Hilltribe children. We spent the day treking through the hills and forests, then stopped in another village for the evening. It was so beautiful. In the middle of no where these villages exsist with no electricity, farm animals running around everywhere and naked children hovering around fires, where their mothers cooked dinner. We ate dinner on the floor of a grass hut by candelight and some of the village women and children performed for us some traditional Thai songs. Rocky played guitar and we sang them some of our "traditional" songs such as "Hotel California" (Ha!), until the last candle burned out, then we went to sleep on mats layed out on the hut floor.
We woke up the next morning to the sound of a pig being slaughtered. Nice. We made our way into the jungle and after hours of hiking came across a waterfall and all jumped in. It was beautiful! From there our hike continued until we arrived at a river where elephants were bathing themselves. It was such an amazing site to see in the middle of the jungle! The guides organized the elephants (and us) and in couples we mounted each one. Now I've had some pretty surreal experinces, but riding an elephant with Ian through the jungle is now pretty high on the list. In fact, my already dreamlike state increased ten fold when Ian suddenly turned to me and proposed, ring and all!....on an elephant!....in the jungle! Can you imagine?! It took me a few minutes to register what he had said. He just kept looking at me, sayng, "So will you?". I eventually managed a "Yes". That night we announced it to our group and we spent the night celebrating by a campfire. We could not have asked for anything better. It was a day we will never forget.
The next morning we were back on the jungle trek until we arrived at a river with long bamboo rafts. There were 3 of us to a raft (standing) and a Thai river guide who was more interested in pushing us off the raft and mushing mud into our faces, than keeping us safe. For 2 hours it was full out chaos, with everyone running and jumping from raft to raft, making it just before hitting another rapid, people falling off, and guides dissapearing, leaving people to fend for themselves. The rest of the time we spent baskeing in the sunshine that streamed through the break in the jungle trees, while we ate this enormous volleyball sized yellow fruit the guides picked out of the jungle for us. It was one of the best experiences so far.
We headed back to Chiang Mai soaking wet and tired, but incredibly happy. We were very lucky with the group we had. Everyone was so much fun, no one wanted to split up afterward. That night everyone took us out for our "Stag and Doe" night. We went to a Thai boxing match, then split up, with me heading off with the girls and Ian having a wild time with the guys.
The next day, with Angie and Alex (a couple who we've become friends with), we rented motorcycles and drove into the gorgeous mountains outside of Chiang Mai until we got to this ancient temple called Doi Sutep that had an incredible view of the city. Absolutely stunning! When we got back, the girls picked me up for the continuation of my Hen's party. They bought me a big white bow (in place of a veil) and they took me to a Thai spa where we all treated ourselves to Thai massages. HIGHLY recommended!
Our time came to an end in Chiang Mai. It was hard to leave, but with ten out of the twelve from our group, we headed off to Chiang Kong, the border crossing to Laos, to begin our long descent together down the Mekong River.
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