Walking walking walking! I do love a nice trek. This was a really good one.

I had read about different tour companies doing treks around Chiang Mai but most of them incorporated elephant riding, and I didn’t want to do that. So I just picked one in the hotel brochure that was only walking. There wasn’t that much information about the trek at all. Just how long it would take and generally what we were visiting. But no explanation to prepare you. Only: “This is a trek for whom that loves nature and walking”. I kind of read between the lines there and thought that it was just right for me with a bit of serious walking and some nice scenery. And I actually had no idea what company was doing the tour.

They picked me up at my hotel in a classic Chiang Mai taxi, kind of like a pickup truck with roof. They picked up the rest of the people and off we went. We were now six people. A nice little group of me, two french ladies two Italian ladies and one german guy. All were very nice and fun to be around.
At our first stop we signed a paper to remove responsibities from the company if you wanted to quit before it all was over. Now we also knew the name of the company. Panda tours.

So I read a few rewievs on the go and most were very negative. But most were also about another tour that included elephant riding and rafting.
We decided there and then that we would not be affected by the reviews. We would keep our spirits high whatever happened! And we did 🙂

The first day we were heading for the village of Papojom which was about three hours slow walk away, mostly up a steep mountain. We heard later that some people just gave up there and didn’t wanna continue… if they are taking a tour with hours of walking in mountain regions… what did they expect?

The first stop of the day was at a local market to get some water and snacks for the trip. It was honestly pretty confusing because we really didn’t know what was included with the tour. But we got some water and thai whiskey and off we went again. We arrived a bumpy hour later at our base camp where we had some Pad Thai for lunch. It was great. And then we started walking.

The guide we had, Simon (not his birth name from Burma) was very good and he knew everything about the jungle and the areas around these mountains. He was a real local with a great sense of humor and with many tricks up his sleeve. Considering that he had been doing these kind of treks for three years, he really kept a good face.

One of the first things he did was to ask us if we wanted to see a spider. I said yes instantly and he started to dig around a hole. The others were not so happy about it but intrigued nonetheless. He dug out a big tarantula, he even stuck his hand in the hole… he was clearly very comfortable doing this. When he got it out, he turned it on its back, grabbed it and cut of the fangs so it would not be dangerous anymore. Even though we knew it wasn’t dangerous it took some real mind power to touch it. He then put it in his bag and we continued onwards.

During the whole trek he was explaining things about fruit and animals and other stuff we asked him about. He found things everywhere he looked. All of a sudden he was holding a chameleon or a gecko or some fruit, some nuts or something he crafted on the way. He made toys with grass, bamboo, banana leaves and rocks. He was great.

Halfway through we stopped at a bat cave and saw two bats. Beter than none I guess ;). And the trek wasn’t actually tough at all. We took it very slow and took breaks often. That way he could show us different things and talk a bit.

Well up in the village of Papojom located 1100m above sea level we settled down, got some cokes and beers. The place was beautiful but the accommodation was very sparse. I guess people complain about that. But I got more that I hoped for. There were toilets and showers (just a hose but that was fine) and we had mattresses in a bungalow. That is more than I have on my treks in Sweden. We didn’t get any mosquito nets though but there were actually very few of them so it was ok.

We then had dinner. It was very good with a big pot of chicken soup and a spicy vegetable mix with rice. Really good and tasty actually. Later that evening we had some beers and our guide played a flute, he knew quite a lot of melodies for only learning to play himself. It wasn’t the best performance ever but it sure was moody.

Me and my german friend we stayed up later than everyone else talking to the guide over some whiskey under the starry skies with the milky way above us. It was a very clear night, it was fantastic. I really like to get to know the guides and the locals a bit so I really enjoyed our time. I even learned that there are only 7000 stars! Some guy had counted them hundreds of times. Now you also know!

I could actually get some sleep. I was a bit amazed because the roosters started to scream around 03 in the morning… it is how it is and of course many people complained. But hey, we had a great breakfast with toast and scrambled eggs and tea or coffee.

The second day walk was a lot easier and with a lot more scenic routes. It was amazing and really beautiful. We just walked around farmlands, on top of ridges and on very scenic roads until we got to the village of Thuthka. There we had our lunch which also was great. Although the owners of the place where pretty unimpressed by us. I guess this is also something people complain about. But when you have had four groups of tourists at your place every day for years, I can imagine it being kind of boring or even annoying. These guys don’t make much money. Our guide for example was making 150 thai baht for one day. That is usually what we pay for food during one day. So I can understand their lack of enthusiasm.

So in all it was a great trek for me and my new friends. We really enjoyed ourselves! I can really recommend trekking around Chiang Mai!

I’m sorry for the really crappy quality of the videos, but I mostly make them on the go just to get a feel for the scenery or the situation. Sometimes they turn out fine and sometimes like crap. I upload them anyways 🙂

Today was a great day. Despite it being a really early morning for me. I got up at 05 to have enough time to prepare for the Flight of The Gibbon zipline adventure. I chose the early slot to try to dodge the big mass of tourists going there. They are the most popular ones and also the most expensive. I was fine with that, I really didn’t want to risk having a bad time with stressed guides or issues with safety.

Sometimes you read and read reviews and you find some negative ones and you start to think that they might be right. And then you read other reviews for other tour companies and they have the exact same type of reviews. So you kind of have to read between the lines. But Flight of The Gibbon had mostly good ones and it was also recommend by my hotel. So I went with it.

And it was mostly great. Much of the greatness was a result of going early. We were a smaller group of 6 people, we arrived first and our guides still were full of energy. This made the experience  a bit more personal and a bit less stressed. We had more time at each “station” or treetop.

The setting and scenery was fantastic and our guides really knew what they were doing. It was located up in the mountains a one hour drive by minibus from Chiang Mai on which I actually slept.

There were around 30 ziplines and two drops and pretty much all of them were nice, even the shorter ones. The guides usually made up for it by swinging the zipline a bit or joking and just socializing. We also saw some gibbons, a family of four with the mother, father and two sons. The guides did explain a bit about the jungle and about different plants or trees but there was actually not much time for that. But I was totally fine with what we got.

After two hours of ziplining we were dropped off at a waterfall which was nice and relaxing. It was somewhat of a steep climb but nothing crazy. During the one hour we had here I spoke a bunch with my fellow travelers and they were all very nice. All of them were Chinese but they could speak English very well.

And now for the only not so good part. The lunch, which food wise was very good … but! They played live folk music right next to our table all through the meal which made it really hard to socialise with anyone. That was a bit sad. But overall I had a great time and when I got back to my hotell I slept for 3 hours 😀

My plans for the night were non existing so I was really happy when the family invited me to eat with them. So lovely!

So I took a walk to the well regarded Miguels the other day. I don’t really eat a lot of mexican food so I cant really say how genuine it was. But hey it was totally ok!

Burrrrriitooo. Actually my first ever 😀
Funny right? In Thailand!

But yeah, everything I’ve eaten in Thailand, Japan and Vietnam was better than this. I’m not a picky eater though and I was really satisfied with everything. Although you really could just go across the street for some street food, a lot cheaper and just as good, or better. But it was a nice change anyhow.

Later that day I went to the Sunday Night Market which is pretty much a 2km long street in the old town of Chiang Mai filled with stuff to buy!

They also have a Saturday night market but that one wasn’t as nice. It was just as crowded, maybe even more so and a bit crazier and also further away from the old town.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the old town in Chiang Mai is what matters! You get a much more authentic feel here. Even though it is pretty much modern it has its charm with many temples and smaller buildings and narrower alleyways. I like it!

So the Sunday night market is a different experience since it fills the ancient streets and templegrounds with food, clothes and trinkets. It was actually pleasant to walk all the way down and back. And I bought stuff!

That is the way from my hotel and all the way to the end of the street market. It starts from Wat Phra Singh until the moat!  The old town by the way is inside the “square” which is an old moat.

Some nice chill clothes and an ocarina! I am soooo happy 😀 it is ceramic and of high quality! The guy selling them was a nice dude sitting halfway down the market. At first I didn’t think about it much since there were alot of musicians on the road sitting down and wanting a donation. But as I walked on I realized that I had to go back and see what it was about. So on my way back I stopped by him and asked him about it and ended up buying one! He played some nice Zelda tunes for me 😉

The market run also ended up with me getting two pants, one shirt, one tank top, a fruit shake and some hand made postcards. It was a nice run and it was the nicest post cards yet!

I also got to be the owner of the hotel for 30 minutes! Such responsibility given to me!! It was fun! The owners were just getting some dinner so they needed someone to take care of things while they were gone. They also got me some food. Man I really love this place. Dozy House!

So yeah. I’ve decided to write in English instead of Swedish. Better late than never? 🙂

I’ve acumulated some non Swedish  friends and I do want them to be able to follow me without consorting to google translate 😀

So yep. From now on, at least during my trip I will be writing in English.

Wooosh!

So I visited a spa for the first time in my life. It was actually the scariest thing I’ve done on my trip so far (ok not that scary but still… I was pretty lost with what to expect). I don’t really like massages. Yea I know I am crazy, but I am really sensitive and really ticklish. Maybe I have had bad experiences from friends giving me massages. They really think that I need the same treatment as them.. like punching the muscles and “untieing” muscleknots. I don’t have those! And if I do they don’t really bother me.

The place is conveniently located in the old town and is called Fah Lanna Spa. They had a nice atmosphere going on and they were friendly. When you get there they sit you down just like at a restaurant and they hand you a menu and some refreshing herbal tea.

I tried asking a bit for a recommendation since I didn’t want the punchy treatment. But the one helping me didn’t understand me fully but still recomended a hydrating cream massage treatment. So I went with that, it sounded less intense was pretty comfortable with that.

They showed me to a room further down in the walkway in the picture above and gave me some time to change into tiny underwear. It was a bit confusing but I tried to wing it. I mean, surely they have had people before who were a bit lost? I don’t know, but it worked out fine for me 😀

A woman took care of me and she started of with scrubbing my feet which also made me a bit confused. The menu didn’t say anything about that 😉 But hey it was all good! After that I lay down on a bed on my stomach with my face looking down through a hole into a bowl with water and flowers.

And there I was for about 30 minutes while she was working my legs, back and arms. It was actually very gentle compared to what I’ve heard. I figured that an experienced and knowledgeable massage therapist knew how to work different kinds of body types. It did barely tickle! So I could actually relax for most of the time. I usually just tense up and everything just hurts. But I was pleasantly surprised.

30 minutes had then passed and I turned over and she continued the same thing. In addition to the hydrating stuff she also worked my neck, my back and my head with more conventional massageing which also was a pleasant surprise. It was really a full treatment suitable for a thin guy like me 🙂

After one hour we were done and I was left to my own. I didn’t really know what to so so I just got dressed and left. Afterwards I was told that you can take more time for yourself in the room and take a shower or a bath. But I didn’t mind leaving. I felt refreshed.

Upon leaving they gave me hot herbal tea and some rice cookies and also drove me where I wanted In town. I went back to my hotel and chilled there for a bit before going out for a sunday night market stroll. During my chillout time I got bitten by four mosquitos all on my feet… that was the same amount of bites that I had accumulated in the 4 weeks prior of my trip. I guess they really liked my newly blood pumping body.

Dagen började med en upphämtning vid hotellet i en röd Chiang Mai taxi. Vi samlades alla runt ett bord i anslutning till de två kök som fanns och fick bestämma vad vi ville lära oss att laga under dagen. Ett antal olika rätter fanns, jag valde:

Pad Thai
Paw Pia Thawt (Spring Rolls)
Kaeng Jeud Kalamplee Yut Sai (Stuffed Cabbage Soup)
Khow Soi Curry Paste
Khow Soi (Chiang Mai Curry with egg noodles)

Därefter bar det av till den lokala marknaden!

Fon, vår guide visade oss alla råvaror vi skulle laga vår mat med och förklarade vad det var för något. Eftersom flera av råvarorna här kan vara svåra att få tag på hemma gav hon förslag på vilka västerländska råvaror som kunde agera substitut. Det var både kul och intressant!

Fon är en rikrig härlig energiknippe som verklighen tycker om det hon gör. Det märks verkligen och hon tillsammans med sin syster driver företaget seriöst men väldigt glatt.

Stället ägs av hennes syster Anne och de är de enda guiderna där. Det är också där Anne bor. Man kommer helt enkelt hem till dem, bakom ett tempel i en mysig gränd och lär sig att laga mat!

De kör två guider var, varje dag! Helt klart seriösa, smarta businesswomen som får det att rulla bra samtidigt som att allt känns genuint, äkta, välkomnande och roligt!

Jag lyckades hamna i en trevlig grupp! Vi var 10 stycken men der funkade bra ändå. Fon höll koll på oss. Det gick till som så att hon förklarade och visade först hur vi skulle göra. Därefter fick vi göra det själva. En del saker var redan framtagna, t.ex. friterade nudlar. Det hade tagit för lång tid om vi skulle tillverka allt från scratch. Men allt förklarades tydligt och med bra engelska, även de steg vi hoppade över.

Först lagade vi Pad Thai, det är bra mycket svårare än man tror och det tar lång tid! Efter allt vi lagat klart en av rätterna satte vi oss ned tillsammans åt. Allt smakade verkligen genuint bra och thailändskt. Bättre än restaurangmat!

Eftersom jag älskar kål så körde jag på inbakad kålsoppa. “Food for a baby” som Fon kallade det men väldigt harmlöst och gulligt. Det sa hon om mat som inte var stark 😉

Vi fixade vårrullar, smackade chillipasta (som jag fick beröm för :D) och vi gjorde Chiang Mais berömda Chow Soi!

Här kan ni se lite bilder från dem själva.

Allt avslutades med att vi fick vårt diplom, d.v.s. vår kokbok! (Som jag senare under dagen glömde på en restaurang… men jag gick tillbaka dagen efter och köpte en ny)

Fon gjorde verkligen mer än hon behövde. Hon hjälpte till och med oss att hitta en bra taxi upp till bergen, där vi såg ett av de mest populära templen kring Chiang Mai, Wat Doi Suthep uppe på ca 1650m höjd.

Tack!

Resten av dagen blev också bra. Efter trippen upp till berget körde vi en liten runda på nattmarknaden som de har på lördagar. Ganska trist var den så vi drog vidare, några hoppade av och sen var der bara två kvar. Jag och Brenda, vi tog en öl, en kokosglass och snackade skit. Det var trevligt!

Idag träffade jag två munkar. Eller två novices som de kallade sig, 18 och 19 år var de. Väldigt trevliga men inte jättebra på engelska. Men hela poängen är att de ska lära sig engelska och vi västerlänningar lite om buddism. Jag satt och pratade kanske en timme, vi kom inte fram till jättemycket men jag uppskattar verkligen tiden 🙂

En annan turist satt sig brevid mig och ville vara med men lite respektlöst så gav han upp för att deras engelska inte var så bra vad tror han liksom…

Det var trevligt i alla fall. Därefter blev det ett Lanna Folklife museum. Mysigt och intressant!

Jag chillade lite med familjen som bjöd på mat ännu en gång. Galet snälla! Och pappan körde mig på sin skoter för att köpa mat 😀 Men tyvärr så var stället stängt. Det får bli mango sticky rice imorn 😉

Lunchen blev på ett nytt ställe. Mysigt och lite off. Väldigt lekfullt ställe i en gränd där ingen åt! U Turn hette det. Och ja, det ska ju vara lite sådär “farligt” att äta där det inte är folk… meeeeeen fuck it. Jag äter på!  Och det var gott!

Japp, jag satt brevid Cartman

Höjdpunkten på dan var festivalen! Jag tog många bra bilder (men ej med mobilen).

Väldigt mysigt! Jag provade samtidigt mitt 3G och det funkade fint! Jag knatade runt i gamla kvarteret och huvudplatsen där dessa lanternagångar fanns. Väldigt många människor och alla väldigt glada. Lite dans och sång blev det idag med men desto mer flygande lanternor! Det är galet fint och tar aldrig slut. De håller på hela natten.
Jag gick också till floden där de skickar upp många av dessa men där var det sååå turistpackat att jag gick tillbaka til myset.

Återigen är jag stolt. Jag avslutade nämligen med att köpa lite streetfood där inga turister köpte 😉

Bra dag var bra!

Japp. En långsam skön dag till.
Några timmar idag har jag helt ähnat åt att forska kring vad jag ska hitta på.

Detta är planen
Imorgon : Monk Chat på förmiddagen sedan lite mer sightseeing i form av ett lanna folkmuseum. Under dagen tänker jag också hitta en huvudbonad och ett par badbyxor/shorts samt ny god mat som jag blivit tipsad om.

Dagen därefter en lektion i att laga thaimat på förmiddagen och på kvällen strosa kring marknader

Dagarna därefter är löst ihoptänkta. Men jag vill ta en meditationnskurs hos munkar i ca två dagar. Jag vill trekka i två dagar. Jag vill hälsa på elefanter i en park där de tar bra hand om dem och jag vill bo i en bergsby i några dagar 😀

Det finns mycket att göra här och allt är inte solklart i kvalitet så jag känner att det är viktigt för mig att researcha lite.

Idag i alla fall knatade jag runt bland stadens alla tempel. De finns överallt och är väldigt vackra. De är olika stora och har olika mängd munkar i sig. Jag lyckades träffa en tid då många satt och körde sin kvällsbön! Man blir helt lugn av att bara se det!

Idag har också mer fyrverkerier avfyrats och många flygande lanternor har täckt himlen.

Återigen åt jag på mitt favoritställe. 92 Rachadamneon. Det blev gyoza med grönt iste och en currysoppa med kyckling och bitar av kycklingblod.

Riktigt gott! Jag pratade mer med familjen idag och de är supertrevliga.
72 och still going strong!

På kvällen satte jag mig i hostelköket och pratade med ägaren om lite allt möjligt. Hon är också snällast och vill hjälpa med allt. Hon och hennes make satt tillsammans med sin 11 månader gamla son och åt middag och erbjöd mig lite av deras pad thai. Jag lyckas verkligen hitta dessa underbara människor!

Imorgon är en ny dag. Vi får se vad som händer 🙂 jag avslutade dagen med lite vietnamesiska sesamkakor! Om nom!