Chiang Mai

After arrival in Chiang Mai we needed to find cheap taxi to get us to our guest house, well as soon as we stepped out out of the train station building, there was a guy offering us lift to our hostel, but he was asking 100 bath, but we knew that is too much as normally it should cost top 50 bath for both, so I have started negotiating the price and when I'm saying negotiating I mean I told them 50 bath they said 70 , I said 50 they said 60 , I said 50, they said OK and we were on our way. The Panami Guest house is small hostel just outside the city centre, the hostel was ok. We started looking for some trekking experience right a way. The hostel was offering some, but we choose one from the brochure as it had everything we wanted, there was something strange as the receptionist asked us if for the same price we want massage as well, we didn't pay much attention to it and said yes. In the evening we went to see the famous Sunday market in Chiang Mai. It was huge and you could by pretty much anything from clothes, art, to big cockroaches as a snack. Next day we were supposed to leave at 8:30 we had a quick breakfast and then we have waited 20 min , 30min, 40, an hour later they were here. We thought that we will go in small minibus as usually, but not this time, we jumped into standard red taxi, which you can hire anywhere in town and it is like open van, where can fit about 10-15 people and you share the fare. We were a group of 7 people, 3 from Germany, 1 from Australia and older woman from Spain. After about an hour of driving we arrived to the Longneck village, which was a little paradise. People there were brought from Barma and they have no ID therefore they cannot go to the town, also I can imagine that they would have all attention, because they look very different with their long necks. After that we went to another place with elephants. Our elephant was very hungry one, we were feeding him with bananas, but that wasn't enough for our elephant, he kept stopping and eating everything around the road like bamboo, a tree leaves just about anything. After about hour of trekking we had a lunch and were getting ready for trekking on our own foot. We heard some thunders, but the guide said it's dry season no rain, but as soon as he finished heavy rain start, we waited for 10min but the rain didn't stop, so we geared up for walking in the rain. Fortunately our gore-tex boots worked as they supposed to so the only wet part on our body were the legs as we had no waterproof cover for them. On the way to the Lahu village we passed by couple wild elephants, which were just feeding themselves, btw it looks like that is all the elephants do :-) .After hour and thirty minutes of uphill trekking we stopped for quick break, we were already pretty knackered, but we still had another hour or so to go. I tell you we were beaten, with a relief we saw the village on a top of the hill, only 2 minutes according to our guide, but it was about 40min. It was great to know that we don't have to walk any more at least for today ;-) . In the evening our guide cooked some meal for us, then we had some beers as there is not much to do without electricity and internet ;-) what a life. Next morning we woke up around 8 o'clock and start getting ready for …... you guessed it more trekking , there are no clouds on a sky again some get ready for some sweating :-) . We left the Lahu village around 9, just to find out that the Germans and ozi actually going different way as they only got 2 day trekking not 3 like us. Anyway we exchanged emails and said good bye. We were walking through middle of the jungle heading towards our first stop , which would be lunch by a small water fall. After lunch we headed towards the second waterfall where we were going to spend a night.

After hour of trekking and after being assured by our guide that it is only 3 more minutes. Finally we were there, we went for a swim right a way, it was cold, but very refreshing. Later our guide cooked some dinner for us, it wasn't anything special, but we were in a jungle. In the evening we went for walk, I was trying to spot some animals, but it looks like there is no life her eat all. On the end we found a snake hidden in his nest and looking at his head he had at least 2m, so we went back to our place, btw we have suspicion that our guide has something with the Spanish lady, but that is none of our business :-). The house we slept in, if you can call it that way. I mean It had four walls and and roof, but there was a gab between the roof and the wall about half meter, so we were a bit concerned about some animals getting in, but we didn't have any other option where to sleep, so we crawled under the mosquito net and hopped nothing will get in even tough there were wholes in the net. Well we didn't sleep well as somewhere very close this very anyoyng bug was making very loud noise and you can really see this bug the only thing left is to use ear aids. Next morning after breakfast we start trekking again towards, what was supposed to be a white rafting experience , but because it was end of march and April is the hottest moth in Thailand, there wasn't enough water in the river for proper rafting, so we made our way to pick up point, getting stuck every few minutes on some rock. We also had a bit of bamboo rafting which was fun. Then we had some lunch and then we waited for our lift to the city. What our guide didn't tell us that he didn't actually paid anyone for the lift, so we were waiting for some other group to come down and hopefully they will have some space. After 3 hours of waiting we were on our way to Chiang Mai. Back in the hotel we went for shower and then we had traditional Thai massage as part of the trekking experience and ohhh myy was it good. Hour and half the body massage. The lady which was doing Lucy was laughing a lot as Lucy's back fingers toes everything was cracking. Next day we arranged a motorbike and went for a ride to what we thought was close waterfall, firstly we left around 9 o'clock in the morning and we forgot to use any sun cream. I was wearing only t-shirt and shorts, so you can imagine how I did look after 4 hours of riding with sun at the highest point. Well I was red like lobster, well at least my arms and legs. On the way there we saw care-four, so we went in to buy some after burn stuff for me. Unfortunately they only had like very big boxes, which we didn't want to take with us, but the have a tester there, so without too much of hesitation I used. Well to be frank I used a little bit to much and my hands were more white than red now and the lady selling the stuff there was bit surprised seeing me like that, but what the hell. After another 40 min of riding I have noticed that there is something wrong with the bike and there was indeed, we had a puncture in the middle of nowhere, fortunately there are a lots of "services" , I mean a guy who can fix small thing like puncture around the road as moped is the proffered vehicle here, we paid 140 bath and with smile on our faces we were back on the road. After another 20min we arrived at the waterfall and we awe have found out wasn't very good news for us as they charge about 150 bath for the waterfalls, whichis not only one as we thought, but I thing 3-4 scatter around here, the closest one is about 5 min walk, but the other about 2 hours apparently and because it was around 3pm we knew we didn't have enough time. On the end we just chilled out by the river, actually we went to see the first waterfall as the guy at the counter came to us and offered 2 tickets to see it for 50 bath and we thought we went this far we might at least see the first one. Then we were on our way to the hotel, actually we have to get ready as tomorrow we flying to Phuket. Oohh I've almost forgotten to mentioned this as a part of the agreement to rent a bike I had to leave my passport with the guy, which I realised sometimes in the afternoon, so as soon as we got back to hotel I went to see the manager to ask him if he can call the guy and get my passport back as we were supposed returned the bike around 10:30 and the flight was at 10, uupppps. Well the manager didn't have that guy mobile number, so I was relying on the fact that he is opening his shop at 8:30, so if they call him 8:30 he should be here before nine and we will be at the airport just so so to catch our plane. Well fortunately everything was as we expected, so 9:45 we were sitting in our plane, btw we flew with nok air, one of the Thailand airline. We wanted to go first with 1 2 go company, but I found that some eu commission advising to to flight with them as they had a accident couple years ago and apparently they use pilots whos licence has expired, but nok air was good we got a complementary water and snack, plane was clean and looked in quite good condition.

CHM SK: Potom ako sme prisli do Chiang Mai, potrebovali sme najst lacne taxi ktore by nas doviezlo do hotela, vlastne akonahle sme vystupili z vlakovej stanice tak sa na nas vrhli taxikari, prvy navrhoval cenu 100 batov, ale my sme vedeli ze to je vela lebo normalne by to malo stat max 50 batov na oboch, tak sme zacali vyjednavat, cize ja som impovedal 50 a on 70, ja znova 50 a on 60, tak ja znovu 50 a o ze ok a boli sme na ceste do hotela. Parami je maly hostel blizko centra, bol cely z dreva, celkom ok. Hned sme zacali pozerat katalogy na vylet do dzungle, vybrali sme si 3 dni a dve noci co sa nam zdalo cenovo najvyodnejsie. Na recepcii sme ukazali na ktory vylet chceme ist, ona nam pridala k tomu aj masaz, co sa nam zdalo divne za tu istu cenu ale boli sme radi. Ako sme sa neskor dozvedeli, nasa hodina stravena pozeranim katalogu bola skoro zbytocna, lebo pani na recepcii zavolala svojej agenture a nie tej co sme si vybrali, nevadi aspon ze tam bude ta masaz.

Boli sme velmi nedockavi a tesili sme sa na vylet. Vecer sme zasli na slavny nedelnajsi trh, co bol vazne zazitok, predavaju tam asi vsetko, medziinym aj prazene svaby, crobaciky, kobylky, celkom velky vyber. Vsetko bolo v peknom azijsom style, plne farieb, saly, nohavice, kabelky atd zial nase ruksaky su uz plne takze si radsej nic nekupujeme...

Druhy jden, vylet do dzungle. Rano sme si dali ranajky a cakali kym sa konecne objavy nas autobus, ktory prisiel asi tak hodinu a pol. Boli sme prekvapeni ze prisiel iba otvoreny van, ktory je pre asi 10-15 ludi a obycajne vozi ludi iba po meste. Nasa skupina bola 3 nemci, 1 australcan, jedna spanielka a my dvaja. Asi po hodine cesty sme prisli do 'Dlhokrkej dediny' , je to kusok raja kde ziju zeny co si davaju obruce na krk a nohy. Bolo tam krasne, dedinka je na kopceku a pred nou je krasny vodopad, nieze si myslim ze by odtial chceli niekedy oddist, ale ako sme sa dozvedeli, ludia v dedine boli privezeny z Barmy a nemaju ziadny identifikazny doklad, takze nesmu ist do mesta. A taktiez si myslim ze by vzbudili vela pozornosti keby niekam sli, nakolko vizeraju uplne inak s tym krkom, ktory je mimochodom velmi tazky a nemozu si ho dat dole. Nase dobrodruztvo pokracovalo vozenim sa na slonovi, co bola riadna sranda, nasadli sme ako prvy a slon si s nami chodil hore dole kym nasadili ostatkych z nasej skupiny. Hned nazaciatku sme mali moznost zistit ze nas slon ma velky apetit a chce stale banany, tak sme mu kupili celu kopu na cestu, asi 20-30 malych bananov, Ked uz mal kazdy par svojho slona, vybrali sme sa do dzungle, samozrejme asi kazdych 5 krokov slon zastal a dal chobot na hlavu aby sme mu podali dalsi banan. Vsetko islo ok az kym sme si vsimli ze ti zanami si nekupili banany tak im Ivo hodil banan, hmm, zial ked sme sa pozerali ako davaju oni banan slonovi, ten nas nenaz.. slon nam zjedol cely stoch bananov a potom uz nechcel ist lebo sme preneho nemali 'palivo'. Tak sa z casu nacas skriabal na strom alebo hladal nieco na zemi kym sme dosli na mieto kde sme si dali obed. Po obede sme mali este 3 hodiny cestu do dediny Lahu uprostred dzungle kde sme mali veceru prespali u domorodcov. Cesta tam bola dost vycerpavajuca, mozno aj preto ze dvakrat prsalo. Dazde su tu uplne ine ako u nas, prsi tak 10-15 min, ale poriadne :) Poviem vam ze sme boli uplne vycerpany po tom ako sme isli asi dve hodiny hore dzunglou, dedina na vrchu kopca bola nadohlad ale stale velmi daleko a v tej horucave, plus vzduch je velmi vlhky, nas sprievodca sa snazil vtipkovat ze uz je to len dve minuty, ale kedze to vravel uz od zaciatku tury.. Ked sme sa konecne dostali hore, cely spoteny a zniceny, tak sme sa vobec netesili na zajtrajsiu turu :( mali sme dost..Vecer pre nas sprievodca uvaril veceru, ryzu, kurca so zeleninou a polievku a potom sme si vsetci spolu dali par piviek az kym sa nezotmelo. Nasi kolegovia sa snazili v dedine najst nejaky zdroj elektiky aby si nabili baterku do fotaku :)) hmm, ked sa spytali ze ci tam je elektrika tak nik ani nevel co myslia. myslim ze nakoniec nasli obchod zo solarnym panelom kde im baterku nabili. Vecer bol prijemny, spovedali sme sprievodcu o zvykoch v thajsku a dedine, popritom sme pozorovali deti ako behali okolo a pocuvali ako niekto hra na gitaru, bolo to fajn, az na ten spev ;) Rano sme sa museli rozdelit pretoze iba my dvaja a spanielka sme isli dalej do dzungle. Vstali sme asi o osmej, bolo krasne pocasie, hlboko sme sa nadychli a chtiac ci nechtiac sme sa vybrali na dalsiu turu po dzungli. Prva zastavka bol maly vodopad kde sme sa osviezili a najedli (polievka s cestovinami a zeleninou). Boli sme milo prekvapeni ze cesta nebola az taka unavna ako den predtym. Nas cil bol velky vodopad vedla ktoreho sme mali prespat. Hned ako sme dosli tak sme sa okupali, voda bola chladna ale osviezujuca, preslo okolo viac skupin ale iba my 4 sme ostali u rodiny, ktora tam byvala. Vecer sme sa sli prejst, snazil som sa najst nejake zvierata, ale vizeralo ze tam ziadne niesu, nakoniec sme nasli hada,ktory musel mat aspon dva m, takze sme isli spat k vodopadu kde sme zostali az do zapadu slnka. Dom v ktorom sme byvali, ak sa to da nazvat dom, mal 4 steny a strechu, vsetko z bambusu, a medzi stenou a strechou bola asi pol metrova medzera, kadeco mohlo vliezt dovnutra, ale ked sme sedeli so sprievodcom pri ohni, tak nas uistil ze tak ziadne zvierata niesu.. co bola celkom skoda, zrejme uz su vsetky v zoo pocelom svete. Trochu sme sa bali ze nas v noci postipu komare, ale ani toho sme sa vraj nemuseli bat lebo vraj bolo prene chladno, beztak sme pouzili sietku proti komarom a dufali ze sa nic nedostane cez diery dnu. Uprostred noci sa samozejme nejaky chrobacik rozhodol bzucat vonku presne pri nasich hlavach a nepomohli nam ani stuple do usi :) Pod dobrom spanku sme si dali ranajky a tesili sa na rafting. Kedze bol koniec marca, obdobie sucha, voda bola plytka a pri raftingu sme sa parkrat upne zatavili na kameni a nemohli ist dalej. Lepsie to bolo ked sme presadli na bambusovy raft, sice sme boli viac vo vode ako na suchu ale cestou sme sa pretekali so susedmi. Potom ako sme sa dostali do hotela,dali sme si sprchu a isli na Thanjsku masaz, co bolo super az na to ze z prechadzy po dzungli nas boleli vsetky svaly :) Masaz trvala hodinu a pol a Luckina maserka sa smiala lebo jej pukali vsetky kosti. Na druhy den sme si pozicali motoku a isli sme si pozriet okolie Chiang Mai. Bolo to zaujmave, videli me ako sa vyrabaju dazdniky, hrnce a kadeco ine.