After leaving Phuket we flew to Chiang Mai in the far north of Thailand. Being surrounded by mountains, Chiang Mai was a huge contrast to the island atmosphere of Phuket. The old town of Chiang Mai is surrounded by a 700 year old square canal and still has remnants of the walls that used to protect the city from invading Thai tribes. The heat was still very intense but had a really dry climate, instead of the humidity of the south. Probably the strangest thing was the constant haze that hung in the air all hours of the day. It was a smoky/smoggy haze that always kept the sun somewhat hidden.

A big surprise came two days before we left for Chiang Mai when Monique Rodriguez told us she had contacted her Thai friend to pick us up from the airport and hang out with us. So as promised, her friend, Noy, picked us up from the airport. After an hour of meeting her she told us, perfect strangers, that while she would be gone to a meditation retreat for three days, we could stay in her apartment. So we got the keys to her apartment, the keys to her lime green scooter, and the job of taking care of her strange cat, Mimi. We spent the first day resting and going to the local night market to pick up some favorites like whole fried fish, and chicken on a stick. The next day we took a day long Thai cooking course, which turned out to be awesome. We were taught how to make six different dishes of our choosing by a young brother and sister that had converted their family home into a cooking school. We made things like tom yam goong, tom ka gai, lab gai, som tum, chicken cashew nut, pad thai, green curry, penang curry, spring rolls, chicken satay, mango sticky rice, and black rice pudding. The class was fun, informative, and fortunately the food was delicious. They took us to a local market were we learned about the key ingredients for many Thai dishes like lemongrass, galanga, palm sugar, camfir lime leaves, mushrooms, and all of the unique curry pastes that spice up Thai dishes. Don't pass up the opportunity to take a Thai cooking class.

The next few days were mellow. We did a little medical tourism where we went to the hospital for doctor consultations, tests, medication, and injections, all for a fraction of the cost and hassle it would have taken in the states. We also went to a local stadium with surrounding park that had activities like running, lifting weights, martial arts, aerobics, football, footsol, volleyball, bmx biking, rollerblading, pogo legs, and other things all around the track.

We left Chiang Mai to go to popular hippie town, Pai, and the even farther Mae Hong Son, close to the Myanmar (Burma) border. Pai was four hours away by a local bus. The road to Pai was nothing but curves and inclines. Buckets of water occasionally were thrown into the open windows by children who had decided to start Songkran early. Songkran is the Thai and Lao New Year, which falls right in the middle of the hot season, so how do you think they celebrate? They celebrate with a country wide water fight that is supposed to last for a few days, but really ends up lasting about one week. More on Songkran later.

We decided to make Pai a quick stopover on the way to the larger Mae Hong Son. Although different in size and style, both towns offer similar experiences to visitors: treks, river rafting, and hill tribe visits. Our choices were limited because its hot season, so water levels were low and temperatures were high. We moved on to the larger and less hippie Mae Hong Son, which was another four hour extremely windy and hilly course. In total, there was something like 4,000 curves from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son. We found a six dollar a night room overlooking a beautiful temple and man made lake. We weren't planning on trekking until the peculiar old man running our guesthouse, Mr. Suthone, asked us if we wanted to trek. His funny and strange manners enticed us to go on a two day trek (all the time we had) because it sounded adventurous and was different than what other tours offered. We should have known that when his guestbook writers said "there is nothing touristy about this trek," they meant be prepared for some serious stuff.

We started by driving to a nearby Karen village that had come from Burma due to government oppression. The Thai people don't think kindly of Burmese people because they are taught in school not to like them because of the long history of battles between the two countries. The Burmese are relegated to manual labor in Thailand but the government allows a certain number of refugee hill tribes to stay because they attract foreign visitors. We visited a longneck Karen tribe who are famous for the brass rings that they wear around their necks. In this same village, there were people from Red Karen tribes, and people from a long ear Karen tribe that wore brass rings around their limbs, and had stretched ear lobes. Although they were selling goods they make, people are interested in seeing them. It is an awkward experience because it is something like what's described as a human zoo. Luckily we were the sole visitors so it didn't feel too intrusive. We had a good glimpse at their village, and even sampled home-brewed rice whiskey, which could have passed for jet fuel. We next drove to a Hmong village that was six miles straight up a mountain. There was not much happening at this village, and was not meant to cater to visitors, but Mr. Suthone had formed some relationship with this tribe and so we just poked around the village. It was a small village that supported 47 families that had recently settled from Laos during their civil war, and had come from China before then. Walking around we only found children watching TV in a dark barn-like room, while a grandmother picked lice from a young kid's hair. A few other elderly women were seen walking and bathing outdoors. The adults were out working in the jungle. From there we started our trek to visit another Karen tribe and to pick up a porter for out night out in the jungle.

We reached the White Karen village about an hour later and had lunch, chicken and rice, and water. We were greeted by a few curious visitors during a quiet lunch. Once our porter and his young son arrived, we set out to Mr. Suthone's jungle "camp," where we would spend the night. We hiked in the heat of dry season for hours. Our trail led us for miles on a narrow downhill path on a hillside that was littered with loose dirt and fallen leaves. Falls wouldn't have meant death, but some serious pain and discomfort. We went on like this for nearly five hours where it seemed to get hotter, steeper, and slipperier. We drank all of our water because of the heat, and had no other options until we reached camp. Mr. Suthone filled our water from a spring next to the river. We reluctantly drank because we were so dehydrated. Its shocking how unprepared we were for this trek. Everything we actually needed: water purification tablets, water bladder, hats, headlamps, we left behind in Chiang Mai because we didn't plan on trekking.

We finally reached our only other destination besides camp, a waterfall, in the late afternoon. By this point we were exhausted, annoyed, in pain, and thirsty. The waterfall was enough to provide a fun and energizing break to the hike. After a short hike down the river we reached camp, which was two bamboo platforms with a fire in the middle, which was all covered by a thatched palm roof. As his son watched, the Burmese porter prepared dinner by cooking rice and a savory mushroom noodle soup in bamboo columns over the flames. We learned that the porter's eldest son had died from a previous trip out to the jungle where he had climbed a tree to shoot an animal. The kickback from the rifle caused him to fall from the tree, and since the nearest hospital was a few hours away, there was no hope for his son.

Once sunlight faded at around seven, it was time to go to sleep. Sunset was heightened by the sounds of the jungle coming to life. There were impressive sightings of big hornbills flying overhead, and big water buffalo strolling nervously past our camp. It took a while to It wasn't easy to fall asleep because we had to get used to the sounds, adjust to the bamboo platform and Mr. Suthone's grumblings. Besides Bianca thinking she was sick from the water, and the loud animal noises, the nights sleep was fair. After an early rise and breakfast, we set out to finish our trek. The morning hike was cool, shaded, and scenic as we followed the river out of the area. Even though Mr. Suthone had passed his glory days a few hundred bottles of whiskey ago, the sixty something year old man was always well ahead of us. At the end of our morning three hour hike we swam in a bend of the river before it reached the dam. Everything before reaching the waterfall was absolutely miserable, but it all ended up being worthwhile. We were glad we did it, but unsure if we would do it again.

Shortly after our trek we flew back to Chiang Mai because the ten hour bus ride wasn't appealing. The flight was short and scary. The Nok Air flight was twenty minutes of pure terror. The small plane was giving everyone a stomach-dropping rollercoaster experience from the time it ascended until the time it landed. We spent our last two days in Chiang Mai battling the Songkran masses, and hanging out with Noy. For Songkran, thousands of tourists and locals lined up around the canal and armed themselves with super soaker like water guns, and big buckets of water. There were also hundreds of pick-up trucks that were loaded with people and water buckets, ready to battle the canal people. We got caught on a scooter on the busiest side of the canal in the Songkran mess, and worse, we were unarmed. What normally takes five minutes to drive took half hour to get though because people were busy throwing buckets of water at each other. Not the safest of conditions though. Many people die yearly because of traffic accidents, especially on scooters. Our last night in Chiang Mai we spent having a home cooked meal at Noy's parents' house. The food was incredible and so was her company, and that of her dogs. Thanks Noy. Next stop…Luang Prabang, Laos, for more Songkran.