Caught a night bus from Bangkok to Chiang Mai which was fairly decent, aside from the bug infested stop. On arrival we were taken by some random jeep to a guesthouse, clearly working on commission, as per everyone in thailand!, so we decided to reject this option and hitched a tuk-tuk, also working on commission, who took us to Lanna House. This was an experience in itself. Run by an actually mad woman named Julie, she through her powers of persuasion and our exhaustion, managed to persuade us to stay in her slightly mouldy and bug infested guesthouse as well as booking a 3 day jungle trek on the premise that it was a "good group, lots of fun, lots of f***ing great men!" tad alarming, one had to just smile and nod even though we were a little scared! although it wasn't exactly the ritz and the owner was slightly mental/high/drunk at all hours, it was a very sociable place where we met some lovely people.
On first exploration, we decided Chiang Mai was more our cup of tea compared to Bangkok, with juice bars and coffee shops as opposed to "ping-pong" joints and "spicy" disco's! not to say there wasn't any nightlife in Chiang Mai (well, unless it's Buddha day or election day, of course, both of which we seemed to be present for). On our first night we sampled some of the local culture at a Muay Thai i.e. Thai kickboxing competition. Was a little odd as the competitors were really young but was altogether a fun night, especially as we won all the bets we made on the matches.
The day after arrival we were awoken at 8am by some anxious thai man who wanted to give us backpacks in exchange for our passports....turned out he was our guide, Nung, potentially Nang, never really got the name! Drove off in our pick-up truck in close quarters with our new group. Was a really nice group, 3 Canadians, 1 Dutch girl, 1 Korean and 6 English. Such a small world as we discovered one of the girls had spent a year living in Ealing and working at Duffy's!
First port of call was an elephant ride. Was rather surreal to be plodding through the thai countryside on the back of an immense animal who kept eating from the surrounding trees and spraying us from puddles to cool down. Didn't seem to get that we didn't need to be cooled down, well, not with his snot anyway!
Then came undoubtedly the most challenging part of the trek which consisted of a 3 hour uphill trek in blazing sunshine, with interludes of pouring rain, carrying our packs and water. Began to wonder why on earth anyone would choose the top of a mountain to make their home? why?! and also why we were trekking to see the, what we thought would be a tribal village. Elated as we were to actually reach the village, our illusions of authentic tribal village life were shattered somewhat when we came to realise that the "village" was in fact only a stop-off for weary trekkers with only a few actual lahu tribes people inhabiting the village. We were immediately thrust wares of jewelry and offered a traditional lahu massage. After the trek we were feeling like we deserved a bit of pampering so we signed up for a one hour pamper session. Wasn't exactly what we had been expecting. The massage was more a pinch/kneading executed by crazy lahu women, one of which was breast-feeding her baby (who was later sick on the bed). They also seemed to think that having two women "massage" for 1/2hr was equivalent to a full hours "massage". Must say, although we felt a little duped, not sure how much more we could have survived. Completely devoured our green curry, made by our trusty Nung/Nang before playing cards, sitting around campfire listening to a quite decent guitar man and stumbling across another group in deep concentration with their guide with copious amounts of opium! In the village there were also a bizarrely high proportion of deaf and mute boys who were actually most entertaining with their different tricks etc. Flopped into bed around 10:30/11ish with Ben dreaming of McDonalds and other such culinary delights and Katie craving bagels and cream cheese! Must say that although our bamboo hut was rather charming, any potential squeamishness/princess-ness was harshly knocked out of us by the cockroaches unearthed in bags, a rat running across Jade in the night and the dripping pipe that masqueraded as a shower.
Day 2 hike was much more pleasant and downhill although we did get quite battered as it was very slippy being monsoon time. Well worth it though as ended up at beautiful waterfall which we frolicked (and bathed in, much to Nung/Nang's distress i.e. had to hide the bar of soap under a rock!) in all day. Stayed at the waterfall overnight consuming large quantities of "extra barbeque" flavour crisps and delicious yellow curry and veg.
Day 3 we left in pursuit of rafting- of the white water and bamboo variety! had great walk through the jungle along a river bed -saw another great waterfall. We felt most intrepid and pro as we trekked up and down the hills - we even have the war wounds to prove it! White Water rafting was quite dramatic at times with Benaisha and Pippa both being thrown overboard over one rapid. Luckily Katie was at the rescue and hauled us from the river most efficiently. Bamboo rafting did leave much to be desired however. It was "different" and by different we mean that the bamboo didn't exactly float and we spent most of the time submerged up to our waists in water. Oddly, no-one else's raft seemed to be so sub-standard as a floating device but we were definately the most spirited group with regular cries of "Go Team MiaowCat!"
This concluded our trek (apart from the 3 bowls of pad thai that awaited us after the rafting!) and we were bundled back into our truck for Chiang Mai.
Back in Chiang Mai we took much needed showers (which involved practically standing on the toilet whilst trying to clean under a few trickles of cold water - character building, although hardcore Katie here comments that at least it was running water) The Sunday Market is undoubtedly a highlight of Chiang Mai. It was huge and sold everything from ridiculously spicy pork (delicious though), to anklets, to rasta hats (purchased by pippa of course) and even had performances by troupes of local girls singing and gyrating on stage dressed as baby prostitutes. I mean, we know it's Thailand but seriously! Was a little unnerving. As per usual, Benaisha was tempted by the stalls and ended up with few bits and bobs, including a rice paddy hat, which at the time seemed like a brilliant idea, especially as we managed to get "good price" but is proving more than annoying now in transit - should've listened to the wise words and warnings of Katie! Was a really fun night if not a little odd as we attempted to "f***ing party man" with crazy loon Julie. Unsurprisingly, especially after a few sang-soms (local rum) the night ended with Benaisha trying to teach the moves of "Soulja Boy" to everyone!
Next day we went to a temple where there was a massage place. Although it proved a little more invasive than originally anticipated it was most relaxing and infinately better than our tribal massage experience. The rest of the day was spent exploring the city by scooter which we hired, a little alarmingly from Julie with no request for licences etc! Was really fun.
Overall Chiang Mai was a great place to visit - it literally had something for everyone from beautiful temples to crazy reggae bars to jungle treks for the intrepid traveller.
Next stop the famous hill-top hippy town of Pai.