Trekking in Chiang Mai

During our 1st few days in Bangkok we looked round the Royal Palace and some of the famous Buddhas nearby. The Royal Palace was absolutely stunning and probably our highlight from Bangkok! Before leaving we knew that we had to see one of the infamous 'ping pong' shows that everyone talks about. Asking a few people in our hostel where to go we wandered down Khao san road waiting for someone to approach us. This proved surprisingly easy and we were quickly being driven off in a tuk-tuk to the show. A little apprehensive, we both went in... The show was pretty much as expected however there were one or two surprises that both of us were shocked by! 

On departure from Bangkok we decided to get the bus north to Sukhothai before moving on up to Chiang Mai. Our first leg took around 6 1/2 hours on a bus with all the locals. Arriving fairly late in Sukhothai, the town seemed really quiet with virtually no other travellers to be seen. We woke up early and headed off the the ruins of the ancient city early to avoid the mid-day heat and also to catch an earlier bus out to Chiang Mai. The temples were stunning and we enjoyed looking round, but were both excited to get out and move on up to Chiang Mai. 

Arriving in Chiang Mai  after 5 1/2 hours, we were instantly swamped by local tuk-tuk drivers. We'd already reserved a room in a hostel inside the old part of the city so agreed on a price and jumped in. The guesthouse is nice but slightly basic, however, for 70 baht (around £1.20) per night we can hardly complain. My 21st birthday present from Poppy was to do a trek here so we organised it on arrival with the hostel and packed a day bag each for the following 2 days. 

The trek started with an hour or so drive into the surrounding hills. From there we began with an elephant ride which proved to be a lot more uncomfortable than expected! Our seat had no rail to keep us in so when going downhill we both had to cling on for dear life so as to not fall off! After this we began the trek, walking for around 2-3 hours through the jungle to a small waterfall where we swam and cooled off. To finish the day we had another hour or so of walking to a hill tribe village where we ate and slept for the evening. The beds were not the comfiest but everyone was very tired after the long days walking! Waking up the next morning we had a quick breakfast before walking for what seemed like an age uphill to another waterfall to swim. We finished of the trek with a short amount of walking through a crop field, where I managed to fall down a ditch head first, to a river that we were able to raft down on long bits of bamboo tied together. This was a great end to the day and we all finished off soaked and ready for a good shower! 

Tonight we're off for dinner with the the others in our trekking group and will then most likely pass out in bed this evening after the amount of walking we've done! Tomorrow we're planning to look round to city a bit more and maybe visit a local temple situated on the top of a large hill called Doi Suthep. 

I shall try to put some pictures up soon but there's no computer here and all of our pictures are on our cameras! 

Ollie