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Trekking in Chiang Dao National Park

One of the things I would highly recommend to any outdoor enthusiast that travels to this part of the world is a trek through some part of Northern Thailand.  There are only about 7000 groups offering treks out of Chiang Mai, so I think you'll find a good one.  I was lucky enough to find one that assured me we wouldn't run into any other groups on the actual trek - only when we went rafting.  They said it was a new trek that had only recently been worked out.  But you know that they tell you what you want to hear and quote you a price they think they can get out of you.  For the equivalent of about 50 bucks, I was going to get 3 days/2 nights of trekking, all the meals, elephant riding, and rafting - both white water and bamboo.  The only thing we had to pay for in addition were our drinks, which were provided at the villages where we stayed and of course, are pretty cheap.  I think it worked out pretty well, but read on and you can see for yourself.

 OK....first day was really hard, b/c it was so long since I walked in the mountains for that many hours. Actually it was easier than the next morning. We didn't take off 'till 10:30 and then we went to a market to buy fruit and sweets then off a few hours away. There were 3 young Canadian girls (Edmonton), a young british couple (Scotland and Northern England) and another English girl and then a Spanish couple and me. We had lunch (very generous portions, as they all were - eat 'till you're full). Then half the group went to see the Long Neck Hilltribe - I didn't want to gawk at them and didn't want it to be all touristy, which it was.  Plus, I'm not sure that the custom is good for these girls - they put rings around their necks and stretch them up high. Looks cool, but they start them off at age six and so they don't really have a choice.  They can take them off though, which we heard they couldn't. Then we
finally started out around 2:30 and walked and walked up and down, crossing streams and climbing up again...'till we finally arrived at a Shan village for the night. We all stayed in one wooded bungalow with plenty of blankets and mattresses and mosquito nets. Waited by the
fire while our guide (Nong) and the Shan woman made us delicious curry and vegetables. Mmmmm....

Next day (after being asleep before 9 and up around 7 - actually I woke up about 5 times during the night - very cold) was long long...we hiked a lot and the morning was really scary as the path wasn't very apparent and it was quite slippery walking across a steep part.  One girl fell twice and started sliding down the mountain. Her sister yelled, "Marsha (yes, Marsha Marsha Marsha), stop yourself!"...as if she wasn't trying. She scraped herself up but was okay. The morning ended with a great climb down to a river/mini waterfall for lunch. Four people were complaining and scared about the rest of the trek and the guide offered that we could just walk the road the rest of the way to the village and it would only be two hours. The rest of us were like, "Fuck that - I paid for a trek, I don't want to walk on a road." We ended up compromising and went in and out of the forest crossing the road and taking it for a
bit. Then we were at the Lishu village much earlier than we thought we would be. So me and the Spanish couple played cards and that's when Ivan and I became friends - he was very tentative about his English at first - but I picked up some more Spanish and we each
taught a card game. Then dinner and more cards - all of us played a fun game of bullshit and then we went to bed.

The next day was really slow going, because no one wanted to slip and the girl that fell had trouble going downhill. We ended up being an hour behind schedule and Nong said we had no time for the waterfall and swimming - but somehow, we ended up there and I was the
first one to jump right in - so there's another jumping into a waterfall picture that exists. Fun and cold and then back to finish the trekking...ate some lunch and then off for more adventures. We drove to the elephant camp and went for rides. Mine - named Ewakoon -
was really tempermental and was mad she didn't get enough banannas.  The mahout (trainer) had to hit her and yell at her to get her to go.  Then later he got down and I slid off the seat and onto the top front of her and did the rest of the ride from there, with my knees behind
her ears - so cool!!! I traded cameras, so there are plenty of pics of me on the elephant.

Next we drove up the river and went white water rafting. Full of splashing and getting wet and mini rapids - not much rain lately - but it was really really fun. Then further down the river we switched to a bamboo raft for a leisurely trip - but it kept sinking and we kept
having to switch our weight. But it was really shallow - two people (including our guy with the bamboo stick to push us along) fell in.  Lots of fun and good people to hang with for 2 and a half days.

Later that night, when we got back to Chiang Mai, we all hung out and had dinner and then went for roti - fried dough. Some got bananna and chocolate instead of sugar and so Ivan went behind the counter and totally showed off his knife skills and cut the banannas - much laughter...he really opened up the last day and I'm looking forward to hanging out
with him the next few days up in Pai. He said to me, "Para mi, tu eres solo authentico (and then the word for trekker)" - or, "For me, you are the only authentic trekker in the group - the rest are imitations." I told him a better word might be, "Hippie".

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