We walked down the road, had breakfast, and rented a motorbike (high powered scooter) to drive to Don Ithanon National Park, as recommended by Billi and Pi-Lin the day before! As part of the usual road tripping journey, we got lost 3 times along the way, each time finding something amazing to stop and look at. It was so nice to opt out of a tour and see Chiang Mai the way we wanted to, how we wanted to, stopping when we wanted to. Graham got even more excited when he saw a Tesco's along the way!
We saw a ton of Temples and Buddha's along the way, making note of which ones we wanted to stop at on the way home. At one point, there was this temple with a Buddha statue SO BIG we both had to shout at each other to make sure we both saw it (shout because it gets REALLY loud along the edge of the road dealing with traffic and bumps and wind)! We took a break at the rice paddy fields (mostly because it was a tight squeeze on the back of the bike for me and it felt like my knees were up at my face sometimes) to take some pictures and the culture of it all, was breaktaking!
We stopped at the first waterfall in the National Park- Maeya Waterfall, and we were blown away by how serene and beautiful it was. There was no one else there with us, so we had time to take photos and enjoy our time there without anyone else getting in the way! It was so hot by the time that we arrived, so we took a few moments to sit by the waterfall and have a drink and a snack. It was beautiful!
It was so hot at lunch time, that we went for a swim with what felt like ALL of the LOCALS in Chiang Mai! We found out that it was a National Holiday, so it was packed on a day that would normally be quiet. I only had a bikini, and I was stared at like crazy! I kept getting called beautiful in Thai- "SUAY" (pronounced- swwwweye high pitched and dragged out) (I was taught the word by the massage ladies the day before, as they warned me that blonde haired, blue eyed woman are highly sought after by Thai men and the look by Thai women), which was really awkward, as even boys as young as 5 were coming up to me. Needless to say, we had a quick dip and I was out of there! It took Graham longer to get in, as it was very cold, but I dragged him in eventually!
We had lunch at the park, consisting of yet another VERY spicy Som Tam salad, eventhough we asked for ZERO chilies. We also had half of a BBQ chicken with sticky rice, which was quite delicious and cooked road side. After lunch, Graham and I started noticing that everytime I ate rice, I started to get "RICE TUMMY"! Either that, or along with the hives from the chilies, I was getting tummy issues as well.
We got to the sleeping Buddha, the huge one we saw on the way there and met some very nice monks. We drove around the temple, and were amazed at the detail, the shrines and the peaceful nature of the grounds. I still can't get over the colours and the relaxing nature of how religion is everywhere here, but not forced upon anyone. Anyone of any nature/culture/religion is welcomed to come to the temples and pray/study their religion and it's just incredible how accepting everyone is here...language barrier or not.
We stopped to fill up with gas before returning the scooter, and Graham didn't kick the kickstand out enough, making the bike fall over. It ended up braking the brake on the handle and scratched the bike, which we were nervous of what cost it was going to be when we returned it. We drove over to the shop, returned the bike and the lady said it would be 300 BAHT= $10, but because we were honest about it, she would only charge us 100 BAHT= $3.25!!!!!!!!!!!! Now if only car repairs were that cheap at home!!!!!!!!!!!
We checked out of Lai-Thai and went to a place called "Bar on the Roof", near the city gates, to watch the sunset over the mountains and had amazing watermelon shakes, pad thai and pumpkin curry! It was an all vegetarian restaurant, and we were impressed by how flavourful and filling the food was! The ONLY issue with the bar was that you had to walk up 3 floors of stairs (all which smelled like PEE), till you got to the rooftop! It was DISGUSTING and Graham and I climbed up and down them as fast as we could!
We took a taxi to the airport for $3.25 and met Billi and Pi-Lin at the airport, as they too were heading to Phuket/the beaches, for the rest of their trip! Our flight left/arrived early in Phuket, but we really struggled to get a metre-taxi (the ONLY way you want to taxi in Thailand, as ANYONE else tries to rip you off!), but no luck...so we were stuck with a taxi bus for $20. I guess it was cheap to Canadian standards for a 1 hour trip, but REALLY expensive in Thai standards, so we were annoyed.
We got to the hotel, Sugar Palm Karon Beach and checked in, which was really easy. Thank goodness, as our flight landed after 1am, and we were tired! We walked into the room and it was HUGE! It had a great pool and a HUGE BATH with glass walls, overlooking the bed! We had only booked 2 days here, but we had a feeling that we'd be staying the rest of our trip (at $35 a night, and getting tired of moving and re packing...why not?!), if we can get around easily enough! The big thing about Thai hotels, is that NONE OF THEM HAVE CLOCKS. Something I find REALLY annoying, so we had to call to find out what time it was before bed and for a wake up call for the next morning!
We went to bed SO excited for tomorrow and our week of adventure/relaxation of some of the best beaches in the world!
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