Our plans of driving a motorbike from Pai to Chiang Mai fell through and we ended up taking a minibus. I think 4 hours on a motorbike would have been a little more than we bargained for. We arrived back in Chiang Mai on Sunday for the big weekly night market. It was packed from all the Thai southerners on thier way back to Bangkok. Meg finally bought a day bag from a local craftswoman, and we also bought a really great painting from a local artist. We became overwhelmed by the crowds and decided to get foot massages from one of the many available massage stalls (Chiang Mai is the location of the main Thai massage school so there are countless students and professional offering a variety of inexpensive massages) .

Monday was a bit of a lazy day, we spent it researching our next week or so of travel. We will be heading North tomorrow, crossing into northern Laos on Monday, and taking a two day slow boat down the Mekong river to Luang Phabang. In the afternoon we rented a motorbike and took it to the top of the nearby Doi Suthep mountain to visit the famous temple that is perched overlooking the city. From there we watched the sunset as we gazed down at the Chiang Mai area. Unfortunately I forgot to put the memory card back in the camera before we left our guesthouse, so we couldn’t take pictures.

Today (Tuesday), Meg and I took a day trip 70 kilometers North to an area called Chiang Dao. A small town sits in the shadow of a beautiful mountain called Chiang Dao Mountain. There is a famous cave, the largest in Thailand I think that spreads beneath a portion of the mountain. That was our destination and it we are very glad we made the effort to seek it out. The cave has been used for centuries by monks as a meditation site, inside there are shrines and a few carved statues deep inside the cave. We entered the cave brazenly thinking we would explore it on our own. Within 30 steps off the lit path, upon seeing hundreds of bats clingly to the ceiling, lit only by my meager headlamp, we wisely decided to return to the entrance and pay the extra 3 dollars for a guide and a gas lantern. For twenty minutes we navigated the dark cave of limestone growths, sometimes crawling through openings only 2 meters wide.

After we left the cave we explored the nearby area for a bit and captured some of the impressive views of the mountain.

On our way back to Chiang Mai we barely got under cover before the afternoon rain passed by. We had lunch and then continued on. About 20 minutes outside of Chiang Mai the setting sun, combined with the rain clouds moving away in the distance treated us to a heavenly display.

We both had a really great time today and are both very tired. We are excited to to be heading out of this area, going North, and crossing into Laos. We will post again when we get to our next destination: Chiang Rai.

One Response to “Chiang Mai, Chiang Dao, and heading North”

1. I for one am glad you all didn’t do the motorbike, knowing that your expertise lies in other areas, and motor bikes is not one of them. Please be careful and safe as you enter Laos and keep in touch so we all dont have to worry. Also, keep the pictures coming, it is so much fun to live thru the camera a little bit of the experience that you all are having. We can’t wait till the next post and pictures.
   Dad

   posted by dad on October 24th, 2006 at 10:07 pm

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