Today is the last day of the tour and the last day in Chiang Mai.. It may seem rushed but we were able to do a lot while here
Today's first stop is Doi Inthanon - the highest spot in Thailand. Formerly known as Doi Luang until the last king of Chiang Mai ordered that his remains be placed in the mountain after his death and the mountain was renamed
As soon as we exited the van we felt the temperature change. It's much colder up here, in the low 60s, and it felt really good to us who are used to this weather
The king's remains in a shrine
The nature trail through the mountain
One of the trails leads to a memorial for a downed Thai Air Force helicopter
Here you see the spirit house built over the remains of the helicopter and a picture of the killed pilot
On the main road there are 2 pagodas or Chedis dedicated to the current king and queen during his 60th birthday in 1987 and her 60th birthday in 1992, respectively.
This is the garden at the lower level
The view from the king's garden
The king's chedi
Inside the king's chedi
The queen's chedi is currently under construction on the exterior but this is the interior
They're both very beautiful and well taken care of Chedis and gardens. Both exteriors and interiors feature beautiful tributes to Buddha, the king and queen. The weather is fantastic, sunny but a cool mountain breeze
Down the mountain a little is a hill tribe village selling fruit from the government subsidized farm lands. The government gives them the means to plant and tells them what to grow during what season and they are monitored to maintain current standards. Completely organic, no use of chemical fertilizers at all, only natural compost. The cool mountain air allows them to grow these types of fruit, they had gooseberries, strawberries, nuts, tomatoes, vegetables. They also sold dried fruits and trail mixes
They used some of the fruit the make Fruit Wine, and offered samples... After tasting them, their use of the word 'wine' is incorrect... It is fermented but not to the point that alcohol is the by product. They're making kombucha and they just don't know what it's called... Delicious stuff and only $4 for a 750ml bottle
The locals are really local... This is their traditional getup everyday!
After sampling delicious fruits, we headed to one of the 2 waterfalls we'll visit today... This waterfall was discovered recently, only about 8 years ago so access to it is still being discovered and they named it after their beloved queen
The trail to the watefall
Magnificent view from the viewing deck
We did a no-no and hopped the fence, gave our tour guide a heart attack and made our way down to the waterfall... The trip down was mostly sliding in the dirt and stopping just before an 8 ft drop... So worth it!
Going back up the moutain was tough though, we had to use young bamboo as rope to pull ourselves up the mountain... But didn't stop us from taking a selfie!
Luckily our tour guide wasn't mad enough to leave us there, she took us to another hill tribe village that made their own textiles and left us there instead... Haha jk!
Beautiful colors displayed outside the show home
A girl making a scarf
The beautifuly display of scarves, shawls, table cloths, ponchos, dresses...
The village women were making scarves for themselves to wear and traveling to the city, people would as them where they got their scarves so they decided to make them for sale to support their village One small scarf takes 3 days to make so you can get only 2 scarves out of a week... We learned that much of the younger generation don't make the scarves as pretty but there are a few that can make it beautiful... A small scarf (the size of a normal one time wrap around scarf) was 180B ($5.60)... We didn't bother to barter here cause we knew they take time to make and it was completely handmade and going to support their village so we were happy to pay that price
Their village was very simple and bare... No AC and barely 4 walls to cover them
After the village came lunch! We stopped at the restaurant at the base of our next waterfall site.. We ate a lot... A fried fish, papaya salad, tom yum soup, sticky rice, and stir fried veggies (included in the tour... And they kept asking if we wanted more food!)
The trail to the waterfall named after the royal prince
We also hopped the fence and got closer to the waterfall.. But this one was easier to access
It was so peaceful and serene to just sit and absorb the energy and force from this waterfall and the surroundings... The water was so wonderful and cool on our feet
We traveled back to the city and had an hour to kill so they dropped us off at the weekend night market.. We were dropped off at opening time so it was nice and mellow but it filled up quickly and became densely packed
A handicapped boy band
Paella style Pad Thai
An Old Timer band
#Fun fact about Thailand# Everyday at 8am and 6pm the national anthem plays and if you aren't driving, you stop what you're doing to pay your respects... It was 6pm so we stopped... It was quite eerie though cause it looked like everyone turned in to zombies
Street food
The dinner was included in the tour (except drinks), it's a traditional northern style dinner called Kantoke
(I'm not crying, I'm just sunburnt)
The dinner consisted of a pork curry called Gang Hang Ley, 2 chili jams, fresh veggies, stir fried veggies, fried chicken, pork rinds, fried sweet potatoes, clear soup and sticky rice... And everything was refillable!! The chili jams were mild but evrything tasted really good
The traditional band
Traditional old school show was included. This is how the old days got their entertainment... They're stories told through dance and song called Lum or Labum
They invited guests to join them in dance
After dinner we had requested to be dropped off at the airport, we said our goodbyes and tipped the tour guide and driver then were on our way to Bangkok... It was a really really great tour, we did a lot in 3 days and it costed around $200 per person (not including hostel and the options we had to pay for), the more people in your group the cheaper the tour gets... It's completely worth it - Travel Hub Chiang Mai
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