Chiang Mai - Mae Hong Son

I woke up in my hostel and went down for breakfast. I stumbled over an American bloke called Chris who was going bungee jumping. Two hours later we were in the car on our way to the site. The 50 meters tall lift seemed pretty scary, but brave as we were, we jumped and survived to tell the tale. It tickled alot in the belly and the feeling the first two seconds is hard to describe. Well back at the hostel we enjoyed some beers and called it a night. The next day we went mountain biking with a brit called James. The three of us went up in the hills and had loads of fun. In the evening Chris and I needed some food. Thinking we walked into a restaurant, we accidently joined a big family dinner. They fed us and taught us Thai checkers. Sitting there, losing all the time, we finally got our victory when we played together against an eight year old kid. We were in ecstacy. The next couple of days we spent playing chess and biking around the town on the hostel's bikes. Needless to say, I got the pink one.

Amir, a friend of James, showed up from India and we had an awesome biking trip in the hills again. The sceneary up here in the north is great, and the temperature is like a great Norwegian summer. Finishing the day with some thai boxing matches was nice. The days in Chiang Mai passed with biking, eating and playing chess. James, Amir and I flew to Mae Hong Son and checked into a dodgy guesthouse with an odd host. After reading some reviews on tripadvisor and speaking to some locals, it turned out that he's an English pervert that likes young boys. Apparently he got dumped by his 17 year old thai boyfriend and after that his guest house has been in decline. After a night in this creepy place, Darlene and Chris arrived on their scooters from Chiang Mai. The five of us, now a steady group that is also going to Laos together, found a lady to take us trekking in the jungle.

Early in the morning we got up and packed our stuff after yet another creepy night at pedoclive's place. We got to store our stuff in a room which reeked from catpiss. The trekking woman, named Shan, picked us up and in her car she had also brought a German looking for some more "space". The whole group sat up in the car and went off to the border of the jungle. We took a boat over the river to get to the start of the trek. The guide's brother and dog also joined us and together we formed an excellent team that would traverse this area next to Burma. We walked through thick jungle and the guide chopped the way through with her machete. Big spiders and rivercrossings were daily parts of our journey. The first day we had lunch and swam in a waterfall which was loads of fun. In the evening the guide prepared a meal for us. We waited five hours... but it tasted delicously. She made sticky rice in bamboo and mugs and spoons, candle light holders and plates, everything was made out of bamboo. It was very cool. Also, small, black, poisonous scorpions walked around us, but Shan threw them away with her chopsticks. In the night I had to walk maybe 15 meters alone up a small creek to get palm leaves to sleep on. It was quite scary beeing in the pitch black with a headlight there. We crawled up a steep cliff and went into a cave to cave in for the night. There was a wasp nest there, but it seemed empty. Nobody slept well, but in the morning everybody was ready for a new go.

With wet shoes and dirty clothes we kept on trekking parallell to the Burmese border. We had loads of fun and we were climbing a big hill. At one point the bushes had grown so thick, Shan stopped and cut a way through. Meanwhile, massive hornets started buzzing around us and we got scared. Amir screaming loudly and starting fighting them, resulted in James being stung in the head and charging forward like a wild pig with a mental look in his eyes. We couldn't stop laughing but also felt a bit sorry for him. At the end of the day we were all safe and sound at a small village hut. It was cosy there and we waited a long time for the food again. This night we slept really well, and we could have a cold shower if we wanted to. Believe it or not, I took one. The last trekking day was nice and not so long. On the way we saw tarantula holes and the Steve Irwin in me decided to lure one out. I used a stick instead of a finger, and I screamed like a girl, but nevertheless I got a spider out and it was really cool. The German, Anne, was taping me. Our dog was always with us and protected us. It started growing on me and its name was Pet. Pretty clever. At the end of the trek we reached a Karen village and saw the long necks. Refugees from Burma that have rings around the necks. Not very unlike the invisible ones I see many guys at home use, although they are attached to a leash. On the way back to Mae Hong Son, the dog was supposed to stay with her husband at the village, but Pet tried all he  could to jump into the car to stay with us. It started howling and the husband had to hold it down. When the car started driving, it got loose and ran after us for kilometers on the road. Made us feel like the ending of "Platoon" except the dog didn't get shot.

Back at Mae Hong Son we all enjoyed a couple of relaxing days at a new guest house. Chris lent me his scooter and Darlene and I went to see the blooming flowers a couple of hours drive south. It was beautiful, the whole hills were coloured with different flowers. Apparently it's blooming season now so we were really lucky. After a week at this place we headed back to Chiang Mai and started preparing ourselves for the conquest of Laos!

Photos:

https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111112ChiangMaiBungee?authkey=Gv1sRgCOremoLUtqjojwE

https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111116ChiangMaiBiking?authkey=Gv1sRgCPWgweOB6uPc2wE

https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111118ChiangMaiBoxingAndWaterfalls?authkey=Gv1sRgCIWGle69xsvpOg

https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111127MaeHongSon?authkey=Gv1sRgCJjBwOa2sripSQ