. Breathe In All That Open Space .

January 23, 2013

. Breathe In All That Open Space .

Chiang Mai {Part 2}

Trying to sort through thousands of pictures when they're all of such beautiful and unique places, and so worthy of showing off and sharing, is a very hard task. After walking around Chiang Mai for endless hours exploring and experiencing the temples, and sites, the people, heat and smells, and all of the beauty Chiang Mai has to offer, we stopped at a small "office" which is about the size of my walk in closet, and booked a day trek into the mountains.

We got up early and ate breakfast, my typical fresh fruit yogurt and muesli {what else, of course}, and were picked up from our hostel. We had booked a day tour to avoid the riding of elephants (for so many reasons), the river rafting didn't really suit our desires and we couldn't be bothered with a butterfly park. However, when we started to pick up all of the other trekkers, we realized they were all going on an overnight trek, were going to ride elephants and go rafting. Given all of this information so early in the day we were quite confused and concerned as we didn't bring food or nighttime attire. We asked our tour guide who reassured us we'd be back by nightfall, we weren't buying it. As the day went on, we realized there wasn't much we could do except roll with the events and hope it all worked out.

We stopped at a large open market on the way out of town so we could all by snacks and any other essentials we may have needed. The food is all so different in Thailand. It is about taste, not presentation, as it is in Canada. This made it hard to find certain things appealing. Also, I was realizing the quality and standards aren't the same as in Canada (rightfully so), as the small fan twirled above the raw meat with little wisps of material swatting the flies away. This also sometimes made it a struggle, accompanied by heat and lack of hunger. We usually purchased prepackaged goods or fresh fruit.

When heading out of Chiang Mai towards the mountain, we stopped at the village of a Karen Tribe (Google now). Our tour guide said "Take Pictures - Don't need to ask". It seemed so unnatural and inappropriate to snap photographs of these beautiful people as they worked with little cover from the blazing sun. At first I was saddened to think that their life was pre-determined that they would be a front-and-center tourist attraction as people are so drawn by the beauty of their golden neck rings.. However, as I learned more about the history and difficult times of these people, life didn't seem so bad in comparison. What I should add, is how extremely talented these women were! I say women because I didn't see many men in the village while we were visiting. They women created incredibly intricate scarves, with vibrant colors and detail, using long machines with many strings running to each end.

After our experience here we headed for the mountain trek through the Mae Taeng region. The trek was absolutely beautiful, I have many pictures to prove this however they will never do the justice deserved. We met some great people, stopped for a rest in a beautiful little village in the mountains, and topped off the day with a gorgeous waterfall at the end.
Oh .... and everything worked out and we made it back after one day, safe and sound. Travel is organized to a T in Thailand. It's shocking at times that it all works out when there is sometimes a distinct language barrier.

{I'll start off with some extra Chiang Mai city pictures and work into our adventurous day photos}

Bear with me, as I may have slightly over done it on the amount of photos in one blog post!

Enjoy !