David's World: Chiang Mai and Doi Inthanon National Park

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July 11, 2006

Chiang Mai and Doi Inthanon National Park

Night bus ride to Chiang Mai. Not-so-sleep-inducing rattle.
Thanks to low wages, the "first class" bus, while a bit run down, has a well-dressed 'bus attendant', who distributes snacks. Bus stops at 1 am (!) so everyone can have some chicken at a huge market-like highway food hall (seen these before, in Malaysia).

Chiang Mai is the more relaxing of the two big cities in Thailand - no high-rise buildings, and more tourist-appealing restaurants than hawker food stands. I meet Dana and Winnie, who've been shoestring-backpacking for six months. I manage to talk them into the luxury of renting a little jeep (for 800 baht/day, i.e. EUR 16.00) from local car rental guy "Mr. Beer". We make the trip up to Doi Inthanon Park, one of the national parks near Chiang Mai.

Driving in Thailand is a bit like driving in Italy - fast, organic (if there's room, there's a lane). The unwritten rule, says the guide book, is that the bigger vehicle has priority.

Doi Inthanon Park has great waterfalls, and on the day of the trip, great clouds hanging in the hills. Doi Inthanon itself, Thailands highest mountain, was covered in cloud & rain. Mr. Beer's jeep turned out to be a gas-guzzler with a need of choke fine-tuning and a very weak engine. Oh well, we had fun anyways.

Oh, and I guess I shouldn't have eaten that delicious chicken leg from the street vendor. The sweet chili sauce should have killed any microorganisms existing in the meat - in any case, it probably didn't. Thailand is hot day and night, and I should have wondered earlier about in what fridge these hawkers keep the poultry. (At home I take care to cut raw meat on veggies on different cutting boards, and here I'm in for the real Asian experience... :-)

Watched soccer final between 1 and 3.30 am at a bar with a good bunch of Thai (rooting for France, with me) and foreigners (mostly for Italy). Zidane is a hothead. France was the better team during the game. Oh well, whatever.

Chinese Hawker food in Bangkok: