“Winter” Vacation

The semester’s over, grades are in, and we’re free for the next 4+ weeks! (Well, sort of. I’m helping OEG with 2 orientations in Bangkok, but that’s not until 11 Oct.) We booked the overnight train to pick us up in Lampang and take us to Bangkok for a few days before heading to some sandy beaches. Turns out the night train is our new favorite way to travel. It’s cheap, cozy, and air-conditioned.

How ‘bout those Hill Tribes?

Jack had to go to Chiang Mai this week to extend his student visa so I hopped a bus on Friday to meet him and spend the weekend on a little getaway. Every time I visit Chiang Mai I like it a little bit more, probably because we avoid the other farang (Westerners) and get into the rural surrounding areas. This time, I wanted to visit some hill tribes so we wandered a bit to find the best price on a tour. Pro tip: The way most of the tour companies work here is that they all book on the same tour: usually no matter who you book through, you will be on the same minibus with the same people. Knowing this, we can shop around town for the best price (which can be as much as $10 difference) on whichever tour we want, as long as we pay attention to the descriptions. I had already found a place I wanted to book with online, but on the way we spotted these guys outside a tour company and I started snapping photos.

The Roof of Thailand (Doi Inthanon)

I’d been craving a particularly big adventure, so last weekend Jack and I headed to Chiang Mai to book a tour to Doi Inthanon. We hadn’t seen much of the beautiful natural wonders in Thailand so this was long overdue. I wanted some waterfalls, damnit!

Since haggling is a part of everyday life here, we weren’t sure if we should book online or see if we can get a cheaper price at a travel agency. Turns out tours are one of the few things that are not haggleable—lesson learned. We paid about $33 each for a full day (9-5) group tour, which seemed reasonable enough anyway and turned out to be well worth it!

Doi Inthanon is known as “The Roof of Thailand,” being its tallest mountain at 2565m (8415 ft) above sea level. It is named after Chiang Mai's last sovereign, King Inthawichayanon, who worked hard to preserve the forests in the north.

The company picked us up at our hotel at about 8:30 in an air-conditioned minibus, where we met another couple (the woman was Thai and the man Turkish). After picking up a Chinese woman and her son, a couple from France, and a couple from Bahrain (as our bus represented almost all corners of the globe), we headed out. The drive to the mountain was about an hour and 15 minutes (~65km away).

The first place we stopped was the Sirithan Waterfall: