Doi Inthanon

Today was a brilliant day. The fact of the matter is, you can’t beat a free day, especially a free Saturday. This morning I woke up early in the hopes that the tentative plans a group of us made yesterday would not be cancelled (largely due to hangovers from the many pitchers of margaritas consumed last night – not by me, but by other people) and, luckily, they weren’t! Today we went to Doi Inthanon National Park, which is located about 58 km outside Chiang Mai (by the way, everything here in Thailand is in km and Celsius, which means that I am in a land where I can’t judge distances and can’t tell the actual temperature beyond using the words hot and hotter). But, I will tell you more about the Park itself later, for now we will concentrate on the journey…

According to the travel guide book, Lonely Planet (a must have in any travelers backpack), the best way to get to the Park is by bus from Chaing Mai, however, we were told by our language instructor that it would be better to hire a red truck to drive us there if we got a large group together. Our instructor called her friend and got us a great deal on a red truck, 1800 Baht for a round trip (for the group) and for the truck waiting for us during the time we were at the Park. That turned out to be a wonderful suggestion and made the trip a whole lot cheaper and easier!

A group of us left the Res to meet the truck and the rest of our party at the BABSEA house at about 8:30 in the morning. We managed to leave the house in our red truck at around 9:45, about 45 minutes late, which is to be expected when trying to get a large group ready to go and actually on the road. The group consisted of me, Zenia, Bobby, Samir, and Lucy from the Res and Ellie, Peter, Kyla, Jen, and Helen (a lawyer/pseudo-coordinator from Australia) from the house; all-in-all a very good group for traveling to the Park as we shared a common goal, a burning desire for water and an escape from the city for a while.

We drove for about an hour to reach the Park, which is located in a mountain range to the north of Chiang Mai. What is truly special about this Park is that it is filled with waterfalls. Supposedly you can hike around the Park, from waterfall to waterfall, slowly traveling to the pinnacle of the main mountain, which features monuments to the King and Queen and the rare event of frost in January. However, this is not the best way to do it during the heat of May/June as the distance from the gate to the top is about 42 km, which is WAY too long to hike for us lazy, inexperienced (at least in the heat and humidity of Thailand) Americans/Canadians/Australians. An easier way to travel the park is by red truck and as I have mentioned, we had our very own red truck at our disposal. After paying our entrance fee to the Park (which was once again hiked up due to a “Foreigner Fee”), our truck driver took us to the tallest waterfall, the Mae Ya Waterfall, which turned out to be the best. It was an incredible sight. We drove to a parking lot near the falls so that we only had to hike about 600 meters to the falls. The Waterfall looked amazing, with just enough water to be impressive, but not so much that we couldn’t climb on the rocks to reach the falls and stand under the spray. We all quickly dashed into the water and began the slow climb over slippery rocks to the water pouring down from the last step of the waterfall. The sight was incredible and the water even better, cool and fresh during a hot day and after a very long, hot drive. We stayed in/near the water for over an hour until we decided it was time to check out some of the other sights.

As I mentioned, our driver had taken us to the largest fall first, which is actually located at the back of the Park, so the drive to the next waterfall took a bit of time. We arrived at the Mae Klang Waterfall at around 2 pm and found it to be a much smaller waterfall with a lot more people congregated around it as it fell into a wide, shallow pool perfect for swimming (if you didn’t mind the dirt and debris covering the surface due to low, overhanging trees). I didn’t swim at this waterfall as I am very much a wuss and dirty water does not appeal to me at all. Instead, I sat on a rock above the water, writing postcards (maybe even to some of you!) and chatting with the others.

The day was simply relaxing and fun, allowing me to see yet another side of Thailand, this time a bit of the natural landscape. The Thai forest is beautiful, a strange mixture of rain forest and palm trees. Although we did not do any hiking into the forest around the waterfalls, it is obviously beautiful even from the edge and would be amazing to explore and study; perhaps on another trip. Our return to the “concrete jungle” after our superb time in the wilderness was hard and made more difficult still by the necessity of running errands that had to be done before we leave for Immersion tomorrow. I managed to get everything done today, including my laundry, which I am now doing by hand and which is currently drying around my room on every available flat/hanging surface. Snacks for the week were bought from the store, anti-malaria medication was purchased from the drug store for my trip to Laos, and books on education and teaching were retrieved from BABSEA. When we returned home, Zenia and I began the long process of packing, which will be concluded first thing in the morning (provided my clothing is dry by then…*fingers crossed!).

As you must know by now, tomorrow I will be heading out to Wildflower for “Immersion Week.” What many of you may not know…we are not supposed to use internet during this time. Most of the other interns will have no access to the internet (and some won’t even have electricity!). I, however, am lucky to be going to a place with both. In the spirit of true “immersion,” however, we at Wildflower have been asked to abstain from using the internet as much as possible. I’m sure this will not be possible for any of us (after all, the internet is a force that cannot be denied and the pull to blog even more so) and I don’t think anyone will mind if I log on once a day to post a brief message out to the blogosphere (I certainly won’t mind). I plan to at least try to post once a day, but do not worry about me if it takes a couple days or more. I will write a post every day on my computer and upload them whenever I have a chance. I hope you all continue to check for new posts and don’t feel too lost without me. :) I will be back as soon as possible (perhaps even once tomorrow morning before I leave) and I will continue to write. Until my next post, goodnight and goodluck!