Chiang Mai fly by ...

We had originally intended to enter Laos from the north of Thailand but after having done some research we fancied a visit to the Bokeo National Park in northern Laos where we could sty in tree top houses and hopefully spot gibbons and other such amazing wildlife - more on that once we've actually been there.

A friend's brother, resident in Chiang Mai, who had lived in Laos kindly invited us  to stay so that he could give us a lowdown on Laos - it also meant that David could get his Friday ride in, a leisurely 20km out to a lake and back! In to Chiang Mai in the afternoon to spend at least a couple of hours sitting with a very helpful travel agent booking flights to Laos ... that complete we wandered around the markets, the town now a much more commercialised place than 20 years ago and full of ageing hippies which we are not!!

Chiang Mai Market

Jack Fruit Man

520 steps and the rest ...

Not being content with our walk in the park in ..... We headed out to take some exercise visiting a nearby monastery perched on a small peak up above Chiang Dao Nest. 520 steps and numerous monastic words of wisdom later and we reached the peak.  Beautifully peaceful spot in the forest.

Some of the steps

The top of the Wat

Next stop Chiang Dao Caves, well via a nature trail over/behind a mountain.  520 steps was good going but this was even more interesting, the path "less trodden", covered in fallen leaves and vines and very steep in part. We climbed and climbed and climbed like mad dogs and Englishmen - out in the midday sun!  When we finally reached the top, actually when we got to the bottom we realised just how far we had climbed, quite impressive really.

Looking down the track

We ended up at the back of a monastery near the entrance to the cave - a cave that has been used for over 300 years and has all sorts of Buddhists shrines in it.  We knew we were going for a fairly long walk in the cave system (1.5km) but I didn't realise that I was about to add "caving" to my many activities - certainly out of need rather than desire, and before any of you get any funny ideas it is most likely not to be repeated!

The Cave Guard ..

Mr W caving ...

A walk in the park ...

Two and a half kilometre trek, easy walk we thought.  Set off from Chiang Dao Nest at 10:45 in the back of a songtheaw for a 35km drive to Chiang Dao national park which almost borders Myanmar.  Almost midday by the time by the time we set off having been pleased to discover that we could extend the route by a further kilometre ... saw plenty of pretty butterflies and orchids nicely displayed in a fern garden but the the trek began and the path wound its way up and round the side of hill relatively steeply. It was hot and sticky and we were quite glad of the tree cover and numerous stops to orchid "spot". Needless to say we found plenty but declined the option to add the extra 1km!

Headed back via a Burmese temple set high on a hill with amazing views back towards Doi Chiang Dao another Singha calling ...

Pink Orchids

Yellow Orchids

One of the many moths and butterflies

Burmese Temple

Desperate for beer and chocolate ...

For all you of little faith, yes we did manage three full days without a beer but, as is usual in human nature, you yearn for what you can't have and that was beer and chocolate!

So we left Chiang Mai in a songteaw for Chiang Dao Nest, feeling suitably battered and bruised but, dare I say it, "light and cleansed" only to go and undo the good work with a very refreshing Singha beer and plate of roast cashew nuts but could we find chocolate...not easily, took 24 hours of searching the local stalls and I'd even sent an SOS to Australia!

We landed ourselves in a very secluded little resort called "Chiang Dao Nest" which was right on the edge of the Chiang Dao National Park, almost towered over by Dao .... Which we had been told that we could climb ... being the energetic types that we are we made the right noises for the next day but only to be declined because the park closed on 1st April and all the guides were involved with tidying up the mountain for the season.  Perhaps a good job that we didn't as we had a few other eventful expeditions that were energetic enough.

Back to the "nest" - a cozy little place with numerous cabins in a garden setting around a central dining area, run (whilst we were there) predominantly by a very jovial And extremely helpful Thai lady called "Puk" huge menu of Thai fusion food but a little on the heavy side for every evening there so we opted to eat "Thai" at the sister outlet just down the road.

View from Chiang Dao Nest

Our cabin

The very friendly "Puk"

The treatments ...

Only knowing what we'd let ourselves in for by name, we submitted ourselves to varying degrees of discomfort ...

I don't like my tummy being fiddled with and especially not my tummy button ... the first "beneficial" massage involved amongst other things, a fairly intense stomach massage that involved a somewhat sadistic masseuse working her way around our stomachs in a circular motion, starting at the navel and moving out, ending up with a final finger prod in the belly button... say no more!

The muscle and tendon massage - if anyone thinks that our favourite EB's treatments (and note I'm quick to say treatments) are tortuous then these are infinitely more painful, at least EB - whilst inflicting pain - does check to make sure that you're ok. Our nice Thai ladies, with limited English and a definite sadistic inclination, simply said "You feel pain??? Hee, hee, hee" and carried on regardless!

Through the eye of a needle and all that ... if the last few months in Dubai haven't been tough on the liver then I don't know what would be.  Hence one of the reasons for the detox.  After our  pin prick blood test - yes I know you're all thinking "taken in by the quacks" - some interesting results came through and one of them was that we both needed liver and kidney cleanses - I had already booked in for these to be told by that "may be you get diarrhoea, hee, hee, hee!" not going in to too much detail, and despite the fact that we had both tried to will ourselves not to have the expected reaction, it was almost by clockwork and the results would indicate that another session is due in the not too distant future...

About the inmates ... the name "Tao-garden" should have been a bit of a give away but because we were looking for nothing other than treatments it didn't...some of the inmates did though - "lost souls, new age hippies" - call them what you will but it turns out that the establishment was not only a "detox spa" but a major centre for a branch of the Tao belief, kept well on the periphery of that - I'm normally the nosy bint who likes to know who's doing what, where and with whom but I was more than happy to sit in the dining area facing the nice water gardens, head down, involving myself in idle chatter with Mr W...


There was more but, another time!

The Garden View

Garden Frangipani

Pink Banana flower and fruit

Rocking and Rolling up the track from Bangkok to Chiang Mai

After an overnight flight from Dubai to Bangkok and a day on our feet wandering around the weekend market, we checked on to the train early. First having made sued that we could at least get some beer to ease us through the 14 hour journey - well we were heading for a detox so had to get charged up. The train had seen better days but it was clean enough for our purposes and the staff very friendly

Bangkok station

and helpful, lots of food and beer to buy. The bunk make up guard was great, transformed the bench seat into an up and down bunk with clean White sheets in a matter of minutes. The journey north was slow but it didn't really matter, however we did rock from side to side and lurch our way up the track. Arrived semi refreshed in Chiang Mai at 07:45 in the morning.

A potential fellow traveller ...

Weekend Market