Today we drove about 2 hours up into the hills outside of Chang Mai, I was told that we are really close to the Burma/Myanmar border. So we loaded up all 6 of us. Which by the way it is Chris(My asst.), Michelle(Child wrangler), Donavan (Stage Mgr.), Christine(Marie), and Danny(Christine’s husband aka “the free-loader”).
Once you are about 30 mins outside of Chang Mai, all city life falls away and it becomes the most beautiful mountain country side. I kinda compare it to Hawaii/ what my thoughts of Jamaica would be like. Then again maybe that is just cause we were jamming to Bob Marley, driving through the country side. Either way it was beautiful and it really gets you in the mood to doing some things in nature. We stopped a ways out to get some supplies for our lunch during the day. The best part is that included with your day excursion they include a meal for you. So they go get supplies at a market, and we sit down with our white water rafting guide at a local coffee shop. The coffee shop serves home grown organic coffee from the region and it was awesome!!! I can’t tell you how delicious it was. It made Starbucks seem like shit. Once we were done buying goods, we loaded back up and continued our journey.
An hour in we turned off of the main highway and onto a back road. We continued deeper and deeper into the forest and ran across some of the most beautiful country side. The road got bumpier as we continued on and at some points we were driving through huge puddles of mud. We passed through a few small villages and passed by were you would turn off to go see the Karen tribe (aka the long neck women village) hopefully more on this later. We also passed a lot of elephant parks and places to go elephant trekking. Finally after a long 2 hours we crossed a bridge and pulled up in front of a small shack with a big porch.
We were greeted by about 10 local villagers and they showed us to the porch. One of the coolest things I love about the way Thailand lives is that you are asked to take off your shoes when entering a home. I just find it so peaceful to take off your shoes and then walk around barefoot. So we took off our shoes and went up onto the porch. The porch overlooked the river that we were planning on going down that day.
The villagers had already prepared a meal for us and all sorts of great stuff. We started out eating an amazing appetizer sticky rice with slices of mango and banana and some sliced pineapple. The sticky rice with banana was unreal. So delicious!!! And then they served us red curry with chicken, green curry with pork, tom yum kha soup(coconut milk with chicken) and rice. Again, AMAZING. My love for Thai cooking is going to go off the charts on this trip. Cause unlike Chinese food, Thai food in the states is actually close to what it tastes like here. Only in Thailand it is just richer, more flavorful, and always fresh ingredients. In fact, did you know that rice in the states is usually well over a year old. And you can’t even get half the vegetables in the US that are available here. Why is that? How can Thailand bring things from the US, and we can’t do the same?
Anyways, we finished our lunch and had a little bit of time before we were scheduled to hit the river. We walked done the road a bit, crossing over the river on a wooden bridge, and into the local village. We took in the locals sitting around playing cards, chatting, and preparing food. And then we did a little shopping with some of the women selling goods. Hand crafted purses, sown clothes, jewelry, and all.
We then headed back to the hut and got prepped on white water rafting. We were divided into 2 teams and got in our raft. Our guide was “Ping Pong” and we began to head down the river. Because of the rainy season and how high the river is, we were told that the rapids would be Level 2-4. And mind you 6 is suicide. So frankly as a beginning rafter I was a little scared. We all were, but never fear we jumped right in and headed on.
Ping Pong(who is Chang Mai's Muoy Thai boxing champion) began instructing us on how to guide the raft. We listened to his every command and it was a lot of fun. He and I struck up a friendship and he began calling me Rambo. Yes, even in Thailand the locals love my size, but in a more endearing and accepting manor.
What happened next can really only be described in the photo’s, but all I can say is that it was intense. I loved every second of it, and only 2 or 3 times did I think I was going to fall in. A lot of the rapids were well over 6 feet tall… So in and out we would dive in our raft.
Another fun part were the drops. A few times he would tell us, “get down. Get down” And sure enough we would and then the boat would plunge like 5 feet. Straight down off a rock!!! 
When we returned from the rafting experience, we encountered yet another awesome reason we picked the best hotel. I had told you that our hotel was on the “walking street”. Well on Sunday nights it closes down and 1000’s and 1000’s of vendors set up for miles to sell goods. Again, what a culture shock. And to think that they do it every single Sunday night. So when in Chang Mai, SHOP!!! And shop we did. Candles, lamps, pottery, silver wear, handmade chopsticks, soap, silk, clothes, shoes, lighters, all kinds of things. And the food.
So this is where China and Thailand are different in so many ways. Because the culture of Thailand is based around fresh foods, there is no problem eating anything on the street. The street food at the Sunday market was amazing. We were told that don’t bother going to a restaurant, just eat at the market. And it is so true. What delicious food!!! I had the most amazing thai iced tea in the world. And it came just in a plastic bag.
And look what else they had!!!
What an unbelievable way to spend your first full day in Thailand. Below, the best picture ever!!! And yes.. we are still in the boat, just hit a few waves. Front right oar, that's me!!!
Once you are about 30 mins outside of Chang Mai, all city life falls away and it becomes the most beautiful mountain country side. I kinda compare it to Hawaii/ what my thoughts of Jamaica would be like. Then again maybe that is just cause we were jamming to Bob Marley, driving through the country side. Either way it was beautiful and it really gets you in the mood to doing some things in nature. We stopped a ways out to get some supplies for our lunch during the day. The best part is that included with your day excursion they include a meal for you. So they go get supplies at a market, and we sit down with our white water rafting guide at a local coffee shop. The coffee shop serves home grown organic coffee from the region and it was awesome!!! I can’t tell you how delicious it was. It made Starbucks seem like shit. Once we were done buying goods, we loaded back up and continued our journey.An hour in we turned off of the main highway and onto a back road. We continued deeper and deeper into the forest and ran across some of the most beautiful country side. The road got bumpier as we continued on and at some points we were driving through huge puddles of mud. We passed through a few small villages and passed by were you would turn off to go see the Karen tribe (aka the long neck women village) hopefully more on this later. We also passed a lot of elephant parks and places to go elephant trekking. Finally after a long 2 hours we crossed a bridge and pulled up in front of a small shack with a big porch.
We were greeted by about 10 local villagers and they showed us to the porch. One of the coolest things I love about the way Thailand lives is that you are asked to take off your shoes when entering a home. I just find it so peaceful to take off your shoes and then walk around barefoot. So we took off our shoes and went up onto the porch. The porch overlooked the river that we were planning on going down that day.The villagers had already prepared a meal for us and all sorts of great stuff. We started out eating an amazing appetizer sticky rice with slices of mango and banana and some sliced pineapple. The sticky rice with banana was unreal. So delicious!!! And then they served us red curry with chicken, green curry with pork, tom yum kha soup(coconut milk with chicken) and rice. Again, AMAZING. My love for Thai cooking is going to go off the charts on this trip. Cause unlike Chinese food, Thai food in the states is actually close to what it tastes like here. Only in Thailand it is just richer, more flavorful, and always fresh ingredients. In fact, did you know that rice in the states is usually well over a year old. And you can’t even get half the vegetables in the US that are available here. Why is that? How can Thailand bring things from the US, and we can’t do the same?
Anyways, we finished our lunch and had a little bit of time before we were scheduled to hit the river. We walked done the road a bit, crossing over the river on a wooden bridge, and into the local village. We took in the locals sitting around playing cards, chatting, and preparing food. And then we did a little shopping with some of the women selling goods. Hand crafted purses, sown clothes, jewelry, and all.
We then headed back to the hut and got prepped on white water rafting. We were divided into 2 teams and got in our raft. Our guide was “Ping Pong” and we began to head down the river. Because of the rainy season and how high the river is, we were told that the rapids would be Level 2-4. And mind you 6 is suicide. So frankly as a beginning rafter I was a little scared. We all were, but never fear we jumped right in and headed on.
Ping Pong(who is Chang Mai's Muoy Thai boxing champion) began instructing us on how to guide the raft. We listened to his every command and it was a lot of fun. He and I struck up a friendship and he began calling me Rambo. Yes, even in Thailand the locals love my size, but in a more endearing and accepting manor.
What happened next can really only be described in the photo’s, but all I can say is that it was intense. I loved every second of it, and only 2 or 3 times did I think I was going to fall in. A lot of the rapids were well over 6 feet tall… So in and out we would dive in our raft.
Another fun part were the drops. A few times he would tell us, “get down. Get down” And sure enough we would and then the boat would plunge like 5 feet. Straight down off a rock!!! When we returned from the rafting experience, we encountered yet another awesome reason we picked the best hotel. I had told you that our hotel was on the “walking street”. Well on Sunday nights it closes down and 1000’s and 1000’s of vendors set up for miles to sell goods. Again, what a culture shock. And to think that they do it every single Sunday night. So when in Chang Mai, SHOP!!! And shop we did. Candles, lamps, pottery, silver wear, handmade chopsticks, soap, silk, clothes, shoes, lighters, all kinds of things. And the food.
So this is where China and Thailand are different in so many ways. Because the culture of Thailand is based around fresh foods, there is no problem eating anything on the street. The street food at the Sunday market was amazing. We were told that don’t bother going to a restaurant, just eat at the market. And it is so true. What delicious food!!! I had the most amazing thai iced tea in the world. And it came just in a plastic bag.
And look what else they had!!!What an unbelievable way to spend your first full day in Thailand. Below, the best picture ever!!! And yes.. we are still in the boat, just hit a few waves. Front right oar, that's me!!!
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