Chiang Dao: Precisely As Advertised

After bidding a miserable farewell to my sweet Kevin, Michael and I headed north to a little town called Chiang Dao to do some exploring. 

We had very few expectations, but everything we did lived up to its name. Three examples to illustrate:

1. Our hotel was called "Chiang Dao Privacy." We were the only people there. 

We had our own little bungalow and the view was spectacular.

The rooms were simple, but perfectly rustic and cozy. See mosquito net for function and ambience. 

Also it came with a tiny puppy who sat outside our door and waited for us to give if scratches and snacks. We obliged.

 

Because we were the only patrons of the establishment, the Proprietor (whose name we never were able to understand/pronounce) acted as our personal guide all afternoon. He took us three places: a cave, a temple, a restaurant for dinner. 

2. First we went to a placed called "Chiang Dao Cave." It is a cave, located in Chiang Dao. 

This is where the Burmese army lived while preparing to invade what is now Thailand. It costs 40 baht/person to get in, plus 200 baht "if you want" a (required) guide with a lantern to show you through the cave. Would have rather done it on our own, but somebody's got to pay for the wifi, amiright?

Then we went to a beautiful temple 510 steps up a hillside which was very meditative and peaceful. 

The view from the top is all jungle. Chiang Dao is a common vacation destination for Thai people, but not so much for internationals. Since it's off-season, we pretty much had the place to ourselves (if you don't count the monks).

3. Finally it was time for dinner. Proprietor took us to this restaurant named "Chiang Dao Good View."

Way to under-promise and over-deliver, Chiang Dao. I appreciate your natural beauty and straightforward naming convention. Add us to your list of satisfied customers. 

Doi Chiang Dao and the Adventures of Daniel Boone

Since Michael was able to get here earlier than originally planned, we had some spare time with which to get creative. When asked what he'd like to do, his answer was "I'd like to find something big and spend the whole day walking up."

Sure. Me too. 

Enter: Doi Chiang Dao, Thailand's third highest mountain. 

Officially, it's not to be done in one day (summit day one, sleep on the mountain, descend next morning) but this only served to spur Michael's natural "wanna bet?" tendencies. 

So, with our trusty Proprietor by our side, we sweet-talked (read: stood silently while Proprietor did all the work) our way into a one-day trip. 450tb for the national park fee, 1000tb for the required guide, one signature to confirm you know what you're getting yourself into. 

The mountain is 2.2K high, which may not sound like much, but easily illustrated how seriously my cardio-vascular fitness has been taking this vacation. Michael gleefully bounded up the mountain, I more or less crawled. 

This is our guide Boone. He is my mortal enemy. 

Boone gets paid the same fee no matter how long it takes me to haul my miserable body up the mountain, and clearly he was trying to increase his overall hourly wage. Michael, by his own admission, likes to see if he can push the guide to his physical limit. Suffice it to say, much of the trip I could see no human before or behind me. Sarah v wilderness. 

Every once in a while (minutes? hours? days?) Boone would stop and wait for me to catch up, presumably because Michael wouldn't tip him as well if I perished on the trail. At these intervals, Boone's tactic for coaxing me up the hillside was to continually repeat the phrase "one more kilo" to imply "hey champ, you're almost there."

After approximately twelve of these refrains, I began to believe he was instead intending to communicate "you have lost one more kilogram of sweat and self confidence since the last time we stopped."

Either way, we eventually made it and the view was spectacular. 

On to the beaches!