Day 15 & 16

Friday.

I got up nice and early for my Day Out! 

My pick up was between 8 – 8.30 but me being me I was downstairs waiting at 7.50 🤦‍♀️ I had a change of heart and went back upstairs and made a cup of tea! 

My mini bus arrived at 8.20 our guide and driver was a fab guy called B. The rest of the party consisted of 3 lovely young university students from Singapore,  a couple and their 2 children from Madrid and a couple from Belgium. Everyone seemed nice and friendly. 

We headed out of Chiang Mai, stopping at a large service station with lots of food outlets, to pick up snacks and have a wee! 

The lady from Belgium, who is Thai, very slight and beautiful managed to eat 5 meat sticks, a bag of rice, 3 deep fried bananas and some mango! I honestly don’t know where she put it! I was impressed and not a little envious 😍

The journey to Doi Inthanon National Park was pretty unremarkable, mainly along motorways. I could see the hills and greenery in the distance. 

We turned off and then started to climb up into the jungle. It suddenly becomes really lush, mossy and very green! 

Our first stop was at Wachirathan Waterfall. It was beautiful. 

We had a little walk up to the look out spot then followed the path through a little bit of jungle back to the car park. I’m pleased to say the the walkways were mainly non slip, except for the wooden bits, which were the really slippery! 🤦‍♀️ 

Back in the car park there were more food stalls, I bought some delicious fresh mango and pineapple. 

From here we drove higher up into the jungle and visited Sirithan Waterfall, again absolutely beautiful, not as high but very green and seemed wilder somehow! The viewing platform was wooden 😬 one of the kids slipped over, No injuries, I managed to stay upright! Go me! 

B showed us a plat called Tiger Leaf, which apparently can stop bleeding and is also a great mossie repellent! He also liked to point out the various mushrooms, some were edible some not, personally I won’t be eating any of them! 

From here we drove higher up to visit a small village that produces coffee. We get to try some coffee and have a short break. 

As we approached the village the jungle starts to give way to terracing, with rice fields and small villages. It’s so gorgeous.

Our small village was reached by driving up some very small, very steep little roads. 

When we got out of the minibus you could smell the coffee, yum! 

They produce by hand on quite a small scale, it was interesting to watch. They use arabica beans, which are more suited to higher altitudes. 

We had a table laid out with little cups and pots of Coffee, Coffee Tea and flower tea to try. I tried the coffee which was good, especially as I drank it with no sugar! 

The highlight for the students and the 2 children were the 2 little kittens playing around us. 😻 

Something I really liked was that the village also make these pretty candles in tins, with various designs and smells, mainly flowers or herbs. There also make some traditional wraps etc for sale, as well as the coffee and teas. However you are never pressured into buying anything, the items were around to smell, look at, to taste but no hard sell. I didn’t buy any coffee as I’d have no way of using it while I’m here and it might not travel well. I did buy a couple if the pretty candles. 💜

As we were leaving the village the heavens opened! We stopped to take a few photos and on the road and path were hundreds of teeny tiny frogs! You could barely see the, until they jumped, so cute. 

We were now going to our Lunch stop. The rain had stopped by then, or we had passed above the rain clouds one or the other! 

Lunch was at a large venue which obviously catered to tour parties.

We had a buffet lunch of Rice, sweet & sour chicken, fried chicken, soup and stir fried vegetables. It was perfectly fine, not amazing, but good. 

In a little tree next to our table was a small birds nest with cute little birds, like finches, nesting. I tried to get a pic, but my phone camera isn’t good enough, shame. I also saw lots of beautiful butterflies 🦋 but again unable to get pics. 

After lunch we really started to climb, we were going straight to the top of the mountain which is 2565m above sea level. The climb made my ears pop. 

Once we reached the top I thought there might be a lookout spot, somewhere to see the view, but sadly not. 

We walked through the jungle from the summit, then down towards a walkway which took you through the jungle, again the steps down were ok, steep but not slippery, but the walkways were wooden and in a densely packed, humid jungle they were incredibly slippery, again one of the children fell, and again I stayed upright! (Phew) 

I loved the walk through the jungle, I tried to get ahead of the group just to savour the quiet and the sounds of the jungle. Unfortunately B had other ideas. I think because I’m on my own he’s worried I’m not enjoying myself, I was! He kept talking about James Bond Films, which he loves, as well as Chelsea Football Club. I didn’t really mind. I had managed to get some quiet space. 

From the summit we descended a little bit to visit the King & Queen Pagodas. They were built and dedicated to the grave of King Rama 9 and his Queen, Sirikit. 

They are absolutely stunning, surrounded by beautiful gardens and perched high atop this amazing mountain. 

To reach the Pagodas there were a lot of stairs, my little legs by this point were a tab achy. Then, miraculously before me I see an escalator! Oh Yes! 😃 Joy! 

In the pictures I’ve seen of the Pagodas they views are awesome, looking down onto the clouds, sadly for our trip the clouds had risen to join us, bringing drizzle with them. 

The Pagodas and the gardens were still absolutely gorgeous. The queens Pagoda is a fabulous purple/mauve colour, which I’m not sure is clear in the pictures. 

I had a wonderful walk through all the gardens, which are so well tended by lots of very hardworking ladies. 

B informed us that on the way down the mountain we would be stopping at a food market and also doing some wine tasting…Yes! Wine! 

As we arrived at the food market, the rain started. 

The wine tasting was sadly not what I’d hoped ☹️ the wines are made from various fruits, strawberries, melon, blueberries and were incredibly sweet, like syrup. Not my thing at all. 

As we looked around the rain got heavier and heavier, until it was an absolute deluge! 

The deluge continued for our whole descent of the mountain, which I’m quite pleased about as it meant we drove more slowly on the twisty roads. 

The motorways were also pretty flooded, but didn’t seem to slow anyone down. 😬

I arrived safely back at my hotel at 6pm. B was a brilliant tour guide. I had an absolutely fabulous day. 😍💚

The torrential rain followed us to Chiang Mai! 

Dinner at Kats was accompanied by the thunderous sound of the rain on roof’s! Love it. ❤️

Saturday.

Today is a very special day! It’s my Gorgeous Rebecca’s Birthday!  

She is having a fabulous weekend with Chris at a Spa Hotel. A much deserved break and Birthday treat. 

I can’t believe I’m going to see her beautiful face and be able to hug her and Chris in 20 more sleeps!! 😍😍😍 it’s been nearly 3 years since we were together! Damm Bloody COVID! 

Today I thought I’d have a wander into the centre of the Old City, an area I haven’t been to yet. 

I spent a lazy morning writing my blog and chatting to another guest here, Colin who’s from Auckland. I then popped into ‘Stories’ to use their wifi and upload my blog, I also had a caramel flat white, ok, but not a patch on ours @Coffeeonthecorner 😍

It’s lovely and sunny here today but with a bit of breeze, lovely. 

On my little wander I came across a Mauy Thai training session, which I watched for a while. It really looks hard! The Lady training reminds me of me of Jenna, my gorgeous friend, who is super Hard Core! (But soft and lovely in the middle) 

Dominika, the lovely guest I’ve met, with her husband Gareth and daughter Solomé, is going to Mauy Thai class today. This is super impressive to me, especially in this heat! 

After watching the Mauy Thai I wandered over to look at the 3 Kings Monument, enjoyed the shade of the beautiful trees, who’s flowers, white ones, smell amazing.

As I crossed over the road a young schoolgirl stopped me and asked if she could talk to me. I said of course. Apparently she is here in Chiang Mai from another school and her project is to speak to foreigners and ask them questions! 

Not sure this would pass a Risk Assessment in the UK, but Hey Ho! 

She was super polite, her English was amazing. She asked me my name, where I was from, who I was traveling with, how long I was staying. She took a selfie, then we were done! She was so sweet. 

I wandered around for another hour or so then was feeling very thirsty, fancied a beer! Ended up at the ‘Un Irish Bar’ They had Beer & aircon! 

The beer sorted me out and I continued my stroll till I got to ‘Hummus’ a fabulous restaurant serving middle eastern food, Hummus, Falafel, Baklava, Roasted Cauliflower! It’s sooo good. I had a delicious Falafel sandwich then came back to the hotel.

I spent the rest of the afternoon, in the pool or lying by the pool! Bliss. 

Dinner at Kats. I thought I’d try the Drunken Noodles again, but with much less spice…..Nope! That didn’t work, once again mouth on fire! 🥵 me and Drunken Noodles are done! 

That’s all for now guys.

Have a great weekend. 

❤️💜🌺💙💚🦋🌈