Back through the countryside we traipse on our way to the Mae Rim district and the Mae Sa waterfall. Sakon tries to entice us into going to the umbrella factory so he can show us how they make umbrellas, but we’ve been there twice, so we thank him but pass. I think he is feeling guilty that all we want to do are these 2 things – but really – that’s all we want to do! We are very happy sitting here in the back of his “nice car” (that’s a big selling point with all the tour guides), drinking our water and watching the outskirts of Chiang Mai pass by.
And pass by they do – Sakon drives like a maniac! Well, relatively speaking, everyone here does. He races through empty stretches of road and passes anyone he can. We’ll get to Mae Sa really quickly this way! As we wind our way from the far east end to the north, we take one of the ring roads where there is tons – and I mean TONS – of development and building. Oh my – the boom is on here for certain. New housing development after housing development – it goes on forever. Crazy!
We finally turn North heading toward the mountains and right into Mae Rim, which I was not expecting! It is a very crowded, busy town with tons of restaurants, stores, etc., lining the main road. I was expecting a country, rural atmosphere – but not so. As I mentioned before, this is a very touristy area – but it is mostly outdoor activities – so I assumed it would be rural. We turn off the main road and start up a winding 2 lane road, which is more what I was envisioning – and here are all the tourist attractions: Tiger Kingdom, Snake Farm, Monkey center, Orchid and Butterfly farm, ATV riding, Bamboo rafting, Bungy jumping, Insect zoo, elephant poopoo paper factory, elephant camps….I could go on, but why? None of this appeals to us – we thought maybe the orchid farm, but then when we drove past it was packed with tourists – packed. You could barely get in the parking lot. Nah – we’re going to the waterfall.
And to the waterfall we go – where we pay our 230b entrance fee and drive up to the main parking lot. There is NO ONE here. How bizarre is this? A few Thais, all with little carrier baskets with picnic supplies. Darn! Wish we would have thought of that! Oh well – we’ll have Sakon take us somewhere for sustenance – for now – we hike!
Sakon says he’ll meet us in 10 or 15 minutes to take pictures. Then points us to the trail and says “up, up, up.” Ok! Up, up, up we go! This place is fabulous – again – there is hardly anyone here, it is beautiful and peaceful and the waterfall goes on forever. There are at least 10 levels. And at many levels you can swim and just mess around in the water. Would be a great day trip to bring your bathing suit, your lunch and picnic up here all day.
Up we go…climbing to levels 7 and 8. Sunny enjoys being back in the wilderness too as we climb around rocks and signs to take scenic pictures.
We go as high as we dare, climbing steep rock steps, then head back down to find Sakon on his way up. Now the real photography begins! He is so adorable – stand here, go there, no – not right, over here! As Ed says, we’ve had more photos taken of the 2 of us today than we have in the last 5 years! It’s great!
The only thing we draw the line at is going into the water. We’ll skip that too – but the rest – well you can see from above – we listened to direction!
This place is great. So peaceful. So lovely. You can see/hear it from the video:
Glad we chose to do this – it was really a great location for a few wilderness hours. But now, we’re basically done. Sakon wants to take us to the orchid farm, but I’m totally opposed. We tell him we just want to go to lunch – can he take us some place with good Thai food? He says yes, but then gets a little confused over lunch and LPG because he was going in the trunk for water bottles for us and that’s where the LPG tank is, and well, miscommunication!
So, we go back to food – miming eating. We want good Thai food. Yes, good, restaurant. Sakon keeps on talking about the Orchid farm, restaurant is good, always full. I finally put my foot down (Ed says I whined!), and say no, no orchid farm, but a restaurant. I’d rather not eat than eat in a tourist trap.
So we head back down the windy road with the tourist attractions – and passing the damn orchid farm, it’s even crazier crowded. Fine. We have food in the condo.
We get another tour around the outskirts of town, this time skimming the Northern section on another ring road, finally dropping off into the road next the Ping which will take us to the condo. Sakorn points out the highlights and talks to us about the 200 Wats (temples) in and around Chiang Mai. We think we’ve probably been to 100 of them! As we get closer to home, the traffic thickens, and then Sakorn pulls off into the lot of a restaurant on the left. Cool! Miscommunication handled! It’s a fabulous outdoor spot right on the Ping with only a couple of tables occupied. He leaves us there and says he’ll be back in an hour. We were going to ask him to eat with us – but he gave us no option. So, ok.
As it turns out, this is Khuey Chiang Mai has been around for 22 years, starting out near the moat in the city, then a year or 2 ago moving out to this new, bigger location on the Ping. We find all this out later when we get back home (after researching it on a site hysterically enough called HungryFatGuy.com – the site is in Thai. It’s all about food and this Hungry Fat Guy reviews restaurants, but the even funnier thing is the Google Translation – I laughed until I cried!). But, anyway, back to the restaurant.
We hang out at a great teak table in the shaded portion of the raised eating space, watching the Ping river and trying to figure out just exactly what we want to eat. The menu is enormous! With fabulous selections like Ant Egg Omelet and Stir Fried Jew’s Ear Mushroom with Egg. Or how about a big old bowl of Pond Snail Curry? No, but wait, they have Salted Puffball Soup! Yes!
We decide to be a little less adventurous and go with some more traditional fare (shown below from L to R): Lanna Northern Style Pork Curry (the pork was tender as could be and the sauce the perfect blend of spices), Minced Pork Omelet soup (which was delicious – a combination of our 2 favorite meals – Khao Soy type soup with a whole pork omelet floating in it!), Half a chicken, fried with lemongrass (the fried lemongrass on top was delightful on it’s own – the half a chicken not so much – literally – it was very small, so our least favorite).
We also had 2 large beers – with ice. I’m liking beer with ice now. Keeps it oh so cold and sort of waters down the carbonation, which is a huge help for me! We leisurely eat our meal, enjoying the scenery and breeze off the river, as we wait for Sakon to pick us up.
Our hour is over, and there is Sakon, waving to us from the parking lot! We hop in the “nice” car and make our way down the Ping to Chang Klan Road and our condo – with one pit stop though – the CD! True to his promise, we stop on the way and pick up the CD with all our fabulous pictures, as well as a couple of others he threw in there to show us where else he could take us (the white palace in Chiang Rai in particular!)
He drops us off at the entrance to our Soi (street), and we are fully expecting him to charge us extra for the CD. Nope – it’s included! Totally cool – so of course we give him a big tip, because he is adorable and it was a great day. We also have his card so when we come back, if we want a tour, he’ll be the first one we call!
Rest and relaxation, then a night out on the town (or the market!).
No comments:
Post a Comment