Day 22 / 23: Doi Suthep National Park, Sri Lanna National Park and Trekking

Planning this trekking excursion definitely took a bit of patience, but it was so worth it in the end. It cost 2,500 Baht which is definitely on the steeper end but given the range of activities, it was worth every penny (or satang)! We took off from Chiang Mai in the morning with a packed agenda: playing in waterfalls, hot springs, hiking, riding elephants, showering in a river, bamboo rafting, spending the night in a remote village, fireworks and sing-a-longs around a campfire. It was probably my favorite experience so far.

The pictures show a variety of the natural beauty that surrounded us along the way. It was simply incredible. We visited 4 local villages (2 Karen and 2 Lahu villages) and our guide was from one of Lahu villages. The experience was so authentic that we even went to his childhood home and met his mother. The villages were very small, one with only 17 people, but all had running water. I heard that the King himself has visited each and every village in Thailand to ensure that they have this basic necessity and the ability to grow their crops. Quite impressive, especially in comparison to some of the villages in India that I have seen.

At night, they made us the most delicious Thai dinner in the village. We had a yellow curry, sweet and sour vegetables, green beans and tofu and rice. The pictures are not of the best quality (used my Iphone) but they shed some light on the activities for the evening. Despite it not being the Loi Kratong/Yi Peng festival, we wrote our wishes on a lantern and sent it to the sky. I was actually quite excited for this. My wish was “to live with passion in every aspect of life”. 🙂

*Thanks Katie and Sira for some of the photos! It was a wonderful 5 days together. Look forward to visiting you guys in Colorado! 🙂