Pai the turist trap and Cave Loadge the jungle adventure

Pai is a little very touristy town 4 hours drive from Chiang Mai. The ride is an adventure on its own with it's 726 sharps turns. Finally , there are mountains and jungle around.
Pai is what it is ... touristy little place with restaurants, bars and bamboo huts to make all the tourists feel adventurous, unfortunately not much of a Thai feel.

I took a lesson in Scooter riding in preparation for my Southeast Asia adventure. It went good and I rented a scooter for the day to did a loop around the area, visiting hot springs and waterfalls ( not too special). I got to feel the breeze in my hair and enjoyed the ride.

So far, Tahiland is more touristy than any of the places I visited so far and I was reading the little print in Lonely Planet to find a place of the beaten track ( more like beaten freeway so far). So I got on the bus to Soppong. Only an hour from Pai, this place is it! Authentic Thai experience. I am staying in Cave Lodge, wooden bungalows  set in the green mountains, near river with caves and tribe villages in a walking distance, you can hear the gibbons in the morning and there are snakes and spiders and lizards here too. And only few tourists! This is the place... the travelers paradise! How happy I was to leave all the drunks behind in Pai.

Just following the map from the lodge I visited local Karan Village, good 10 km hike up the hill.

There is a huge cave near by I went to see yesterday, taking the bamboo raft through it. We came back in the evening to see thousands and thousands of Swifts coming back to the cave for the night. Amazing! So many of them, so much noise. 

The "little dots" are birds..

Today is a much needed chill day. I have a cold. It is a good place here to just read my Lonely Planet, planing my next move and chat with the fellow travelers.

Cave Lodge
What an awesome place. So peaceful, set up in the hills. I liked hearing the birds and the gibbons in the morning. I stayed for 4 nights, there is no rush to go somewhere else, when you find place like this.
I hiked to the Karan village with my friends one more time. The 6km of steep hill up and down was much more fun with a good company. We bought more weaved products, feeling good about buying directly from woman who made it. Jess bought a blanket for $25 and we were estimating how long could it take to make, weeks?

This village gets only few tourists there, unlike some other places that the trekking companies take you to, turning the villages into human Zoos. It was different when walking around alone, smiling, saying hi and watching locals who were curiously watching us too.
We took the river trail back, following the river back to our village. It was bit of a bush-whacking, and lot's of river crossings.

I headed back to Chiang Mai for one night. Little more shopping and street food eating.

It is good to keep the spirits happy...
Fanta should do it!

I had a lovely breakfast for the base for the antimalarics that I am starting today. The main side effects are that they can be harsh on your stomach and that you could get sensitive to the sun  (getting sun-burn blisters and rush!). Let's hope I will not get either....
I took a local bus to Taton, little village 4 hours north. I am getting good at staying off the beaten track. There are only handful of tourists in the town. I was enjoying the river views, the lush green hills and the Buddhas set in the hills overlooking the village.

Garlic from the local farm.

Options

I am only staying one night, taking the slow boat to Chiang Rai.

Thailand

Thailand
Bangkok, something old and something new.
I spend few days in Bangkok, actually enjoying the busy, modern town that has all the touristy comforts you can think of. Restaurants, bars, shops and massages, unbelievably clean trains and metro with AC that makes getting around town so easy.
 We went to visit the Royal Palace and braved the heat and the crowds of tourists. We only lasted for little over and hour, taking long taxi ride back to our artsy hostel on the other side of the town. I was sharing a room with friends who I met in Burma.
I visited  the Siam Paragon shopping mall the next day, enjoying the AC and people watching. I could not resist to buy cheese and freshly baked bread from local gourmet food shop, it has been so long since I had good European cheese.

Chiang Mai, place of the markets ... ( nights, Saturday and Sunday)
I took a overnight bus to Chiang Mai, North Thailand . It was just in time for the  Chinese New Year. I like this little town, with it's markets, restaurants and massage parlors everywhere.  I feel like being on vacation. Bicycling around, eating delicious food and I even gave myself a day at the pool.

I've got amazing massage yesterday... hour for $8,50....
Today was all about Thai cooking class. I went to a farm to learn to cook some of my favorite Thai meals. Green curry, pat Thai, coconut soup with chicken, papaya salad and the best ever desert... sticky rise with mango. I didn't burn anything or myself and it all tasted soooo good. Can't wait to have dinner parties now!
I am staying one more day. Tomorrow will be all about pool and evening body scrub and massage. Oh... I just love this life!

It is all about the food in Thailand....

Bugs anyone?

Better give the dragon some money...

The best Tom Kha.... ever

I will be leaving day after tomorrow to go up north to smaller towns, maybe staying in he jungle for few days, with hopefully less tourists. From there I will take boat on Mekong river to cross the border to Laos. I am all excited to be starting a new adventure, now when I am all relaxed and rested.

Mandalay, Hispaw and Pyin Oo Lwin, last few days in Myanmar

Mandalay
I only had short time to visit Mandalay, the second biggest city in Myanmar. I am still traveling with my trekking buddies . We took the over-night bus and we arrived in Mandalay at 4.30 in the morning. We took a taxi to the hill for sunrise. We took a little nap, tired from the long bus ride.

flower made out of money for donations

Liver, heart or brain anyone?

 I the afternoon we took a trip by local transportation to the U Bein's Bridge, the world's longest teak bridge, for the sunset. We barely made it , running the last 15 min under the cheering of locals, with kids joining us for part of it. The sunset was colorful and memorable for sure.

 I spent the morning walking around the market near my hotel. I am leaving in the afternoon for Hsipaw, little mountain town Northeast of here, saying good-bye to my friends.

                                                       Birds anyone?

Hispaw,
Little village in the mountains. I got very excited in the morning when I saw the mountains from the balcony of the hotel. It was raining most of the morning and everything looked green and lush.
I decided to stay few extra nights. Not that it was so special, but the cheep room, amazing hot shower and library made me want to stay and enjoy the comforts.
I spent the days walking around, checking out the little market, old pagodas and Mrs Popcorn garden, where Mrs Popcorn ( old, cute grandma) would make smoothies from fresh local fruit. How little I need to be happy!

 

 

noodles factory...

Pyin Oo Lwin
Yesterday was all about the six hours train ride, described as the most exciting and scenic in Lonely Planet .I was enjoying the views from my upper class section of the very, very bouncy train.
I joined a group of older French travelers to take the pony-led miniature wagon to our hotel.
Good dinner and early night. Traveling makes one tired.

I met Guy ( British guy whose name is Guy, from the train yesterday) at a cafe in the morning. We both felt lazy, but decided to go to the local waterfall. Hotel arranged for a motorcycle and a driver and soon we left the town behind. We hiked on a steep downhill trail until we reached the falls.... Amazing! We were pleasantly surprise to see it was huge, with turquoise clean water and pools that just called our names to jump in. The water was breathtakingly cold and very refreshing. We were happy we came there, even after we had to climb the steep hill up to our motorcycles.

We tried one of the local spots for lunch, eating the local Shan noodles for the last time. They are my favorite food here.
Pyin Oo Lwin was the most westernized and modern from all the towns I visited. Most locals are wearing western clothes. I miss men in skirts!
I am taking a over-night bus to Yangon tonight. I only have 1 full day left of my stay in Myanmar.


Myanmar.
I had such  high expectations and I must say I am little disappointed by Myanmar. There isn't much nature beauty here. Most of the country is still off limits for tourists, with the mountains up north and beaches down south where you are not allowed to go. Distances here are just so big, it takes hours and hours on the bus to get from places to places.

Bagan was my favorite place and I did enjoy biking around the pagodas, staying away from the main tourists spots.

 Myanmar is changing every day and watching the change is what made this trip special. It was cash only economy when I got here 25 days ago, and now there are ATMs in major cities.

 The hotels are overpriced with so many tourists coming to visit, you have to actually plan your trip and call few days in advance to book the less expensive hotels . It was free to call from the hotels at the beginning of the trip, but as we got to more touristy places, they would charge for phone calls. Sometimes you would have to call 10 hotels just to find one room. You are often paying 15-20 for ugly room with outside toilet and cold shower.  The cheapest room I stayed was for $7 in Hispaw and the room was little bigger than closet, but with amazing hot shower outside.

What I love about Myanmar are the people. They are friendly and still very welcoming and helpful to tourists. You get so much attention just walking on the street. Everybody smiles and says hello, or hi or bye-bye. My favorite were markets in small villages. So many colors and smells.
Most of the tourists here are over 50, not many young backpackers visiting here. I was lucky to have the best crew for the trekking trip and I hope to meet them all in the future.


I had a good time exploring this country, but Nepal is still on the top of my list so far. I am excited to be in Thailand soon.