I could scarcely be bothered with my camera on this last trip; with so much food to eat, and so many things to occupy my time, who can? All, however, was not lost and there are still a handful of them.
Chiang Mai, according to its critics, has more or less become a backpacker’s ghetto a little worse than Khao San, with every man and his brother (and wife and sister and mother) running trekking tours. The signs are frightfully clear: “elephant”, “hilltribe”, “bamboo rafting”, being the clearest. We didn’t want to go to see hilltribes just for the sake of it; going to see long necked Karen was against my principles (for complex reasons relating to the ‘human zoo’ concept). And if I wanted to see the “simple ways Asians live in villages” I could just go to my village in China. On elephants: honestly, we’re Asian — I’m not paying a fortune to bloody wash an elephant for the novelty of it. (We gave elephants a chance in Koh Chang, it’s just one of those things you do _just once_; and found it very amusing to see every single white person on the group fork out extra money to “help wash the elephants” while we waited around with the elephant trainers drinking coffee then got to sit on the newly clean elephants washed by white people..).
So we left Chiang Mai and spent several days in a less popular area, but which was for me the highlight of the trip. It’s “still a secret”:http://popagandhi.com/235/keep-your-body-low-baby/, I don’t want to have to fight to make reservations at this special place, so I can only mention that it’s not Pai; it’s often described by Chiang Mai residents and expats to be the “best kept secret” they’re not telling anyone about, so I’m not breaking ranks here. The people running this wonderful hideaway at this secret place are, expectedly, wonderful people. Their treks were not the cheapest, but I’m happy to hand over the extra, knowing they have a policy of giving as much business as possible to the less privileged locals, with part of the money we paid going to donations for villagers as well. In short, we didn’t get long necked Karens, or a troop of hilltribe villagers coming to greet us with hurrah and try to sell us bracelets. But we got:
5 hours of walking and climbing, caves to squeeze into, and wonderful views.
A tranquil afternoon in a small village. It was pretty much just the two of us.
An excellent guide who could not bear to see two girls suffering under the weight of their bags and water bottles, and so happily carried them for us.
Intruding on other people’s lazy afternoons.
Refreshing streams (imagine if I had just kicked a pipe near the waterfall, the town’s water supply would have been disrupted).
Gorgeous food.
Dirty little girls with eyes that can kill.
Many other things to look at, “amongst other things”:http://www.flickr.com/photos/skinnylatte/archives/date-posted/2006/02/26.
possibly related
Keep Your Body Low, Baby /
A Few Asian Getaways /
Tippi the Jungle Girl /
Chiang Mai, A List /
The Magic of Luang Prabang /
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What We Found
I could scarcely be bothered with my camera on this last trip; with so much food to eat, and so many things to occupy my time, who can? All, however, was not lost and there are still a handful of them.
Chiang Mai, according to its critics, has more or less become a backpacker’s ghetto a little worse than Khao San, with every man and his brother (and wife and sister and mother) running trekking tours. The signs are frightfully clear: “elephant”, “hilltribe”, “bamboo rafting”, being the clearest. We didn’t want to go to see hilltribes just for the sake of it; going to see long necked Karen was against my principles (for complex reasons relating to the ‘human zoo’ concept). And if I wanted to see the “simple ways Asians live in villages” I could just go to my village in China. On elephants: honestly, we’re Asian — I’m not paying a fortune to bloody wash an elephant for the novelty of it. (We gave elephants a chance in Koh Chang, it’s just one of those things you do _just once_; and found it very amusing to see every single white person on the group fork out extra money to “help wash the elephants” while we waited around with the elephant trainers drinking coffee then got to sit on the newly clean elephants washed by white people..).
So we left Chiang Mai and spent several days in a less popular area, but which was for me the highlight of the trip. It’s “still a secret”:http://popagandhi.com/235/keep-your-body-low-baby/, I don’t want to have to fight to make reservations at this special place, so I can only mention that it’s not Pai; it’s often described by Chiang Mai residents and expats to be the “best kept secret” they’re not telling anyone about, so I’m not breaking ranks here. The people running this wonderful hideaway at this secret place are, expectedly, wonderful people. Their treks were not the cheapest, but I’m happy to hand over the extra, knowing they have a policy of giving as much business as possible to the less privileged locals, with part of the money we paid going to donations for villagers as well. In short, we didn’t get long necked Karens, or a troop of hilltribe villagers coming to greet us with hurrah and try to sell us bracelets. But we got:
5 hours of walking and climbing, caves to squeeze into, and wonderful views.
A tranquil afternoon in a small village. It was pretty much just the two of us.
An excellent guide who could not bear to see two girls suffering under the weight of their bags and water bottles, and so happily carried them for us.
Intruding on other people’s lazy afternoons.
Refreshing streams (imagine if I had just kicked a pipe near the waterfall, the town’s water supply would have been disrupted).
Gorgeous food.
Dirty little girls with eyes that can kill.
Many other things to look at, “amongst other things”:http://www.flickr.com/photos/skinnylatte/archives/date-posted/2006/02/26.
possibly related
Keep Your Body Low, Baby / A Few Asian Getaways / Tippi the Jungle Girl / Chiang Mai, A List / The Magic of Luang Prabang /