Chiang Mai has a couple national parks nearby, so we decided to take a tour and check one out.
We don’t have experience with motorcycles at all. We also see a lot of tourists with road rash and broken arms. It would have been nice to learn beforehand, but that’s OK. Tours are fine for where we need to go.
Anyways, the day was pretty uneventful. It was a nice hike, it was hot. Saw some nice waterfalls and apparently Rambo was filmed in one part of the hiking trail. Our group started with 5 people (including our guide, John), but dwindled to 3 after a pair of girls that joined us went off for a bamboo raft boat ride. So it was just us and the guide.
The one nice thing about a tour is there was no way we would have found the trail that we did on our own. The point of the hike was to see some waterfalls. The main ones were full of families and other tourists, but we had a couple to ourselves.
The National Park is inhabited by a lot of local villages. The H’mong and Karen tribes reside in the area. Their villages are through the middle of upgrades with more modern materials. Gone are the thatch rooves that get replaced every year, and in is the corrugated steel metal. Bamboo walls and floors are getting replaced with concrete. Apparently some elders are concerned about the loss of culture. Some older houses are preserved for cultural heritage.
There are a lot of larger trout in the waterfall basins. John would feed them, and swarms of footlong fish would then come to visit. That put Cam off of swimming in the deeper basins a little bit. I couldn’t swim at all unfortunately, doctors orders.
Overall it was nice hike. Our guide showed us this tree that grew monkey fruit which apparently is a hot commodity with the locals. It is not farmed so you have to collect it yourself. Our guide climbed the tree and stuffed his backpack and pockets with the fruit because I think it is quite the side income once he gets home. The fruit is known to cure coughs and sore throats. It was incredibly sour and bitter. Not for our taste but the locals love it.
Overall, a nice little day trip for us. Nothing too special in terms of a hike, but nice nonetheless. Off to other little adventures now! See you there!
Looks a little cooler temperature wise, must be a relief. Luv the pics of goat and pigs, cuties! The villages look off the grid, ‘mai pen rai’
Wise about the motorcycles. You seem to get on a lot of private tours. That makes for some special memories.