'Mitch the Entertainer' 's long-awaited visit to Chiang Mai, Dec 2007
Motorbike adventure to Chaing Dao and beyond...
First stop--fill up the hogs
agricultural landscape east of Chiang Dao near Pang Daeng Nai village
Karen village at the end of the road
The beautiful limestone massif of Doi Chiang Dao (2,175 meters)
morning at the Chiang Dao Nest, right at the base of the mountains and the CD Wildlife Sanctuary
our bungalow
massive emergent Dipterocarp trees at the Nest
equally massive bamboo
possibly the largest ever witnessed by world-renowned bamboo expert, Mitch
heading up into the wildlife sanctuary on one of northern Thailand's most beautiful (and paved!) roads
looking back at Doi Chiang Dao
a pack of pigs came between us and our 'hogs'
bathing water buffalo of Muang Kong village, just to the west of Chiang Dao Wildlife Sanctuary
Heading north following the tranquil Mae Taeng River. Just as we were commenting how nice it would be to raft down, a couple floated around the corner.....
scouting out the bridge into a Muser village. We elected not to take the bikes over it....
Dilemma #1. The road seems to end here....
No, our mistake, there goes the road right through the river....
scouting out a crossing
seems a little deep for those bikes in the distance.....but we went for it....
nearby villager pretending to try and catch fish while he really came to watch us lose our expensive rental bikes in the river....
magically, the bikes appear on the other side of the river.....
Dilemma # 2. 100 meters away, we had to make another crossing.....Mitch shows how it's done....
Half the village 'happened' to be there to cheer us on....
Ah, safe on the other side. Time to get those socks back on....and find a place to stay before it gets dark, or we'll be sleeping in the jungle...
Coming out of the pine forest just as the sun is setting....
our last 'bridge' crossing, woven bamboo
rice fields of civilization outside of Wiang Haeng
our dingy cinderblock cell in Wiang Haeng....
next morning, heading back to Chiang Dao and Chiang Mai
early morning mist
Wiang Haeng gas station
the competition
giant rooster in the middle of a field?>?!!
awesome strangler fig
Mitch and a reindeer-like epiphyte
banana stalk hearth for keeping warm at night (drops below 10C)
veggies
lizard sun-bathing on the road
upland agriculture
elephant camp off the highway on the way back to Chiang Mai
First stop in Chiang Mai, a 2 hour Thai massage ($8) to heal the aching body
a celebratory whiskey taste test--Black Label or 100 Pipers?
lights on the town
creative bar name
Pit stop for some sugar cane feeding.....
Motorbike adventure to Chaing Dao and beyond...
First stop--fill up the hogs
agricultural landscape east of Chiang Dao near Pang Daeng Nai village
Karen village at the end of the road
The beautiful limestone massif of Doi Chiang Dao (2,175 meters)
morning at the Chiang Dao Nest, right at the base of the mountains and the CD Wildlife Sanctuary
our bungalow
massive emergent Dipterocarp trees at the Nest
equally massive bamboo
possibly the largest ever witnessed by world-renowned bamboo expert, Mitch
heading up into the wildlife sanctuary on one of northern Thailand's most beautiful (and paved!) roads
looking back at Doi Chiang Dao
a pack of pigs came between us and our 'hogs'
bathing water buffalo of Muang Kong village, just to the west of Chiang Dao Wildlife Sanctuary
Heading north following the tranquil Mae Taeng River. Just as we were commenting how nice it would be to raft down, a couple floated around the corner.....
scouting out the bridge into a Muser village. We elected not to take the bikes over it....
Dilemma #1. The road seems to end here....
No, our mistake, there goes the road right through the river....
scouting out a crossing
seems a little deep for those bikes in the distance.....but we went for it....
nearby villager pretending to try and catch fish while he really came to watch us lose our expensive rental bikes in the river....
magically, the bikes appear on the other side of the river.....
Dilemma # 2. 100 meters away, we had to make another crossing.....Mitch shows how it's done....
Half the village 'happened' to be there to cheer us on....
Ah, safe on the other side. Time to get those socks back on....and find a place to stay before it gets dark, or we'll be sleeping in the jungle...
Coming out of the pine forest just as the sun is setting....
our last 'bridge' crossing, woven bamboo
rice fields of civilization outside of Wiang Haeng
our dingy cinderblock cell in Wiang Haeng....
next morning, heading back to Chiang Dao and Chiang Mai
early morning mist
Wiang Haeng gas station
the competition
giant rooster in the middle of a field?>?!!
awesome strangler fig
Mitch and a reindeer-like epiphyte
banana stalk hearth for keeping warm at night (drops below 10C)
veggies
lizard sun-bathing on the road
upland agriculture
elephant camp off the highway on the way back to Chiang Mai
First stop in Chiang Mai, a 2 hour Thai massage ($8) to heal the aching body
a celebratory whiskey taste test--Black Label or 100 Pipers?
lights on the town
creative bar name
Pit stop for some sugar cane feeding.....
posted by Barry Flaming @ 8:24 PM
1 Comments:
At 6:25 PM,
Leigh Mitchell said…
Barry - looks like an amazing trip. Beautiful photographs. What are you up to these days? I've just moved to Timor-Leste with World Vision. It's an incredible job and much more interesting than Fundraising and CSR I have to say. Also - it looks like I will be in BKK for a week in April - hopefully a little longer. I plan on heading up to Mae Sot as soon as I arrive and then maybe over to Chiang Mai and then back down to BKK around April 12th. Let me know if you have plans around that time. Maybe we could try (yet again) to catch up in Chiang Mai for Songkran.
peace
Leigh
leigh.h.mitchell@gmail.com
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