Temple tour and rock climbing

Yesterday was the temple tour day. It was a nice break from the previous days of getting muddy and dirty. We got an extra hour of sleep, which was nice too.

After breakfast we headed outside where over 20 rickshaws were ready to pick us up . The rickshaw
Is an old mode of transport in Thailand that dates back to the 1800's. It's basically a bicycle pulling a seat with wheels covered with a shade. It's a lot like an unmotorized tuk tuk. The rickshaw is a dying tradition, the only city they are allowed in anymore is Chiang Mai and there are only a hundred left. Once I chose my Rickshaw (they fit only one passenger), 20 or so other rickshaws took us around Chiang Mai to look at temples. Most of the rickshaw drivers were old Thai men, I felt guilty having him pull me a long.

After seeing some temples we stopped at one of the oldest ones that was built in the 14th century, roughly 100 years after Chiang Mai was founded (Chiang Mai is 500 years older than Bangkok, you can still see the old city wall and moat in the city).

After that we headed to the forest temple, aptly deep within a forest. Before we looked around, Milk, and our guide, Beer, gave us a Buddhism 101 course. We learned about Buddhas life, basic beliefs, and how monks live.

I really enjoyed the forest temple, under the temple were a bunch of cool tunnels we also got to explore.

After that we hopped in some vans and drove up a winding road up a mountain to a little city called Doi Suthep. Many sets up stairs later,
We got to the top and explored a beautiful golden temple and stupa. I got a monks blessing for good fortune and an orange charm with Buddha in the lotus position: the symbol for thursday when I was born. The temple had an amazing view of Chiang Mai.

Not a lot happened after the temple tour. I got some dinner and shopped around a little .

Today was full of fun adventure. We all headed to Crazy Horse Buttress to do caving, rappelling, and climbing. Once we arrived we split in to two groups. Our group started off with caving and rappelling. We climbed to this huge cave where we did a Tolorean rope (it's like a zip line) a couple hundred feet above the cave floor. From there we rappelled all the way down and took an exit out of the cave. Afterwards we checked out another pretty neat cave near by.

For lunch we had a delicious fried rice before we began climbing. Once finished we walked up to the climbing area after instruction on how to belay. I climbed four different walls. The last one took me so long to finish. I got stuck at this hard spot for 15 minutes, and the more I tried climbing the less energy I had to try it again. Finally I was able to do it, it was a matter of where my feet were placed. Never have I gotten more exhausted climbing, i felt very accomplished.

Now we are just napping and chilling in the hotel room. For everyone but 7 of us, this is the last night we have together before most of our group leaves tomorrow. I can't believe how fast the trip has gone, I'm not looking forward to waking up a day after tomorrow with most everyone gone out of my life, for probably for ever. I really hate saying good bye, I feel like that's all I've been doing this summer. I guess that's life, you just have to accept change no matter how hard it can be...

Tomorrow we are all getting Thai massages. A few of us, including me, have signed up to do something which I might really regret beforehand. I'm going bungee jumping, it has to be done. It freaks me out thinking about it. I'll just have to do my best to stay present and be scared when the time actually comes!

Hill tribes, rafting, and elephants

Wow. Sooo much has happened in the last couple days. Unfortunately I'll have to condense a substantially large amount of events and info to one post: I apologize. I'm behind because I haven't had electricity.

Friday we woke up early with a 2 days worth of clothing in one pack. Today we hiked up to the Lahu hill tribes. Our guide told us a lot about the Lahu and other tribes. Most are people from Burma and China seeking a better place to live. Many hill tribe people grew opium up until after WW2 when it was made illegal.

The scenery on the way was amazing, I loved the cloud cover and the fog. We stayed the night at the Lahu outpost and had a nice bonfire. At dinner I tried fried crickets, they tasted interesting, but in a good way. Tonight my iPhone died, so unfortunately I missed out on a lot of photos via phone, but i got a lot on my camera.

The next day we had a very steep and muddy trek down the mountain. We began tallying points for people every time they feel because of how slippery it was. I had a couple pretty good falls. After what felt like forever, we made it to a beautiful waterfall. As soon as I got there I wanted to leave because a million other Trekkers were there too: it was muddy and chaotic.

To clean off all of the mud we went white water rafting on the Mae Taeng river. This was the best rafting I've ever done, the rapids were insane!

After the long hard day we stayed at the beautiful Lisu lodge. Before checking In i had lemon grass juice: It tasted just like froot loops. I stayed in a neat pavilion with a room to myself. Once it got dark the village children put on a traditional dance for us in Lisu tribal clothing.

The next day (today) we woke up to a great breakfast (with bacon!!!) and headed to the Elephant Nature Park. It was a truly amazing experience. We got to touch and feed the elephants and bathe them in the Mae Taeng river. As amazing as the experience was, it was also quiet saddening. Many elephants at the park have suffered before. A couple had blown off feet because they stepped on land mines, some were blind because their eyes were stabbed because they didn't comply. One had a broken hip through forced breeding. It was really heartbreaking. We watched an hour video talking about their plight. For such a revered and sacred animal in Thailand, many aren't treated very well. I'm glad there are places like Elephant Nature park for elephants, it's crucial in a nation where more and more land is being converted into agriculture.

After the nature park we got to the hotel where I was able to charge my phone and continue to take pictures. We celebrated a girl named Kendall's birthday at a nice restaurant on the river. Afterwards we let off some lanterns into the sky. After dinner we headed to the gigantic Sunday market literally across the street from our hotel (I'll post a picture!). I got a ton of amazing things here.

Once again, I'm exhausted! I had to pump this one out though it was much needed. Sorry: no pictures to post of the elephants or rafting but you will all get see them eventually:)