north in Thailand

Left Bangkok after just two days to meet up with friends up north in Chiang Mai.

In Bangkok, we mostly just walked around (and sweated) in the heat to get a feel for some of the city, and checked out Buddhist temples (there's a lot of them - more than 300, the book says). Our second day was mainly spent in the Grand Palace complex, which also includes an ornate temple containing a Jade Buddha.

Took the night bus to Chiang Mai on Tuesday night hoping to catch our friends (Americans we met in New Zealand) before they left on a three-day hike Wednesday morning.
Chiang Mai is known for treks taking tourists to hill tribe villages - people well away from the Thai cities and some of the poorest people in the country. We ended up catching our friends and going on the trek with them. The hiking itself was quite nice - we carried backpacks with clothes and a few other niceties, while the food was prepared for us. The hike wasn't too demanding, although the first day was all uphill and the heat/humidity was well up there. Over the three days we walked through a number of villages. Generally they're loose collections of buildings made of bamboo with thatched roofs, with chickens, pigs, dogs and cats roaming around the dirt. The villagers subsist on agriculture - we saw mostly corn, some soybeans and other crops; the tour books say opium is also a major part of some tribes' incomes - and selling crafts to the tourists.

The second night we actually camped in a village. The local children sang and danced for us. Saw the local school as well.

The trip also through in a few extras - one afternoon the hike was eased by riding elephants for part of the route and today the final distance was covered by bamboo rafts.

Now we're in Chiang Mai for another day to finally see the city (and relax a bit). Sunday we'll head to Laos, then make our way toward Cambodia.