Northern Thailand backpacking trip

Here are a bunch of pictures from my trip to northern Thailand in October during my school break. I went up to my friend and fellow PCV's site Garrett and also the city of Chiang Mai. Garrett's site is located in the province of Chiang Mai and the district of Mae Jam. His district has quite a population of Karen people, who are one of the many mountain tribes living in the north of Thailand. Most Karen people speak the Karen language as their first language and learn Thai as they go through school. This is true in most cases, but as we backpacked we definitely ran across some people (mostly older) who only spoke Karen, so we had to have our guide translate into Thai. The backpacking lasted two nights/three days and was some of the most up and down hiking I've ever done. Even though the mountains around the north aren't alpine, they are definitely steep! I also don't think many people around here have ever heard the word "switchback." "Straight on up" was more the phrase of choice to describe most of the trails we hiked on. It was really amazing to see this other side of Thailand that I had no idea existed. From the language to the houses to the food to the clothes the Karen culture is definitely a little pocket of something completely unique, even for Thailand.

Wat Doi Suthep - Chiang Mai City
Located on a high peak overlooking the city, this temple was definitely great to go see. They have a pavilion overlooking the whole city, and on a clear day you see everything in Chiang Mai.

The dragon staircase leading up the temple of Doi Supthep; supposedly the longest dragon statues in any temple in Thailand.

Getting ready to set out...I'm trying to puff up my chest so I can look as manly as Garrett! The dog just wanted in for the picture...he didn't actually come backpacking with us.

Definitely a candid moment. That's Garrett trying to work his GPS gadget and me scratching my head trying to figure out where the hell we are on the map.

After a little walking around we found our way to a rice shack in the middle of the mountains where we had lunch with some local Karen people working the fields.

This was after our backpacking trip. Near where we ended there is a tourist attraction of "long neck" Karen people. It's pretty exploitative...pretty much just staring at these people wearing rings around their necks as they try to sell you souvenir.

Same village...woman trying to sell cds of the folk music she plays.

I feel like this is a sign you would see on South Park, but they had them every few kilos to let you know what you were coming upon!

The central temple of Wat Doi Suthep - Chiang Mai City

With my friends Garrett and Danai

The second night of our backpacking we camped near a lake outside of a small village. This is the mist coming off the lake in the morning when we woke up.

This is the "mayor" of one of the villages we walked through. He walked with us in the morning for about an hour before headed off into the mountains to work in his rice fields.

After the long way down! We walked for about 12 kilos pretty much straight down and we were all definitely relieved to see the bus stop where we're sitting.

Sign post telling us where we had walked from. I think in total we walked about fifty kilos in three days.

A huge bamboo grove in the middle of a small village. It eerie the way bamboo creaks in the middle of a hot day when the wind blows. I don't know if I've ever heard anything like it.

Coming down a pretty tall we peak we happened upon a tiny village consisting of about five houses, twenty people and no roads going in or out...only footpaths.

Some of the kids who sat with us having tea and eating a fruit similar to grapefruit called "som-o".

An old woman who came to chat with us. The floor she's sitting on is a typical design for the Karen houses I saw. It's a woven bamboo that's really bouncy. It almost feels like you're going to fall through it if you step too hard, but it's great to sleep on because it's so soft.

With some villagers outside the lake town where we camped.

Walking through rice fields.

The first night we stayed with the family of our guide, "Sa-oo." Nice to sit down after that first long haul!

Sa-oo is wearing the white shirt; sitting with his family in the kitchen. Most of the Karen houses had a kitchen in one of the rooms inside the house. The rooms didn't have ventilation, so the smoke turned the ceiling black and could get quite smoky. I'm not quite sure why they don't have chimneys.

On the way uphill. Garrett, Sheila and myself.

Nice view overlooking the surrounding mountains.

Garrett, Sa-oo and myself.

Rolling hills.

Crossing the bridge into the tiny village we went to. Took a nice, freezing! bath in the river!

New Pictures

Fellow PCV's at our second training about a month ago.

Getting silly after a few weeks togther! Note: that is an Italian, table cloth shirt with an array of colored dragonflies...sweet.

Me with a student at a school where orphans and battered children can go to received a full education through high school. The school also helps with specialized skills (like agriculture) or funding if a child wants to eventually go to college. I think this girl was terrified of me.

The bridge over the river Kwae. Yes, it does exist.

I CAN AND WILL USE THIS BUTTERKNIFE.

Teaching kids English about parts of the body. This was at a three-day English camp where kids had different sessions to study different areas of English. We usually try to make these camps as fun as possible to get the kids excited about studying foreign languages.

Same camp. Th students were divided up over the three days into "colored" teams.

Me, with PCV Prema (far left) and her supervisor (middle) who had her hand suspiciously close to my butt and kept rubbing my arm hair.

This was a picture from our PST 2 (second training). James, the PCV wearing the red shirt in the middle, is an awesome teacher and was leading an activity that day.

This is a group of us that all live in the region of Thailand known as "Isan." We decided to have shirts made that read, "Proud to be Isan" and have a list of 10 things that say, "You know you live in Isan if...." Isan seems to be pretty similar to the Midwest in the U.S. Lots of farmland and good ol' boys. Isan is also a region where a lot of people speak Laos, which is similarly sounding to Thai, but has all different vocabulary.

Myself, Somneuk (friend and English teacher) and fellow PCV John at a different English camp in my province. It was funny, the name tags we received for the camp read, "Smart Kids Einglish Camp".

Same camp with the kids up and dancing to a song called, "The Banana Song," which I think I will remember as long as I live!

Trainer and student dancing to a "Singin' In the Rain."

My awesome co-teacher, Renu, and our sixth-grade class at Ban Nong Pak Wan School. This school is really small with apprx. 180 students.

Hamburgers! This is the son of my co-teacher, and he came over to my house to help me make hamburgers. They were delicious, and I think we even used some sort of steak meat (it's hard to tell).

Wat Banpet in my town. This is really one of the most beautiful temples I've seen so far in Thailand. This is the same temple as from a previous picture. It sits out in the middle of a small pond and has murals and tile work all around the structure.

The Buddha outside the front door to the temple. Looks like a few birds were trying to enlighten themselves and forgot to go to restroom.

At the temple, they have these little doors that hold the remains of the cremated. During special holidays throughout the year, family will go and pay respects to the remains. This is usually done with a string ceremony, where the family and monks hold a piece of string tied to the ashes and pray for the deceased. They also light incense and place it in front of the shrine.

Another English Camp! Teaching about directions and having fun with the students. They're trying to lead their friends through an obstacle course by only using the phrases, "Go straight, turn left, turn right, go back and stop."

Handsome fella. You'll see a lot of kids "framing" their faces for photos. I'm not too sure where this came from.

Me at a national park near my site. It's called Pa Hin Ngam, which translates to beautiful, stone forest. These stones were supposed to have formed hundreds of thousands of years ago when this part of Thailand was an ocean. There are also a huge cliff and fields of this special flower known as "Dog Gateow."

I watched this man climb up this coconut tree and begin to cut off all the top branches and leaves. I was later told that they do this because after about ten years a coconut trees' fruit isn't as good as it was from the ages 2-5. He then proceeded to cut down nearly all of the trunk of the tree too!

These are rice fields near my house where I go jogging. During the hot season they are dry and brown, but lately they've all turned beautiful and green. Throughout the fields are these little shacks where rice farmers will eat lunch and take breaks.

Me with teachers at a parade to celebrate the candle festival, which is a religious day in Thailand. There was a float covered in wax with a huge candle on it made entirely out of wax.

Students from my school carrying a banner and Thai flags. The yellow flags are for the king of Thailand as yellow is nationally his color.

My co-teacher Renu at Pa Hin Ngam. I love the outfit. It's no joke.