5/26
Doi Inthanon
Ariel
and I needed a break from the heat and pollution of Chiang Mai, so I rented a
car and we drove a few hours outside of town to Doi Inthanon, the highest peak
in Thailand. It was a beautiful drive through the countryside, but we took a
bad route and made some wrong turns, so the drive took almost four hours to get
to the park. Even at the park entrance, before climbing further up the
mountain, we could tell the temperature was significantly lower.
We
drove higher up the mountain and reached a big pullout with a nice view, and
there was a guided hike available there. At this point the temperature was very
cool and we both had to put on long sleeves, which was very refreshing. We
hired our guide, a local Hmong guy that was very nice, and we walked through
the cool, dark jungle (they call it "cloud forest" which is much
cooler), and we eventually made it out of the jungle into a big meadow with
clouds blowing by. We descended a bit, and the clouds dissipated and we
were able to see the huge valley far below. I took tons of pictures. We lingered
for a while just soaking up the view and the nice cool air. The hike continued
along the edge of the cloud forest for a while where we saw a rhododendron - Doi
Inthanon is the only place in Thailand where rhododendrons grow - and we also saw
some baby birds.
After
the hike, we drove to the very top, but there wasn't really anything of
interest at the top. We took a much faster route back to Chiang Mai, and I
managed to return the car without having hit any motorbikes or anything else!
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