Star Trekking (Chiang Mai, Thailand)

I last posted just before getting onto a boat to cruise among the islands around Koh Phi Phi. That afternoon, we went snorkelling (the water was a bit cloudy from the previous night's rainfall), fed pineapples and bananas to the macaques on Monkey Island, and hung out on the beach at Maya Bay (where "The Beach" was filmed). (By the way, watching monkeys interact with each other makes a pretty convincing case in favor of evolution, by my reckoning at least. Eerily humanlike behavior.)

After more beach time on Phi Phi, Derek and I hopped a flight back to Bangkok. We spent the next day touring Bangkok in a "tuk-tuk," which is an odd 3-wheeled hybrid vehicle, fairly common in Southeast Asia--part motorcycle, part pickup truck, part taxi. And after one day, we'd breathed enough of the polluted city air that we decided to take a bus westward to Kanchanaburi.

For the next two days around Kanchanaburi, we did some more of the outdoor stuff for which Thailand is known: riding elephants, playing with tigers, swimming underneath picturesque waterfalls, and so on. We also took a train trip along the "Death Railway" near the Burmese border--so named because of the large number (100,000+) of Allied soldiers, Burmese and Malay captives who died during its construction in WWII.

After Kanchanaburi, we took the bus back to Bangkok and went immediately to the train station, where we boarded a night train to Chiang Mai, in Northern Thailand. We arrived in Chiang Mai around 7 AM and met up with the rest of our trekking group (outdoor trekking is the thing to do in Chiang Mai) around 10 AM. By early afternoon, we were on the trail. The first day's hike was a tough one, almost entirely uphill. It rained during the last half hour, just before we reached our camp--a bamboo hut located in one of the tribal villages. Once in the village, we were able to dry off, drink beers, start a campfire, and enjoy a dinner of yellow curry. We also saw some people smoke opium that night--a weird thing to see for the first time.

I woke up the next morning with dozens of welts on my body, mostly on my left arm, but in other spots as well. I suspect that ants or some other creature were the culprit (probably not mosquitoes, however). The itching and swelling have come down in the last 24 hours, but it's still annoying (and surprisingly, it's the first notable health issue I've had over here; nothing to worry about, though). Other casualties of the trek: a scratched watch and bruised hip, both suffered while sliding down a waterfall.

We hiked downhill most of the day yesterday, and concluded the trip with some whitewater rafting (though there wasn't much "whitewater" to speak of, given that it's the dry season) before heading back to town. I tried to lead the group singing effort on the way back. It worked for about 10 minutes.

Last night, we were too tired to go out in Chiang Mai, so Derek and I went to see the new Star Trek movie (the second reference in this post's title). The movie was fine, but the most entertaining thing happened during the previews, when everyone in the theater stood silently to "pay homage to his majesty the King." I suppose it's akin to singing the National Anthem before a baseball game, but it was bizarre. They still take royalty seriously over here.

We leave today for Luang Prabang, Laos, which will be my last stop before returning to Hong Kong (from which I'll then fly back to New York). I expect that my next (and likely final) post will be written from my apartment. Complete with pictures, too.