Chasing waterfalls

Today we decided to sleep in and wake up very late (for us)- at 1000. We end up going to sleep pretty late every night, since there is always so much to do in the night market and since we are on a tight massage schedule. So we woke up at 1000, had a nice half hour massage at the downstairs massage place, "Jo-Jo's massage", and had breakfast at an Indian restaurant in the area.

Originally we had planned to go to Pai, but the prospect of a four-hour minibus ride each way through winding mountain roads discouraged us. It didn't seem worth the trip for only a single day there, and we weren't sure there'd be any decent Internet or even cell reception. So we ended up staying a second night at Nap and seeing some nature nearer to Chiang Mai instead.

We called Mr. Dam, the driver we'd met, who was thrilled at the possibility of taking us to Doi Inthanon national park to see some waterfalls. When he arrived to pick us up with his old clunker, he seemed to have misunderstood where we wanted to go and suggested a nearer waterfall. He was unwilling to go to the national park so late in the day and dropped us off outside our hotel after making a round. So we went into the laundry place\tourist agency and asked the lady-boy who works there to arrange us a driver. 10 minutes and 3000 baht later- our driver, Mr. "Lucky" showed up.

He took us to Doi Inthanon, about an hour and a half away from Chiang Mai city. The first waterfall we saw was very impressive. The bottom part of it was more peaceful and many Thai families were picnicking and wading there. The waterfall itself was situated up a small incline, and you have to pay the national park entrance fee to see it: 40 baht for locals, five times that for farangs (Franks, or foreigners.) We hiked up to the top of the first waterfall that is visible from below, where we had a great view of the valley. Guy could not resist taking off his jeans (he had swim trunks beneath) and wading in the water for a better view from atop the waterfall. That part of the trail was empty of tourists or Thais so we had it all to ourselves.

The trail continued further for higher waterfalls but we were pressed for time so we headed back to the base of the waterfall, where the Thai families were hanging out. Guy went into the water and served as the day's amusement to the locals as he splashed around. One fat Thai man was trying to suck in his stomach and flex his muscles to look more like Guy. Everybody chuckled when Guy tripped in the water. Guy adds: I didn't trip, I slid down a little rock waterslide where the water was flowing fast, but it was Thai-size, not Guy-size, so I scraped my back a little bit on a rock. Don't worry, it was skin-deep: no blood or pain.

Mr. Lucky waited for us in the parking lot, and took us to a second waterfall. It was also very impressive, even though one could not possibly get into the water. There was a lot of misty spray in the air and it was a very nice, refreshing experience.

From there we drove up to see the King and Queen's pagodas, which were very big and beautiful. The wall murals were especially cool, and different in theme between the two. Up there it was already cloudy and quite cool: we put our jackets on.

Our last stop in Doi Inthanon was the peak, which is the highest peak in Thailand at 2500m high. This part least impressed us, since there was not much to see there except a neutron observatory and Thailand's highest gift shop, where Leia bought some cheap, funny socks.

On the way back the driver dropped us off at the mall outside of Chiang Mai, where we ate some exorbitantly expensive (for Thai standards) unimpressive sushi, of fish that clearly was not fresh. Then we looked at smartphones to buy. Sadly these smartphones cost as much as they do back home, even though we saw only one other pair of farangs there, so we left empty-handed.

To sum up the day trip- we are happy we took a driver. There was no other way for us to visit the national park, except rent a moped, which is a bit risky since none of us drove one before and since the Thai traffic laws are still a mystery to us. Only the mall was a huge disappointment. Today we found out that "Guy" in Thai means "Chicken." The driver asked my name and number and referred us to his sister in Phuket in case we want tours or shuttles there.

After the walk around the mall, we took a red cab to the tailor to pick up Guy's suit. Guy bonked his head very roughly getting into the cab: most of them have padding, this one had a broken metal speaker at the top. At the tailor's request, I wrote a letter of recommendation in Hebrew for him to put in his front window. He was happy because he said we are his first customers from Israel, and he hoped our letter would bring more business. He is really a skilled tailor and we wholeheartedly recommend Feroz, even if he doesn't seem to accept that nobody in Israel wears suits.

We caught a red cab back to the hotel, and on the way there was minor drama when Guy's backpack rolled out the back opening of the passenger compartment and onto the street. We stopped the car and picked it up. Leia bought 2 cheap dresses in the night market stalls by the hotel, and Guy took a shower in the room. Then we went to get late massages.

The massage was great, but their rooms were full so they couldn't give us body massages right away. This time I (Leia) took the 30 min foot massage + 30 min Thai body massage, while Guy went to have a snack at the Indian restaurant next door (not the same one from breakfast.) Halfway into the foot massage Guy joined. Since I was done before he was I paid the girls for both of us, including fat tips, before heading back to the room. Guy didn't know this so he left them even more tips when he was done, and we both decided to be happy that the Thai masseuses made a good living off of our tip.