Doi Inthanon
After the Flower Festival we made our way over to Doi Inthanon, a national park and the highest point in Thailand. We were going to take a charter but decided to go by local transportation. We made the drive over in the back of a songthaew, basically a pickup truck with benches running across both sides of the be wi
th a high shell over the top. They are essentially privately-owned people and package delivery vehicles. Red ones are for in town and yellow ones go to surrounding communities. You flag one down and if they are going th
e direction, you want to go, you hop in. They will also pick up and drop off packages along the way. The fare depends on how far you go. For the three of us on an 1 ½ hour trip, it cost 80 baht (about $2.30). Ours was fairly crowded so I spent the first part of the trip standing on the back platform standing outside of the vehicle. It was sort of like snowboarding on land. Once we got to Chomtu
ng outside of the park, I tried to get on another songthaew to go up the mountain. My guidebook and the tourist office said this would be relatively easy but there were no songthaew to be found except to essentially hir
e one and a drive at what I felt were exorbitant rates. So, we looked around and found a place renting motorcycles. We got a little Honda scooter and headed up the mountain. They place was beautiful. We saw some incredible waterfalls and the mountain itself was covered in jungle and shrouded in mist. Finally, with much huffing and puffing and for much of the trip in first gear, the little scooter brought us to the very highest point in Thailand. Very cool.
th a high shell over the top. They are essentially privately-owned people and package delivery vehicles. Red ones are for in town and yellow ones go to surrounding communities. You flag one down and if they are going th
e direction, you want to go, you hop in. They will also pick up and drop off packages along the way. The fare depends on how far you go. For the three of us on an 1 ½ hour trip, it cost 80 baht (about $2.30). Ours was fairly crowded so I spent the first part of the trip standing on the back platform standing outside of the vehicle. It was sort of like snowboarding on land. Once we got to Chomtu
ng outside of the park, I tried to get on another songthaew to go up the mountain. My guidebook and the tourist office said this would be relatively easy but there were no songthaew to be found except to essentially hir
e one and a drive at what I felt were exorbitant rates. So, we looked around and found a place renting motorcycles. We got a little Honda scooter and headed up the mountain. They place was beautiful. We saw some incredible waterfalls and the mountain itself was covered in jungle and shrouded in mist. Finally, with much huffing and puffing and for much of the trip in first gear, the little scooter brought us to the very highest point in Thailand. Very cool. 
Upon returning the scooter we learned that it was “Buddha Day.” So that evening, after returning to Chiang Mai, we went to Wat Chedi Luong and, under a full moon, joined the masses walking around the Chedi three times. Everyone carried flowers and candles and incense. It was quite beautiful. They also had some blast furnace things going in which I think they were firing some type of statue molds, probably of Buddhas, but I'm not exactly sure. Interesting nonetheless.
posted by Braunwarth @ 4:23 PM
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