Bamboo Rafting

Everyone that comes to this area should definitely experience this! This was by far the best part of the trip so far, and i don't think it's possible for anything to beat it! We got on the bamboo raft, made of five pieces of bamboo tied together, so naturally the raft was half submerged in the creek. And these two awesome guys from Isreal and Sean and I got on, as a local boy of about twelve years old steered us down the river. It wasn't long before the whole ride turned into a giant water fight! This river is a major local hangout and there were tons of kids from Thailand riding the rafts, and as we passed everyone, everyone started splashing eachother! Some local guys kept tossing us beers and they'd all shout a friendly "welcome to Thailand!" before splashing or tossing a bucket of water on us! The river was filled with tons of families and people of every age picnicing on the rocks or the shaded bamboo buildings on the side, who were spending their day splashing everyone who rafted down!

Protected Trees

Once a year, monks go all throughout the jungle and tie peices of their robes to different trees to protect them. If you were to kill the tree, it is like killing the monk who's cloth it wore, and the Gods would look down on you, and you would not be allowed entry into Heaven.

Hike in the Jungle to Meo and Karen Hilltribe villages, and a Waterfall

Today we went on a long, and very hot hike up to some hilltribe villages, where our guide explained to us their unique customs and religious stories. Afterwards we trekked through many fields of rice and corn patties, over to a hidden waterfall.

Elephant Riding

The elephants were really cool! They stopped every couple steps until we fed them another banana, it was pretty awesome, and we met a bunch of cool people on the excursion today, from China, Ireland, Scotland, and Isreal, which made the day even better!

Spicy Thai Backpackers

Finally we're at a hostel! Our bed and breakfast last night was gorgeous.. but it doesn't even compare to how cool this place is! We just finished the funnest, weirdest game of pictionary in the world. Everyone being different nationalities it gets a bit confusing! Areoplanes vs airplanes, and such. So much fun though! Now we're all in the living room playing poker or watching European soccer. And its really cool hanging out with so many people from all over the world who have exactly the same views on things and are here for the exact same experience as me. They've also given their opinion on someof the places we were planning on going to, and Koh Samui, Phuket and Koh Phanagan are officially off the list, and Pai is back up there, hopefully so we can do some hiking and hanging out in somewhere more rural.

Tiger Kingdom

After the temple, we took the red bus up to Mae Rim, to tiger kindom! It was super cool! Bit of overkill on the tiger pictures.. but tbey're just so cute!

Doi Suthep Temple

Went to a beautiful golden temple today, where we saw tons of monks, golden elephants, and awesome gold buddah statues everywhere

Chiang Mai Zoo

Went to the zoo today! Where we got to walk on water, feed a leopard, and see the cutest little elephant!

Cliche Airplane Photo

The view from the plane looking down on Alaska (though the man in front of me was convinced it was Iceland..) It looked pretty sick though, with all the ice sheets floating along the coast.