The Northern Thai City of Chiang Mai

After saying my goodbye’s to Keith at the airport as the taxi whisked him away to a different terminal, I made my way through security to my boarding gate at Bangkok International Airport, destined for Chiang Mai, 500 miles north.  Just before boarding, I hopped online and gave Caleb a quick phone call as I hadn’t spoken to him in over a week.  To my luck, he answered and I asked him if he had any recommendations on places to stay as he’d told me he’d be passing through earlier in the week.  To my utter surprise, he said he’d arrived by train to Chiang Mai in the early morning with a couple of girls from Vancouver, BC he’d met on the TWENTY SEVEN HOUR bus ride (puke) he’d just endured from Laos and already secured accommodations coincidently enough with an extra bed. 

Excited by the chance rendezvous after two weeks apart, I boarded the Thai Air flight and an hour and change later, I touched down in the beautiful city of Chiang Mai with the sun shining overhead as a welcome gift.  I snagged a taxi and made my way through traffic to the hotel where Caleb and I finally reunited!  We chatted for the next half hour or so, catching up on the highlights during our time away from one another before he showed me to the sweltering sauna he called a room for $8 per night.  He introduced me to the girls from Vancouver, Sarah and Amanda, before the four of us made our way out to a restaurant for dinner.  It was actually really nice to get an opportunity to have a conversation with people so close to home!  The food was amazing and the assortment of cocktails made for a really great meal.   One of the girls, Amanda, had recently got word from back home she’d passed a difficult real estate license exam of some sort that she’d been preparing for since after she finished her undergrad many months earlier and she informed us we were required to celebrate her amazing accomplishment!  Caleb and I made our way to a local 711, grabbed a large bottle of Raspberry Smirnoff (her choice), a few Red Bulls, and some Sprite and walked down to the street. I flagged down an open air tuk tuk driver and instructed him to drive around the bustling city for an hour while we chilled, listened to the music pouring out of the various bars and discos, conversed and celebrated away the evening! 

Our charriot awaits!

Amanda directing our driver on where to go! 

By the time we made it to the hotel later that night, we were all in less than favorable condition.  Caleb had a room on the upper floor while the girls had a room on the lower floor, a solid 20 degrees cooler.  I accepted the offer to join them and left Caleb to his steam room by himself.  I jumped in bed and before 20 minutes had passed, I realized falling asleep would be utterly impossible to accomplish.  I told the girls to hang tight as I left in search of an air-conditioned room at 2:30 in the morning.  I don’t mind roughing it now and again, but certain circumstances, I simply can’t, I HATE waking up to a hot room!  I didn’t have to walk far when I noticed a finely groomed hedge surrounding a large compound and swimming pool.  I made my way to the front desk and said I needed a room for three probably 13x as loud as I needed to.  They said they had a superior suite available and I tossed them my credit card and grabbed the key (I’d later regret not caring to ask how much) and opened up the door to an Antarctic blast of air.  My life had been restored.  I headed back to the old hotel, grabbed my new friends and said “Nobody puts baby in a corner!” (what?).

The next morning, I thanked God for my sauced up decision the night before as the cold air was the only thing holding my insides together.  I indulged in a complimentary first class breakfast and 6 liters of water before flopping in the pool where I remained for the next several hours trying to cool my core as I was dangerously close to a meltdown.  Sarah made her way into the light an hour or so after I did, however Amanda, being the one who celebrated the hardest, rightfully so, decided to have a day to herself under the covers.  At around 2:00 PM, I walked over to the old hotel to make sure Caleb hadn’t passed away in his sleep.  I asked the front desk if they’d seen him and I was informed he hadn’t moved from the room.  I opened the door to find a nearly nude Asian man laying on top of the bed beading with sweat and moaning in agony………(Caleb’s Asian, get your head out of the gutter!)

He didn’t look good, not good at all.  I couldn’t help but laugh at the situation as I told him where I’d just stayed and that I was irritated the down comforter wasn’t thicker as I’d become a little chilly when I woke up.  I told him when he got his life together to head over to my spot and we’d be relaxing in the pool.  Within the hour, Caleb showed up looking surprisingly refreshed.  He instructed Sarah and I (Amanda was still real sleepy) to get our big boy pants on as he was going to take us out on the town to celebrate Songkran, the Thai New Year!

“New Year time is a time for cleaning. In people from Thailand clean their house entirely. Cleaning the Buddha is also an important tradition during New Year. The Thais wash the idol of the Buddha with water and fragrance. This practice is considered to be auspicious. This brings good luck and prosperity in the household”.

Originally, locals would gently throw a little water on you but over time it evolved  into buying high pressure Super Soakers and spraying the bejesus out of each other.  The celebration in Chiang Mai lasted three days and this was the last chance to participate in it.  Thousands of people had gathered to drink and soak the shit out of each other and it was pure chaos!   At first, I really didn’t think it was going to be as fun as Caleb was making it seem but within minutes, the little boy inside of me came out and I purchased the largest and most powerful squirt gun I could get my hands on and began shooting people right in the face!  So awesome!  Sarah, Caleb and I literally walked the city hour after hour, stopping at various watering holes along the way while having some of the best fun I’ve had in a while!  When was the last time you had a squirt gun fight?!?!??!  Time seemed to blend together and before I knew it, I was back in my hotel, fast asleep in the frigid air under the covers. 

In the thick of things!

The beginning of the end....

I've never seen him happier!

Little man was my go to guy to fill up my gun!

Getting ready!

Got em'!

Chill out old man!

The following day, feeling rejuvenated from so much hydration, Sarah, Amanda, Caleb and myself hopped in a taxi and headed to a place outside of town called Tiger Kingdom.  We’d read on Trip Advisor about a place where you could go and actually play with tigers from little baby ones up to full grown, several hundred pound adults.  I’d done a ton of research on the place because I was really unsure about how humane this place could possibly be.  I thought to myself there was no way they’d let people into these cages unless these tigers were completely drugged up which would really bother me.  We arrived in under an hour to what actually turned out to be a very nice looking compound.  The tigers all had very large, very open enclosures that were kept immaculately clean.  We were quickly shuffled to the ticketing area where we were given the option to decide which size of tigers we wanted to play with.  I naturally chose the smallest ones with Caleb and girls choosing both the smallest and the largest.  We first went a large area where they kept the small tigers and after washing our hands, were allowed to enter.  The cubs were playful and energetic as they climbed all over us.  Our only restriction was we couldn’t touch their front paws or their faces as their bite was still extremely powerful.  We got to spend a total of 15 minutes handling them and it was really, really amazing!

I want to take him home!

Sleeping beauty!

I ended up opting out of the large tiger part due to the fact that I just thought the way they were behaving was unnatural.  They seemed SOOOO lethargic and unenergetic that I really feel like they had to be drugged.  After asking a million questions to a few members of the staff, to which they had a million answers, I still wasn’t convinced.  Caleb did manage to snap a few good photos of the big ones though.

After returning to the hotel, preparations were made for the following day of departure.  The girls were heading on to Southern Thailand to finish the remainder of their trip and Caleb and I decided on renting a couple of sexy looking sport bikes for a 750 kilometer ride around the famous Mai Hong Son loop through Northern Thailand up near the border of Myanmar (Burma).  Early the next day, Caleb and I picked up the motorcycles and said goodbye to the Canadian’s before venturing off through the highlands.  We had considered renting some larger Harley-Davidson’s to ride but after speaking with a few that had done the trip, they said we should really think about getting a sport bike due to the constant switchback style of road.  The bikes we ultimately settled on were a pair of new 650cc Kawasaki’s that the company assured us were the fastest bikes we could rent in all of Thailand, splendid!

We had prepaid for three days of rental as the shop owner said 250 kilometers per day was plenty if we wanted to stop and see waterfalls, hot springs, points of interest, etc.  After a few hours of riding and finally a steadily flow of adrenaline being pumped through our bodies, Caleb and I decided we’d seen enough sites during our travels and instead, focused on enjoying the riding itself.  On the first day, we rode just over 200 kilometers as we didn’t leave till right before noon.  We grabbed a hotel for the night in the quaint city of Mai Son and relaxed in our hotel room before calling it a night.

I woke Caleb up relatively early in the morning, as I knew it was going to be a lengthy trek.  We started the day on what would turn out to be one of the most exhilarating rides of my life.  The scenery and road quality is unmatched by anything I’ve ridden on before and I can understand why it ranks among the worlds best rides.  A quick look at some online specs revealed the bikes do 0-60 in under 4 seconds which forcibly plasters a smile on my face at all times.  I’ve watched throughout the course of our 3-month trip and countless days on rented bikes, Caleb go from a good rider to a great one which makes riding with him that much more enjoyable.  The ride was challenging meaning we had to constantly be thinking about how hard to lean, how much brake, what gear, what’s that car doing, etc.  It was extremely stimulating and I loved the hell out of it.  We arrived in a small, small town about an hour before sunset and checked into the only hotel on Trip Advisor.  The owner was a gentleman from Italy and he told us we were the only people staying there and had the entire compound to ourselves!  If only Caleb and I were gay, it would’ve been extremely romantic……

Twenty kilometers from the hotel stood the highest point in all of Thailand and we’d heard the views were otherworldly at sunset.  By the time we got back on the bikes, we had to make haste up the extremely curvy mountain roads to get there before it got dark.  Upon nearing the summit, we were stopped at a checkpoint with armed guards saying the road was closed, we were 15 minutes too late.  Shit!  Devastated as the short distance had taken us nearly an hour of hard riding, we proceeded to beg the two guards to let us go up.  Reluctant at first, their tune quickly changed as they removed a stack of bills from Caleb’s outstretched arm…….

Another few kilometers up the hill and we arrived at our destination.  The views were spectacular as we had one of northern Thailand’s most visited tourist attraction all to ourselves.  We ran around the different monuments like kids at Disneyland for the first time, snapping countless pictures along the way.

On our way up the mountain!

Nothing like being at a park at sunset with hearts in the garden and the only person in sight is another guy.....

Top of the world! 

We made the ride home in the dark taking an extraordinary amount of bugs to the face and eyes in the process.  A few drinks and some classic games of cards put Caleb and I asleep in short order.  The next morning, we were on the road by 7:00 destined for Chiang Mai once again.  We made one random stop at what turned out to be an incredible waterfall just a few hundred yards off the road.  The three-day trip ended up only taking us two and we were back at our hotel by lunchtime.  The rest of the day and night was spent poolside, catching up on our fading tans and napping, so, so badass of us.

This place was incredible!

The following day we both spent plenty of time planning our next moves as we’d once again be parting ways, this time for good.  Caleb was heading off to Bangkok before transitioning into Cambodia.  As for myself, I’d be making a return to my OCD paradise, Singapore!  Before we knew it, it was time for me to hit the airport and I gave Caleb my final goodbye knowing I wouldn’t see him till we reunited back in to good old US of A.  So long buddy and safe travels!