The train arrived in Chang Mai early. It was a foggy morning, so there wasn’t much of a view on the way in. We rumbled into an old train station and offloaded with all our fellow passengers. We had arranged a cab to pick us up around the time the train arrived. Instead we were greeted by what seemed to be a covered pickup truck with bench seating in the bed. I always enjoy the ride into a new city. Assuming you don’t rent a car, you don’t have to worry about the stress of navigation so you’re free to stare out the window. You aren’t on a tour taking the scenic route either. So the ride is filled with local streets and shops and people. Good or bad, it always leaves a lasting impression.

This ride was no different. I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of crowds and tall buildings. Chang Mai had a small town, friendly feel. I wasn’t afraid of being pick-pocketed or scammed. After a short ride we were at the hotel/hostel, where we were told our room wasn’t ready. So we set off on foot to explore the city. Our hotel was just a few blocks outside the “Old City”. The Old City was surrounded by a stone wall and had a large cobblestone courtyard in front of the entrance. Upon entrance, we found many temples and shops setting up for the day. The first temple we stumbled into was filled with monks who were actively praying. Our shorts, backpacks, and wrinkled shirts attracted some awkward glares.

There were temples of all shapes, sizes, colors, material, age, and number of monks. Some were massive, ancient, and made of mossy stone. Some made of beautifully carved wood. Some (unfortunately) didn’t allow women. All within close walking proximity. For lunch we ate ate Tony’s, which surprisingly, was not a pizza place. Restaurants, cafes, and bars were a haven throughout our travels. For one, we ate all the time. The food was amazing. Also we are youngsters who don’t know how to survive without the internet. Restaurants broke up the day and gave us a chance to plan our next move or brag to people back home about being in Thailand.

Finally we returned to the hotel, where we booked more flights and hostels. We did this as we traveled, which is infinitely more stressful than doing it before the trip. However, it is also more exciting. But mostly stressful. After a few hours of pulling our hair out trying to translate Burmese websites, we finally had a plan and went to dinner. The place we found on Google Maps was boarded up when we got there. So we found a place nearby with a tiny sign out front suggesting it might be a restaurant. When we walked through the door, we realized we were mistaken. It appeared to be a Thai souvenir shop, that also had knockoff American memorabilia? And there were cats everywhere. They appeared to have no target market or even a unifying theme. We were greeted by a sweet old lady who spoke little English. We asked if they served food, to which she replied, “Yes.”

This turned out to be my favorite restaurant of the entire trip. She led us through the shop out back to a small outdoor area that was surrounded by dense foliage. Thick hedges were on either side, vines grew across wooden planks above us, and the Chang Mai river flowed in front of us. There weren’t many people there so it was a quiet and serene dining experience. We were lucky enough to arrive right before sunset. The ripples in the river reflected a kaleidoscope of light while the vines above us gently filtered the golden rays. It was very romantic… for my roommates and I.

The food was delicious, as usual. Spicy and delicious. The sheer number of cats wandering freely was a bit off-putting. We wondered how sanitary the kitchen was. There were probably a dozen cats wandering around and another twenty in cages. Did they sell cats? Hard to say. I don’t speak Thai. We had a couple beers to wash down the food while we talked politics. I didn’t want to leave, I could’ve stayed all night. But we had more to see.

We eventually left and crossed the bridge back to the main part of town. The sun had set and the night market had risen. The streets were filled with tents and bustling with activity. We bought fruit and sushi from vendors we walked by. All delicious. The fruit in that part of the world is so ripe, juicy, and sweet it ruined fruit back home. We kept walking until we found a bar to sit down at. There was a man playing blues guitar in the back and we sat at the table closest to him. I was for some reason hell-bent on ordering a mojito in every city I visited. I’d like to think I was the first person to ever ask for a mojito in many of the bars we went to. This led to a lot of shitty mojitos.

However this menu did have mojitos as well as mojito buckets. We thought it would be reasonable to all share a bucket. Something was lost in translation because we all ended up with our own buckets. Very quickly, we became the annoying, loud Americans. We visited one or two more bars that night. Jackson and Kyle got in a heated argument about who had the better sense of direction. Through our collective sense of direction we somehow found our way home.

The next day was our big excursion day. A taxi/truck picked up us, some Italians, and some Koreans. Together we rode into the mountains. Our first stop was at a butterfly pavilion. It was pretty cool. Then we drove further into the mountains, eventually reaching the elephant sanctuary. On all sides we were surrounded by mountains and rain forest. In front of us was a large grassy area next to a river. There were scattered wooden structures and fences, and of course, elephants. Buckets full of bananas and sugar cane were set aside for us to feed them. It was weird, but very cool. I just held in my hand a stick of sugar cane as big as my forearm and a big, leathery trunk coiled around it like a snake then crunched it in one bite.

We then had the great honor of bathing the elephants in the river, which was just throwing buckets of water on them. The elephants also relieved themselves (number one and two) in the river and sprayed us with water with their trunks. My immune system really did me a solid that day. I didn’t care too much. It was nice to be out in the sun in swim trunks. I was enjoying it, as you can see:

Our next adventure was a rain forest hike. We stopped for lunch at the trail head and they made us fried rice in a wooden thatched-roof hut. The hike itself was breathtaking. Most of it was along a river that we crossed several times by balancing on fallen logs. Rain forests are completely different from any forest in the US. The trees are so tall you have to crane your neck to see the top. The wood on the trees have a different texture. The leaves on plants are as big as a car windshield. There’s an abundance of moss and vines hanging off of every tree. The river carved a path so that the forest wasn’t too dense around us and there was plenty of space to take in the views.

The scenic and exotic hike eventually took us to a waterfall. It was probably 40-50ft high and made a pool of water at the base. Already over our fear of what might be in South East Asian rivers, we hopped in. It wasn’t a particularly warm day, but we didn’t particularly care. We jumped off of rocks and stood directly under the falls. We just wanted to (literally) soak it all in.

To finish the day we went white water rafting. No picture from this one because we left our phones in the van. You’ll just have to take my word that we did this super cool thing. Now, the rapids weren’t on par with what you might find in Colorado. In fact, most of it wasn’t even that exciting. But the environment around us more than made us for it. We were still in the mountains, still in the rain forest, and still technically in the elephant reserve. There were elephants literally standing on the side of the river as we paddled by. I felt like I was in a dream.

All things come to an end, and so did this. We rode back in our truck/taxi/van and tried our best to sleep. We returned, exhausted, and we once again went out on the town. Wasn’t quite like the other night, we stuck to beer. Walking around Chang Mai is a little adventure in itself. We had dinner at a little hole-in-the-wall place and further explored the night markets. We stopped in at several bars, making no commitment to a single one. That was unfortunately the last night in Thailand (before our flight out). Every day was full of activities and there was rarely a dull moment so the four days felt like two weeks. But that’s the best way to travel. Squeeze the days like a wet towel and do as much as you physically can. Our next destination was Myanmar, but it will always be Burma to me.