Ari's Planet

Update: Well, my trekking was short lived. The van came around a few minutes late, then we stopped to pick up a few more people. When everybody had clambered in, Ben, our guide, said the trip would be "we drive to three waterfalls, have lunch, drive to mountain, drive to karen village, do something else, back to chang mai". I thought the trip was "drive to park, hike up to mountain, hang out on mountain a bit, go down to village or elephant or something, then back". So, I said it wasn't the trip I thought it was going to be and got out. Then I walked back (1/2 hour, so much fun). I explained to the guy at CNX Tours that there was a misunderstanding and asked to refund my money, which he did no problem, so I can't fault them for this. I think it's just that it is so tourist-oriented here that even when you think you're getting a more active trip it ends up being "van van van", which is no fun for me. So, now I'm stuck in town and don't feel like going on a 3-day trek through the same company. I'm still waiting on a package to arrive poste restante which should be here in any day now so need to be in Chang Mai until it arrives. I looked into flights north to Mae Hong Son, which LP says is a less touristy-trekking place, on kayak.com: a flight tomorrow 1/2 hour leaving at 2 or 4 on Thai Airways is 65 USD. A bus ride is more or less all day but would be cheaper. In other news, still reading Voss, which is really a wonderfully written book, I just don't know how the author does it, it's like magic the way he writes, I got to a really interesting part (won't give it away, it would spoil the fun!) and stayed up late to get through the cliffhanger, as it were.

I'm going to go do a bit of trekking in the Chang Mai area. Tomorrow it's a day of fun in Doi Inthanon National Park, then a two-night, three-day walking / elephant / rafting trip a bit north of Chang Mai to see some of the local tribal villages. After that I want to head to the north-east (Pai and vicinity) and maybe do another trek up there before heading east to Laos.

Staying at the OK Guest House has its ups and downs. On the positive side, they don't do any trekking nonsense and the company I found to go trekking with is across the street from them. Talking to the guy at the trekking company CNX Tours I got the feeling he's actually been out of the town (he's one of the guides) and he seemed nice, which beats the other spots where it's just some person answering tourists' questions. They're also a bit cheaper, 1600 B for the three-night as opposed to some other spots that wanted 2100 B. On the downside, the OK Guest House is on a noisy side street. Stupid tourists blathering in the middle of the night (what is it with stupid young women hollering away?) and motorcycles and what not. Reminds me of the good 'ol days back in India. The folks at the front desk/restaurant are a bit odd and curt, but as long as I pay them 150 B in the morning they leave me alone.