Pai - Chiang Mai

We had an awesome time up in Pai, it is very beautiful up there and the air is so fresh.  We drove a few kilometers out of Pai to the 'Pai Canyon'. The locals called it the 'little canyon' so we weren't expecting much but when we got there we were amazed, it was so beautiful and big!  There were all these little narrow ledges to walk along so we explored the canyon, it exceeded our expectations.  After that we headed back down the windy roads and through the mountains back to Chiang Mai.  Jesse, Jeremy and Tanner left the same night. We met up with Chase again. Tonight we will fly down to Phuket to meet up with Leanne tomorrow night.

The Canyon

We're clearly not in Canada - no handrails

Jesse peering over the ledge, me telling him to 'get back right now'

So beautiful - perhaps one of our favorite places in Thailand

All of us: Jesse, Jeremy, Brett, Heather, Tanner

Trying to speed along out of the bottom of the canyon before the bull ants bite

Pai

Jeremy adapting to the Asian ways - socks and sandals

There were a few wipe outs along the way but don't worry moms we were prepared with.....

Thai Zam-buk... it heals everything. 

(Wanda we finally found some!! We'll bring you some back)

The windy roads through the mountains - beautiful views

Back in Chiang Mai - met up with Chase again.

These are for you Joel - From Brett 

Gangster

Pai

I am definitely glad we came up here to the north, especially out here to Pai. The mountains are so gorgeous and its nice to have some fresh air.  It was about 3 hours on the bikes up here and we've spent our days touring around, hanging out and mainly eating lots. Here are a few pictures.

This is the area where we are staying, not these huts but down in this area.

This is our current home

Brett and Tanner

We are staying beside this river, we cross over this bamboo bridge to go into the town of Pai.

Out the little window at the restaurant we ate at for breakfast

Would be such an awesome view from up in the hang-glider things!

The muddy roads after the rain

Jesse wipes out.

Chiang Mai - Pai

For the past few days we have been in Chiang Mai touring around. There is a moat built around the old city and there was an old wall built around it too which there are still parts left of. I'm not really sure why but it makes for an interesting little city.  We've had fun going out to the 'furniture highway' and looking at all the carvings and different furniture made out of mostly teak and 'monkey wood'.  Yesterday evening Jeremy and Tanner flew in (they didn't want to take the 12 hour VIP bus... I'm not really sure why..). It's been fun having them here.  Today we rented some bikes and headed for Pai.  We weren't really sure how far it was going to be, we'd been told 1.5 hours, 2 hours, 4 hours. So we weren't really sure.  It was a fun road to drive along with the bikes and beautiful views.  We arrived here in time for supper and a look around the town.  So far it is really nice.  There are a lot of rice fields and it is a farming community so the scenery is very nice.  Here are a few pictures from the past few days.

A piece of the furniture art made from Monkey wood, also known as, acacia wood.

Some cool old trunks in an old fishing boat

A one piece sculpture made from the tree starting at the bottom as you can see

It took 2 men 4 years to do this 10ft by 6ft carving, all out of one piece of wood, worth 3.5 million baht which is about 115,000 Canadian dollars. 

Part of the remaining wall that surrounded the old city of Chiang Mai

We met up with Toe and his family, some of Brett's friends the last time he was up in Chiang Mai

Jeremy and Tanner arrive...

A stop along the way on the bike trip up to Pai

A view along the windy road up the mountain on the way to Pia

Tanner, Jeremy and Jesse

Some rice fields along the way outside of Pai

Koh Chang - Bangkok - Chiang Mai

January 8th - 10th

Believe it or not we have finally moved off of Koh Chang.  We went to Bangkok for about a day, booked a bus ticket out of there as soon as we could and now we are up in Chiang Mai which is in the nothern part of Thailand. It is really nice up here. The weather has been good, not as cold as I was expecting!  Anyways, here are a few pictures between Koh Chang and Chiang Mai.

The sunset our last night on Koh Chang

Glad to see maintenance is finished on the old ferry and its up and running!

We took the taxi ferry along the river in Bangkok Sunday afternoon to get back to our hotel

Our VIP bus that we took overnight up to Chiang Mai, we were all very impressed with the luxuries

Brett and Jesse made a few new friends, they spoke little English, the boys spoke little Thai... made for an interesting conversation! 

The high quality gym at our current hotel, somebody is missing their rotors.

The bike they wish they had.

The bikes they had - at least they have their game faces on

We drove up this mountain and found this lookout overlooking Chiang Mai

Some interesting trees in this area..

A VIP bus the same as the one we had taken to Chiang Mai

Mango with sticky rice - they boys' favorite treat

One of the many cool carved tables near Chiang Mai