Thailand: trading 2 wheels for 4 on a weekend away- Chaing Dao

And I thought riding on two wheels was fraught with danger in Thailand wait ,until you try 4 wheels. My reluctant smile says hurry up and take the damn photo so I can fully look out for crazy drivers.

I recently talked about keeping life simple and your dream away from the backburner. Sometimes you just have to be flexible when it comes to your adventures and think outside the box to make it happen.  My meanderthal friend Snail had been looking forward to a weekend away from the rat race on her grey snail. But when plans unrepentantly changed she was bummed out that we couldn’t go exploring on two wheels

The beginning of a google goat trail, there’s supposed to be a waterfall around here right?

So what did we do, simple, we switched it up to four wheels and a miniature snail which by default was called Snailing.  Somehow, I found myself hungover and at the wheel of a Hilux driving on the craziness that is Thailand roads. Now to a foreigner it can be crazy enough on two wheels but increase the wheel count to four, add some bulk to your steed and not only do you have to watch out for cars, trucks and randomness but I also found out that motorcycles can be a bit of a pain as well as they dart in and out of lanes like angry wasps chasing down an intruder to their nest.  I made a silent promise to myself to be more considerate of cars as I ride in future.

I guess if you are lost and the scenery is so lovely you can’t complain too loudly. The cherry Blossom trees made for a quick photo stop to appreciate the surrounding countryside.

Now a car has the luxury of security and space for luggage, hell you even stay dry when it rains. But its also got a hell of a lot of disadvantages and nearly all of them relate to size. They can be big and cumbersome and well if I had my way we’d all be driving Tedd Jetson style cars hovering off the ground zooming all over the place without a care in the world for parking spaces and tight narrow windy roads. We’re probably not that far away from that if we think about it, I might even see it in my lifetime. But until then it’s wrestling the truck (they call 4wd’s trucks here) down the highway as we head towards the thriving metropolis of Chaing Dao. Thriving metropolis is a bit of a stretch when it comes to Chaing Dao, more like a sleepy village and a getaway for the locals of Chiang Mai.

58 Degrees Celsius is too hot for anyone to endure, the ponds overflowed and cooled as they went. As you can see from the walrus below it got manageable in about the 3rd pond.

We got off to a late start on the Saturday on account of my debilitating hangover and grumpy state with life getting in the way of things. But none the less we were hurtling down the highway dodging the locals and listening to the drum of the tyres on the bitumen. Our first stop was for that sweet, sweet Ma Prao (green coconut).  This stuff does wonders for a hangover and  is so refreshing, they just pull a green coconut out of an esky or chilli bin for my New Zealand friends, hack off the top  with a wicked looking machete and the precision of a laser guided bomb. How they don’t lose fingers I’ll never know. Moreover, they don’t even spill a drop of the precious goodness inside.  Slurping that up with the ferocity of a starving chinaman I was coming back to life but not before we stopped for a feed of chicken Khao Soi at a roadside restaurant.

These things (local pop-up restaurants) are literally everywhere in Thailand.  Trying to work out what they’re selling, for a farang, is near on impossible because any signage is in Thai. So it’s a bit of a guessing game but the food is pretty much always guaranteed to please so one doesn’t really mind. Quite often I simply point at a menu and let the surprise unfold. Rarely am I disappointed.

Now that’s a big cock !!!. the bird not the poser with the shit eating grin

After lunch we set our hearts on a waterfall, only to find out it was a seasonal one and the dry season had thwarted our dreams of a cool swim under cascading waters. So we diverted to a reservoir for a look see only to find it was rather drab and uninspiring. Not willing to accept defeat yet in our quest for a cool swim we opted to try for another waterfall. After all it’s Thailand right and there are literately hundreds of them on any given route …. well there is if you can find them. This time Google maps was to blame or was it my snail navigator? But I’m sure she’ll blame it on Google.  So we’ll run with that party line. Damn you Google, why have you put me on a goat track amongst rice fields. Getting out to have a look, it was actually quite interesting trying to cross artificial streams diverted from a small flowing stream. They use PVC or bamboo to redirect the flow of water to irrigate the crops. No pumps, expensive irrigation systems or giant sprinklers just gravity and some ingenuity.

Entrance into Chaning Dao cave complex looks more like a temple than walking into a cave.

Giving up on a waterfall we found a place for a dip, well more of a place to soak than relax in cool waters. Pong Arng Hot Springs is pretty relaxing none the less and I enjoyed the soak. One thing I noted was the absence of the smell of sulphur as you often find in hot springs like in New Zealand. The water was way too hot in the top pools for anything more than a few seconds of soak before drowning in your own sweat but the lower pools were more manageable. There’s a nice campground there as well.

Chaing Dao Cave entrance, so bright and beautiful. The ribbon bows represent the colours of the day of the week, a donation received gives you a ribbon in the colour of your day of Birth. when tied around the temple grounds it’s supposed to give you good luck.

The next day found us up and off to a lazy start. It was the weekend of course so the Sunday lay-in was mandatory. We eventually headed out exploring the Chaing Dao caves. This place is big as far as caves go. It’s attached to a temple of sorts with colourful gardens and large cocks (the bird variety) scattered around the gardens. The cave itself is well worth a look inside.

The mandatory local guide will cost you 200 Baht but a fair chunk of it goes to them, and they do try to make it interesting for you in their own quirky way. There are quite a few tight spots for an old fat farang to squeeze through and it made for a good laugh at my expense.  You need a guide here because the cave suddenly drops down into an abyss over 100m at its deepest. Our guide told us of a farang that snuck in and fell 10m to the first ledge and broke his leg. Whether or not it’s true remains to be seen but when she did shine her lantern down it looked awfully deep and certainly feasible

Chaing Dao cave system, its quite big and ends abruptly with a drop into the abyss another reason why a local cultural guide is required.

Even caves here in Thailand have a place to worship. this little shrine was deep in the cave

After the caves we headed for Chaing Mai, the weekend drawing to a close all too quickly, but we were in for one last surprise. We were rewarded  with an impromptu stop at a river by the roadside, where we ran into a bunch of bikies from Lamphun out for their weekend ride. Now I haven’t had much to do with bikie gangs so to speak and in Australia they can get a bad rap from the main stream but here it’s very much a social thing. Just normal people from all walks of life out exploring t their backyard. The comradery of these people was the first thing I noted and liked. It took only seconds to welcome us into their little circle and the beers started to flow. Before we knew it we’d been invited to their home city for an adventure and also invited us to stay at a resort in Lamphun. So that sounds like another meanderthal adventure in the making right there

And of course, every cave has to have a caveman and here you’ll find me posing at the aptly named picture frame.