Thailand: A Cultural Exposure Tour

We slept from 7pm to 7am and woke refreshed to take the long hike into the hills with our local guide Sing, and Katie and Robert from Berlin.
Lots of ups and downs and interesting things to see: mimosa (touch-sensitive plant), rice terraces (dry right now), water buffalo and Karen families living on the heights. Sing cooked us curry chicken and eggplant for lunch at the waterfalls (very cold showers all round!) and we hiked again finally out to the road and a back-of-the-truck ride to the bamboo raft put-in on the Mae Wang River. An hour later we landed at Chai Lai, a little soggy but refreshed by the cool rive water after an energetic day we needed after so much airplane/port sitting.

A day and a half of travelling finally brought us to the Chai Lai Orchid Resort, north of Chiang Mai on a small river that runs out of the mountains beyond.
Our little "serene bungalow" is perfectly set among the pathways above the river on the edge of the jungle. We enjoyed watching the elephants bathe and helped feed them coconuts and bananas - rewards for a good day's work with the tourists! Looking forward to sleeping in a bed tonight, even one with full mosquito tent netting (!), and then going for a good hikein the morning...WiFi here not up to many photos, so just a couple for now:

A lovely day (Mon Jan 19th!) dawning in Bangkok as we wait for our final flight to Chiang Mai, with Catriona still knitting her way across the world!
The "land of smiles" and flowers even makes Ronald McDonald a little more cultured...

10 hours of All Nippon Airways' precise and stylish service is preparation for the more intense Japanese reality you can begin to experience at Haneda.
The young couple in front of us on the plane were either married or celebrated same (lost in translation) while we flew over the International Date Line! A crowd of ANA stewardesses brought them champagne flutes and edible treats, and much happy smiling and bowing ensued. Now a 5 hour wait for our 4-hour flight to Bangkok, then a 1-hour flight to Chiang Mai, and finally an hour taxi ride to the Elephant Refuge north of the city at Mae Wang.

It will take a very long time for us to get to Chiang Mai, 20+ flying hours, plus 10+ hours waiting in various airports, starting right here in Victoria!
We arrived well before our flight to Vancouver to meet Jane and Dan, our house-sitting friends from Edmonton (until they retire soon!).
Settling into our travel zen-zone...