Flying through the Forest!

While I was in Thailand, I flew through the treetops- on a ZIPLINE! A popular adventure activity in Thailand is to do zip line courses which give you amazing views of the dense evergreen forests (Northern Thailand has evergreen forests, while the tropical forests are in the South). So of course, my friends and I were happy to partake in this action packed activity during our vacation.

On the day after Christmas, we woke bright and early for the complimentary bus to pick us up from our hostel and take us out into the forest for zip-lining. We went on a two and a half hour adventure through the treetops. There was less than ten minutes of walking, the rest was actually ziplining through the air! The course consisted of a series of ziplines that connected to each other by platforms built like treehouses among the tree tops. Once we got into the course we were either on a tree platform or suspended on a zipline, not once did we step on ground for over two hours! The longest single line was about 40 meters, and the total course was 5 kilometers. We were very high up in the trees, about 78-80 meters high. It was awesome to look down from the platforms over the huge leaves and plants growing beneath us.

Suited up and on the trail!

A shaky suspended bridge!

A lovely little gibbon family- mama, papa, and a baby!

Our guide- helping the next person along!

The view from one platform to the next

Exhilarated after a landing!

Ok, this is the big one...

Getting ready to jump...

Drop, and off I go!

Now I gotta climb the rope ladder to get onto the platform

"Yeah, that was pretty sweet."

It was magnificent to fly through the forest, and I was not scared at all. Even on the line that started with about a fifteen foot free fall- I felt nothing but excitement and fun. The last was a forty meter drop down the side of the tree, but they just lowered us down so it was no big deal. At the bottom we were offered a delicious, cool herbal drink and a hammock to relax in for a few minutes. After we completed the course, we went back to the main building where we were served lunch. After finishing our lunch they drove us to see a beautiful waterfall.

This waterfall was amazing because it was so tall! I kept climbing up and seeing new pretty shots of the fall, and yet there was more path to ascend! I ran all the way up to the top, and jumped in the water to get a picture with the waterfall.

On the way up...

Looking back down...

At the top!

The Tiger Kingdom

Tiger Kingdom is a park that is home to tigers ranging in age from newborn kittens to fully grown adults. Visitors are able to actually enter the tiger's pens to take pictures and interact with the tigers. Each age range has its own pen for the tigers to run around in and play. A large staff of caretakers raise the tigers and act as guides to take people into the cages.

We ate an extraordinarily spicy dinner while waiting for our turn to go inside the pens and see tigers up close. When we finally went inside it was about 5:45 p.m. and the park was closing at 6. And the tiger's feeding time is 6 p.m. So with the nine month old, younger tigers we were fine, but the big ones were getting kinda antsy and hungry. The guides who accompanied us repeatedly warned us not to touch the big tigers and to be very slow and careful when approaching them. You have to carefully creep up on the tigers from behind to take pictures with them, and this was especially important when they were hungry and tired at the end of the day.

It was exciting to be walk around in a cage with 5 fully grown tigers romping around wherever they want to go. After finishing with pictures, we continued to walk around the park. We walked up to the nursery where the baby tigers are cared for, and the handlers opened the window so we could easily watch. They were feeding milk to the little mewing kittens with their faint but aggressive snarls and whimpers. And every time they set the new kittens on the tile floors their feet would slide out from beneath them because it was so slippery. It was so adorable to watch the little ones! I really wanted to hold one of the babies, but we didn't get to unfortunately. Well after six p.m. we tore ourselves away from the babies and headed back into Chiang Mai.

Buddhist Wats 

Thailand is covered in Buddhist temples. Like Japan, no matter where you are in Chiang Mai- in a business district,  neighborhood, or strolling around the countryside, at every turn you can find a temple. Chiang Mai has about 300 temples scattered throught the city and outskirts. In Thai temples are called wat. So while I was in Chiang Mai I visited a great number of different wats ranging from small, quiet neighborhood wats to the large, famous ones that attract thousands of visitors every day. 

We wandered through a couple small wats we saw along our way to other places. The first was Wat Lamchang, in honor of tethered elephants (for some reason). Wats in Thailand are always bright and colorful and often glittery due to the pieces of glass that often cover the walls in a mosaic fashion.

Called nagau, these snake statues are placed at the front of the main temple building for protection

Murals and artwork inside the main building

Ruins of the old stupa (relic place) next to the bright new building

At the second wat we entered, Tricia taught me how Buddhists pray. After entering the main building of a temple you will see an altar with at least one image of Buddha on it along with other decorations like flowers and candles at the far end of the room. In front of the altar there is a carpet on which people kneel to pray. After kneeling Buddhists bow three times (once for Buddha, once for Dharma, and once for the people), and then pray. 

The Seven Positions of Buddha, each one is associated with a day of the week and represents an event in the Buddha's life believed to have happened on the corresponding day

At Wat Chiang Men

Murals on the inside of this Wat tell the story of Buddha's life

After those lovely excursions through neighborhood wats, we made our way outside of the city to see the wat on Doi Suthep. Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, a huge and famous temple is known for its placement on top of the Doi Suthep mountain, 1,676 meters tall.  There is a huge staircase you must ascend in order to reach the temple grounds on top of the mountain peak. Upon reaching the top and purchasing a ticket to enter, we explored the temple. All of the architecture and decorations were bright gold and it was quite gaudy in my opinion. The temple was also packed full of hundreds of tourists.

People lining up to get a white string bracelet 

Mom. Hahaha

The view of Chiang Mai from the top of Doi Suthep

The small temples were the best in my opinion. Since they are so quiet and calm I felt that they actually retained the spiritual purpose they are meant for. In contrast, visiting the very famous temples crowded with people made it seem like an empty tourist spot completely lacking any reverence that it was originally intended to provoke. 

We also visited Wat Umong, which is famous for its network of low lit tunnels with little alcoves set up for people to pray at. We removed our shoes and joined the throngs of people venturing into the tunnel system. At the end of one tunnel in front of an alcove I was surprised to see an orange clad monk in a half prone position working at something. It was impressive to see that people actual use the tunnels for more than just tourism.

Gravesites in back of one of the shrines

A wat actually made of teak wood (the traditional Thai building material)

The monks quarters, their orange robes hanging out to dry