Chiang Mai on Motorbikes (Thailand, Day 2)

Due to our late night the previous, our second full day in Chiang Mai had a late start. We renewed our stay at the hostel, go some breakfast and then headed to the bike rental place to return our bikes and rent motorbikes instead! It was incredibly cheap, just 6$ for a day, and about 2$ to fill the tank. (we thought we needed to fill it, but then ended up barely using 1/4 of it)

After getting out of the main road and out of the city, we drove up the same street we had biked down the day before. Only this time, the traffic was much heavier and we went much farther. I had always wondered what it'd be like to be on a small moped or motorbike zipping in and out of cars in heavy traffic to race ahead, and we got to experience it first hand! Although nerve racking and slightly worrisome at first, the more our confidence grew, the more fun we had.

We had learned the previous day that the cars, and traffic in general, are very respectful towards and patient with bikes riding on the main roads. Soon enough, we realized the same went for motorbikes. Cars that were slightly too close to each other to drive through would usually notice and attempt to move out of the way for us rather than stubbornly stay put and brood about our size and speed.

Our first stop along the road was Chiang Mai University. Here they were having yet another graduation ceremony and it was cool to see all the decorations around campus and watch all the graduates taking pictures.

I even posed for a few pictures myself in the photo areas they had set up.

After getting completely out of the city, we headed up the mountain at the national park. This was an even more fun place to ride because we were finally out of traffic and were able to weave up the switch back roads at higher speeds.

Eventually, we stopped at an over look to get a view of how far we had gone. Instead, Shane wandered off down the stream to do some exploring and found a secluded pool, out of sight of the trails in which we could go swimming.

Although the wind on the motorbikes kept us cool, the sun was hot that day. None of us had showered in a while and we were all itching to get in the cool water. Out of sight of anyone else, the three of us shed our clothes and went swimming in our underwear in the small pools beneath the waterfalls.

Afterwards, we lay on the rocks in the sun for a while to dry and then continued on our journey up the mountain. 

Before leaving though, we took one group picture with the overlook's great view.

Another few kilometers up the mountain we spotted a cafe and decided to stop for a drink and a snack. There were a ton of dogs in the area, a few of which gathered around our table when we sat down.

Not far from the cafe was another over look that we stopped at. Here was the first place we were able to start making out the square of the city from afar.

Finally, towards the top of the mountain, we made it to the entrance of the most famous temple in Chiang Mai: Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. It's 15 km from the city and has a ton of great views from it's height on the mountain.

Being the biggest and one of the most sacred temples in Chiang Mai, we weren't allowed inside because we were wearing shorts. However, the views of the outside were still enough to amaze and dazzle us.

It is said that if you go around the temple and ring every single bell it will bring you good luck. We didn't get to try though, because there were strict signs all over the place saying "don't touch the bells".

Behind the temple, on the east side, had the best view of the city. From here we could see the faint outline of almost every side of the city square.

Being in the open towards the top of the mountain was very pretty, but also pretty chilly. With the fast setting sun and the breeze, I kinda wished I had brought a pair of pants like most of the other people we saw.

Just before we started to make our way back down the stairs to the street, we noticed these trees with giant fruits growing straight out of the trunk!

This is the tail end of the sunset we got to see from the balcony of our hostel when we got back. That night, after going out to a few bars, we met some people that told us the mountain we had went to that day was actually the tallest in Thailand! We were so bummed that we hadn't decided to go all the way to the top. We headed back after seeing the temple because the sun was setting and we were getting cold and hungry. If we had know it was the tallest in Thailand, we definitely would have stuck it out to go all the way to the top. I guess I'll just have to come back and do it next time though!