We arrived at the Bangkok train station early, to discover that our train was delayed. Surprise! Not by much, but just enough to be irritating, and it was on a different track.
But we were seated in short order and began our 12 hour journey north. It ended up being closer to 13 hrs, but that's life.
After 13 hours of rice fields as far as the eye could see, jungles and the interesting food provided above (the pandan bun was my own 7/11 contribution), we met up with this ferocious woman in Chiang Mai.
Tee took us all in his songthaew (a pickup with benches in the back and a canopy covering) to our hostel, the best accommodations I think we had in Thailand. The family who owns it is very friendly, helpful and just kind.
The next day...
We had breakfast at a french style cafe, complete with croissants and rich hot cocoa, walked around Wat Chedi Luang (and a few others), where we found cannonball trees in bloom. They have impressively fertile looking blooms. We also visited Martha's favorite shake lady and went to what passes as a thrift store in Thailand (of course we did) called the Free Bird Cafe.
And there I captured my first butterfly photo. So now you know what Thailand will look like through my eyes - buggy and leafy!
My first (and best) bowl of Khao Soi, a spicy curry soup served with onion, lime, pickled greens etc. Very good but I was always a bit perplexed about eating hot soup while already sweating through my clothes.
Obligatory semi-group photo. L-R:Katie, Jaclyn, Martha, Leonie
We returned to Wat Chedi Luang at night and it was a nice atmosphere.
One of the sites the Emerald Buddha (now at the Grand Palace complex) resided was in this chedi. There's a replica in it's place now, not on this face of the chedi clearly. I found myself liking the simpler but no less impressive structures of Wats in northern Thailand.
The next day Katie & Jaclyn split off to visit with Jaclyn's cousin, and the rest of us went to Queen Skirit's Botanical Garden and more. We stopped briefly so Tee could buy a kilo or so of longans. Fruit starved as I usually become while traveling, I was pleased with the offering.
For those unfamiliar with longans they are segmented with seeds inside, rather like a firm grape in texture and tasted every so slightly like grapefuit. Others disagreed on the last point, but those were my findings.
Leonie looking majestic on the songhtaew ride.
We got to the garden and wandered for many hours, discussing plants, bugs, etc. as only modern naturalists do. We started more or less on 'Banana Avenue', and we learned what banana flowers look like.
A nice termite mound, a nice moth.
Orchids are commonly bound to trees using wire/plastic mesh as an ornamental.
Lotus head at right, who-knows-what to the left. The more lotus I saw, the more I understood why they are heavily featured in a particular world religion.
Here I am, gaining greater understanding.
Below, a peculiarly flowered unknown aquatic plant.
Martha says "take my picture with this perfect lotus!"
Ok sure thing Mart.
?
?
Magnificently long antennae on this critter.
A little fuzzy wuzzy
The utter water resistance of a lotus leaf.
Many insects seem to get trapped in water lilies, and don't make it out alive.
And finally, the fish that live in the basins with the lilies and lotus.
There were many green houses to explore. A butterfly landed on my leg. There were orchids that won't format the way I want, so I'm just showing my favorite one.
Water lily.
There was a house of carnivorous plants; L bladderworts, R pitcher plants
Beehive ginger.
After several hours of exploring, we made our way back down the big hill, and met Tee. He apparently had been dispatched on a rescue mission by the guard who was skeptical of our well being, us having been gone so long. We got the impression that most visitors a) don't hike around, using shuttles instead and b) don't stay for very long. We had more soup, that's Tee.
Refreshed by boiling spicy soup, we made our way to the Elephant Poo Paper Park. Here we were given a nice little tour and allowed to participate in the process of turning elephant poo (plant fibers) into paper.
On the way back to Chiang Mai we pulled over to look at some nice water buffalo. This one was pregnant. I also learned the Thai word for water buffalo can also mean a stupid person, so don't call a Thai person khway (I would write it qui in English phonetics).
We gave the flower marker a quick visit on the way back to our hostel, look at all those orchids!
I've never imagined orchids as cut flowers, especially in this quantity!
The next day, Tee really wanted to take me up Doi Suthep to another shiny Wat. So I hopped on the back of his motorbike and off we went. I have no doubt I was an obnoxious co-rider, but such is life! This is parking at the top, kickstand to tailpipe motorbikes (most of which we would generally call... scooters).
Wat Phra That was impressively shiny.
There were lots of bells hung for luck...
The handrail (for lack of a better word) up the murderous steps to the wat is the spine and body of these dragons at the bottom, pretty neat. Tee took some delightfully unflattering pictures of me that accentuate my stocky German breeding, we'll leave those to the imagination.
According to my journal after visiting the Wat, I came back to the hostel and lay on the floor for a while. Then I went and got a fruit shake for lunch. And when I returned there awaited a grinning Martha, ready to punish my laziness by taking me to a Muay Thai boxing 'class'. I say 'class' because I mostly just made an ass of myself. The trainers more or less laugh at you the whole way through (I would too!) and one kept making sure I was drinking enough water, due in no small part to the fact I turn rose red undergoing any form of exertion.
Then we went to the night market. This is basically how my animal instinct makes me feel in crowds.
And saw interesting food.
The next day, we hopped in a van and headed to Pai.
The van to Pai was a three or so hour ride squealing around jungle bound steep corners and... if Leonie didn't share her 
From there we went on to Martha's favorite place, the Land Split. And here's the magical spread the owner brought out to us. Passionfruit, tamarind, fresh roasted peanuts (yum!), sweet potato, banana chips...
