Camping!

I am not being a very good blogger but we have just been so busy!

Two weekends ago Mel, Kate, Mimi, Leah and I all decided to go camping! We met up with our friends Nick and Allison from Lampang in Chiang Mai along with some other friends and headed to the biggest mountain in Thailand, Doi Inthanon! We had a loose plan that quickly fell apart but we had so much fun along the way!

We had to take a song tau to the base of the mountain and then another song tau to the headquarters about half way up the mountain. It was here that we realized if we went all the way to the top we would have no way of getting down and no way of getting around. Oh and all of the bungalows at the top were full :-(

So we walked to the camp site and rented some tents, sleeping bags, bed pads, and set up camp! It was very similar to camping in America except no designated camping spots and no campfires. The best part was...IT WAS COLD! It was freezing for Thai people.  They were wearing scarves, jackets you would only wear in blizzards in Minnesota and hat/masks that were all unnecessary but completely hilarious. We all put on hoodies and were so excited to feel a little cool again! We played a ton of fun games, drank, and loved our first camping experience in Thailand.

Jen, Allison, Mel, Me and Kate in front of the Mae Klang Waterfall

 Kate, Mimi and Me setting up our tents!

 around our camp "fire"

The next day when we wanted to get back down the mountain, we had to hitch a ride...We ended up standing on the side of the road with our thumbs out hoping someone would stop for us and take our huge group down.  A nice group of Thai people stopped and loaded the nine of us into the back of their truck. It was a tight squeeze but super fun. 

Definitely not allowed in the US...

 Doi Inthanon!

Sidenote: Mimi ended up getting Typhus somewhere on this weekend :-( She spent a couple nights in the hospital with 104 degree fever! All of our teachers were so nice, they had a meeting at school to set up a schedule to take care of her.  Different teachers would spend the night at the hospital with her and others would spend the day with her translating what the nurses and doctors would say.  We have no idea how or when she got it but she took some antibiotics and is better now!