The Adventurer Trilogy completed

No time for hanging around! If you ever get bored in Chiang Mai you're doing it all wrong. I mean, among many things, you can go rock climbing, zip-lining, mountain biking, hill tribe trekking or just exploring the city (if you even get the time). Even if you've done all that, there's tons of things you could just do again! I know me and Thomas wouldn't mind staying here climbing for a week, if there weren't so many other super exciting places to visit.

Oh well, the next part of our Chiang Mai adventure took us zip-lining on Flight of the Gibbon with the aforementioned arrangements, all courtesy of our dear friend Sara. A van picked us up at our hostel and drove us out into the jungle to a small village. Here we freed the operators of any liability and got into what would be our life support for the next couple of hours, our harnesses. Like the rare ape, the gibbon, we would go flying, abseiling, and bridge-walking from tree to tree among the branches of the rain-forest, an exhilarating ride which would last for about two hours. Most of the zip-lines were less than a hundred meters, similar to what you can see from the video, but as I was soaring high above the ground on the 800 meter line, I was very close to letting out a primal scream and start beating my chest furiously.

We saw three (tame) gibbons on Flight of the Gibbon. Damn you poachers!

Thomas zooming comfortably from tree to tree.

After lunch we were taken out to a pristine, seven-tiered, waterfall and we explored the rocky path leading to the top. We both wore down our camera shutters by shooting the beautiful waterfall, plants and wildlife all around the forest. We were so zealous that when we finally came down to the bottom, ready for a dip in the waterfall pool, we found the rest of our group impatiently trotting around ready to leave. We were full of disbelief. Had we been to the same waterfall? Well, I guess there will be more occasions for us to cross swimming in a waterfall off our list though.

Thomas in macro-mode photographing some wildlife by the waterfall.

Back in Chiang Mai earlier than expected, (come on guys we could totally have gone swimming in the waterfall), we went templing in the Old City, but were quickly called to a halt by a cafe which boasted an open piano for customers. As Thomas rolled out some tunes I indulged myself to some lovely cake and read up on some modern philosophy. "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" takes Western and Eastern philosophy and applies it to questions of technology, scientific theory and the division between Art and Science. Philosophical discussions are cleverly woven into an engaging story, with the motorcycle and its maintenance being provided as fitting examples to questions about sanity, truth and Quality. We both highly recommend it to anyone who has a slight interest in philosophy and I almost think it should be curriculum for every engineering student in the Ex.Phil course.

Enjoying apple cake and philosophy accompanied by soothing tunes.

Sorry for the digression but more is to follow, I'll get back on track in a minute I promise! Before we go on, I feel I should give an honorable mention to our hostel: Woody's Elephant. It was literally the first and best place we found as our cab driver dropped us off in the Old City on Monday afternoon. 120 baht (24 kroner) for a dorm bed was simply too cheap not to check out. Yoann, an expat Frenchman was taking care of the place while Woody was out with his elephants. He showed us the dorm, which was spacious and nice, and we quickly got along with the very diverse bunch of travelers calling Woody's their home for the week. Yoann was more than happy to help with the arranging of different adventures. He even got a little grumpy when we told him we've fixed it all on our own as we're oft to do (you don't count Sara!) In fact, he was so engaged, that he was out most of Wednesday, zip-lining with some Swedes, and the hostel was left to its own device.

Old and new at one of Chiang Mai's countless temple grounds.

We got a taste of Yoann's arrangements when he took a bunch of us to see the Muay Thai Wednesday evening. Thailand's famous kickboxing made us expect a flurry of feet and arms engaged in exiting one-on-ones in the ring. Therefore, I was a little disappointed when it started and all we saw was some silly dance and fighting moves taken straight out of American choreographed wrestling. We quickly understood that it was only an opening show however, and sure enough, we got our circus ancient Roman style. While there was little blood it was still exciting and primal and we left with a sense of having seen real Thai kickboxing. Of course, the place was mainly packed with tourists and to appeal to them the half-time show provided was a bunch of boxers fighting it off free-for-all blindly in the ring. Fun!

As a grand finale to our Outdoor Adventure Trilogy (of which rock climbing was volume I and zip-lining volume II) we decided to go mountain biking on Thursday. We got Taro, our Japanese friend from Woody's, along for the ride and were shuttled the 1200 height meters up to the top of a mountain overlooking Chiang Mai. A fine group consisting of a Canadian cop, a German student, an American web designer and us. Oh, and there was also Jordan: an American "volunteer". Don't know what she was volunteering, she hitched a ride to the top and stayed ahead of us most of the time. Unfortunately, Jeff the American left for the hospital after he fell off on the paved road and dislocated his shoulder after the first 5 minutes. Poor guy, but we had to go on without him even if we were a little shaken after a rough start.

The road took us to a coffee plantation and we soon found ourselves on a dirt path zooming faster and faster down the mountainside. We passed beautiful views, hill-tribe villages, and even got to try our skills on the challenging and steep single-track paths. It was amazing how much you felt in control even as you were going over rocks and roots, and there were plenty of stops for us to admire the views of the lake and the plains below. As we got to the bottom of the lake me and Thomas were both super excited and we both realized we have good possibilities for mountain biking back in Byåsen in Trondheim. Can't wait to try it again!

Thomas' trophy photo didn't turn out as expected.

Come on Eva! You can do it!

Nope.

Even though Jordan failed to volunteer for us, she showed her qualities by recommending and joining the rest of the group for drinks at North Gate Jazz Co-op the same evening. We spent the rest of the night exploring the drinks menu and talking of our travels, accompanied by the sweet tunes of some really virtuoso jazz musicians who jammed and played the whole evening.

Nothin' like some brass to bring out the jazz...

We want to do more climbing, more mountain biking, more everything (and surely, we'll get the chance), but it's time to go. We're kidnapping Taro and leaving further North. Next: Chiang Rai and the Golden Triangle: The northern border full of opium-growing history.