Onward to Chiang Dao

TUESDAY
Today is a travel day. Janel and I get up and head to our cafe for rice soup and bloggin'. Rich had a headache the night before and didn't sleep very well so he is sleeping in. We chat with the worker at the cafe (Nam - a young girl who is very friendly) and we relax with our coffee. The only thing we have to do today is get to Chiang Dao (about 1 1/2 hours away).

Our plan was to catch a bus, but we have no tickets or firm schedule and don't really even know where to go to get the bus. But - we have all day, right? I check with Sam and he says we can take a songthaew to the bus station - very easy. Ok - let's load up and give it a try. Yes - we were trying to pack very lightly. However we had already added another bag (from shopping at the markets). We have to drag all our stuff down 4 flights to the lobby.

Sam hails a songthaew and asks him to take us to the station for 60 bht (the going rate). They guy refuses and they get into a small tiff. The driver screams off and Sam is irritated. It seems the driver realizes he could have gotten a lot more if he dealt directly with us - the "farangs" (foreigners). We don't see any more rides on the road so Sam gets his keys and declares that he will drive us to the station! We love this guesthouse!

We arrive at the bus station and head to the window to buy 3 tickets to Chiang Dao. I ask him (by pointing to my watch) "what time does the bus leave." He points to the clock on the wall and says "noon." (It is noon right now). I shake my head "no" - "not what time is it now? - What time does the bus leave?" He points to the clock again. I am getting frustrated so I try to pantomime again - "bus - time - leave???" Finally a woman who speaks a little english says NOW! oops. . . We stash our bags on the bottom of the bus and we are off.

For some reason I had in my mind it was a 3 hour bus ride and we were all prepared to hunker down and endure. The bus is hot, but not stifling. There are many people and the seats are about the size of seats on a kindergarten bus. The terrain is interesting and we go rattling along. I am trying to be aware of the surroundings since I am not really sure how we will know when we get to Chiang Dao.

After about 1 1/2 hours the conductor looks back at me and says "Chiang Dao." I am shocked and wonder if we are at the right place. He is booting us off nevertheless so we disembark. Right away a songthaew comes up and says "Where you go? - Nest?" Why yes we are! 150bht later and we are on our way the last couple of miles up into the hills of Chiang Dao before arriving at the Nest - our home for the next couple of days.

The Nest is in a gorgeous setting - up in the mountains surrounded by woods. It is breezy and almost cool. There are little thatched huts for accommodations and a wonderful common area with open air restaurant, spots for sitting/contemplation, a pool and wi-fi!

We are starving and don't even head to our rooms yet. The Nest is known for their food (one reason we chose it, of course). The Nest I has a wonderful gormet, Western-style restaurant and Nest II is Thai food. We chose I since we will be eating a LOT of Thai food.

Menu at the Nest

We order a buffalo burger, zucchini fritters and a croque monsier and eat it all up. I don't think we realized how much we were missing "real food." After lunch we perform one other most important task - Janel and I schedule a Thai massage for 4:00pm. We are told it is a 1 1/2 hour massage followed by a 1/2 hour herbal treatment. Sounds like a little slice of heaven to me.

Lunch at the Nest

Zucchini Fritters (Croque Monsier in background)

Finally we go to our little cabana. It is lovely - a large room with a King bed and another smaller room attached with bunk beds. I am a little concerned since there is no a/c and in the afternoon it is a bit warmish. We'll see. . .

We don our swimsuits and head to the pool thinking a quick dip before our massage would be wonderful. I dip one toe in and quickly pull it out. The water is a refreshing 62 degrees! How can that be? We end up sitting on the side (Janel won't even put her feet in). The whole think is complicated by the fact that there is a hive of very large bees that come to the pool every afternoon to get water (we have been warned). They don't really bother us and we sit for a while in anticipation of our upcoming massage.

Massage time! Janel and I make our way to the massage hut where two Thai ladies are waiting for us. The massage hut is a beautiful open-air facility with a wood floor and 4 mats. We are given some lightweight flowy pants and change right away. We are shown to our respective mats and get comfy. Thai massage is different from a regular oil massage in that a lot of pressure is used and a lot of stretching is involved. The ladies killed us (but in a good way. . .). After a 1 1/2 hour moan session they start in with hot herbal compresses all over our bodies. It is truly heaven. This 2 hours of bliss set each of us back 600bht ($18). If we did this same massage at the Joya Spa in Phoenix (which I have done) it would be at least $250. AND - I have to say that this was the best massage I have ever had. (sorry, Janet - you should have come with us)

Massage Hut

Aaaaah

We somehow manage to pour ourselves "home" and get ready for dinner. We went to the restaurant at The Nest which is highly recommended by anyone who comes near this area. Nest I is a Western restaurant and the choices are written on the blackboard. We start with Pumpkin Soup and Green-lipped mussels. Rich chooses the ribeye, Janel the tangine of lamb, and I have the "local farmed goat cheese" risotto. They are all delicious and help our craving for a little Western sensibility.

Evening at the Nest

Happy at dinner time

We lingered for a while and then we were ready to turn in for the night. We have a big treking day tomorrow and want to be ready.

Ready to conk out