Mountains around Chiang Dao


Near Chiang Dao, one of the most beautiful places in Thailand




A wat on a mountain in Chiang Mai







The highlight of my trip to Chiang Mai was renting a motorbike and driving two hours north to Chiang Dao, a tiny town in an epically beautiful valley with rice patties and densely forested mountains ringed at the top with clouds. Near the town is a cave complex as well as a remote monestary in a national park. This monestary is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been and it receives only a few tourists a day, most of them Thai. When I first arrived in town, I went to check out a guesthouse that was suggested in my Lonely Planet guide. The guesthouse was amazing--bungalows set right in the rice fields, perfect for...a couple, lovers, not me. It was too expensive. So, I went back into town, and found one of the only cheapo guesthouses--it was more like an outhouse with a bed, really. It had no windows, no sink, no mirror, a squat toilet, and the door brushed the mattress when I opened the door. But how can I complain when I'm in such a beautiful setting? I threw down my stuff, and headed out to the nearby caves.