June 28,

Jeff woke up this morning at 0500. I awoke about 0630. We got about, and had our Javas – while we started packing. Then we went to our included breakfast. I had muesli with yogurt and fruit- mangoes and bananas with orange juice. Jeff had a continental, which was an egg, toast, hash browns and sausage – the hot dog version. We both also had hot chocolate. The main guy here at this boutique hotel is very helpful. He found out which direction we were going and gave us a map with highlighted things to do on our way.

After breakfast we went back to our room. I blogged; Jeff finished packing, and refigured our route. We were loaded up and checked out by 1045. We went to a cave, but it was closed! So we went back on the main road, and we headed on. It rained a lot on us – mostly the whole time. When it wasn’t raining it was still pretty misty and cloudy. A sea of mist and fog. It made me think of Ireland and I was waiting to see fairies or leprechauns! I couldn’t imagine doing this drive on a scooter though. On a scooter… this day would have been miserable. We arrived in the town of Mae Chaem. We were trying to find a place to eat and we’re striking out. Finally, we decided to go ahead and head on up to our destination. Then we found a Popular Hill Restaurant. We ordered Red Curry with chicken, aubergines, and some kind of bean with rice; and Stir-fried pork with Holy Basil and rice. Both dishes were very tasty and very good! 😋😋

When we finished, we went on up to the tallest mountain in Thailand, Doi Inthanon. It’s a steady up drive all the way up to the summit of 2,565 m in height, which is 8,415 ft. As the car climbed up the steep roadway, we were more enshrouded in a fog/mist. Our visibility became almost non-existent! At this point Jeff and I both decided if we had to pay to go all the way up – it wouldn’t be worth it. But we never crossed a ticket or entry booth, so we kept going. We arrived at the summit parking area, parked and got out. It was cold! 🥶 There was a digital readout of the temperature… it was 13° Celsius, which is 55.4° Fahrenheit!!! To coin a phrase, “It’s cold out there campers!” Jeff and I were both in shorts and short sleeve shirts. So we hurriedly got out and looked around. We went through an exhibition hall with info about the mountain & the park. Then we got back in our car quickly. We drove back down a different way and passed by the actual entrance. If the weather is nice we will come back up here tomorrow morning before leaving the area.

We drove north out of Doi Inthanon National Park to get to the place we are staying tonight. As we were going there we saw a little market just off of the street. A whole bunch of stalls were selling basically the same things: various vegetable chips, dried fruit and some fruit wines. It was a popular stopping spot. There were quite a few tourists buying – as well as us! We bought some sweet potato chips, barbecue chips and dried strawberries. They also had some coffee there and I bought some, maybe 100 grams?? Anyway, it should be enough to get me through the rest of Thailand so when I get to Laos I can buy some Laotian coffee.

We drove to where Google Maps said our place – Inthanon Lau Ju – was, but the signage was all in Thai and Google had it on the wrong side of the road. I saw some locals and I asked them. I showed them our Thai Booking confirmation. They were very helpful and actually walked me to it. Jeff had to back the car up the little, one lane road to get there. Once on the property, a couple of ladies pointed over to our little bungalow. It’s a cute area set up here. They have like six bungalows and on the one edge of the property is a rapid flowing stream. Jeff unloaded our stuff as I explored.It feels like a campground set up. As soon as we were unloaded we decided to walk back into the village. I think it’s called Ban Na Yang. (Google Maps does not list a name for this village, but our reservation in booking.com showed this name.) Anyway, we were walking to try to find a little convenience store. As we were going we passed what we thought was a Wake or some kind of funeral service. I didn’t mention this village is a Hmong Village. If it is a funeral, I’m not sure what their customs are. Questions??? There were half a dozen people inside around an open coffin(?) with that many people coming and going. We found a convenience store, got our stuff and walked back. As we were getting back to our place, we noticed a big waterfall cascading down the mountain behind us. That has to be feeding the stream that’s right beside this property. We will definitely have to go there tomorrow.

Back at our place we sat out on our little porch at a table and had our chips and strawberries with some chocolate. Jeff had a beer and I had a new drink for me it was called Cola Bomb. We ate our light supper and just enjoyed hearing the birds and listening to the water rushing down beside us. It was lovely.