{"id":928,"date":"2014-12-16T10:01:21","date_gmt":"2014-12-16T16:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theagostins.com\/?p=928"},"modified":"2014-12-16T10:01:21","modified_gmt":"2014-12-16T16:01:21","slug":"chiang-mai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?p=928","title":{"rendered":"Tigers and Trails: Chiang Mai"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After hot and sweaty Bangkok and spending a few nights in a brothel (unknown to us until we put all of the pieces together), we landed in Chiang Mai and immediately loved the weather. It was cool and dry in the mountainous north of Thailand\u2026. Okay, mountainous seems like an exaggeration, after going to the Himalayas in Nepal my standards for \u201cmountainous\u201d have been elevated a bit. But it was still really nice.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/theagostins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_6398.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-930\" src=\"http:\/\/theagostins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_6398-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Chiang Mai, Thailand\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_6398-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_6398-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_6398-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_6398.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a>\u00a0We booked the hostel next door to Alvin and Jennifer\u2019s hotel, which turned out to be quite nice (especially compared to the brothel in Bangkok! &#8230; \u201chmm, why is there this random green light bulb over our door?\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>Our first day we rented bicycles to explore the city. And of course the four of us managed to find a bar with beer pong! Rick and I got sounded beat in both matches.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/theagostins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1080982.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-931\" src=\"http:\/\/theagostins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1080982-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Chiang Mai, Thailand\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1080982-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1080982-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1080982-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1080982.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/theagostins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1080983.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-984\" src=\"http:\/\/theagostins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1080983-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Chiang Mai, Thailand Beer Pong\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1080983-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1080983-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1080983-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1080983.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/theagostins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090717.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-971\" src=\"http:\/\/theagostins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090717-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"P1090717\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090717-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090717-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090717.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/theagostins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090577.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-963\" src=\"http:\/\/theagostins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090577-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"P1090577\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090577-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090577-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090577-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090577.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The next day we decided to expand our exploration and rent a motorbike. We came across Tiger Kingdom, and were skeptical about actually going to play with tigers\u2026 were they drugged? Mistreated? We did an elephant trekking activity in Chitwan Park, Nepal and were so saddened by how the animals were treated that we couldn\u2019t even finish it. We did not want to support something like that again. But we went by the Tiger place, and they invited us in to just look around and see if we liked it before we bought tickets or anything. We were really relieved to see that the cats were actually playing and running around. I\u2019m not going to say it was the best conditions ever, or an ideal thing, but they looked a heck of a lot happier than most tigers you see in a zoo. So we decided to go in and play with the tigers and it was pretty cool!! Yeah, so we played with tigers &#8211; what else can you say about that?!<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-928 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=933'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090061-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Tiger Kingdom - Chiang Mai, Thailand\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=946'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090279-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Tiger Kingdom - Chiang Mai, Thailand\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=935'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090101-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Tiger Kingdom - Chiang Mai, Thailand\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=936'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090110-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Tiger Kingdom - Chiang Mai, Thailand\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=947'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090286-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Tiger Kingdom - Chiang Mai, Thailand\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=939'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090132-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Tiger Kingdom - Chiang Mai, Thailand\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=945'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090251-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Tiger Kingdom - Chiang Mai, Thailand\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=934'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090080-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Tiger Kingdom - Chiang Mai, Thailand\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=943'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090192-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Tiger Kingdom - Chiang Mai, Thailand\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=937'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090116-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Tiger Kingdom - Chiang Mai, Thailand\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=941'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090175-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Tiger Kingdom - Chiang Mai, Thailand\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=932'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090056-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Tiger Kingdom - Chiang Mai, Thailand\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090056-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090056-300x298.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090056-1024x1018.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090056-768x764.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090056.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=942'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090184-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Tiger Kingdom - Chiang Mai, Thailand\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=948'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090387-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Tiger Kingdom - Chiang Mai, Thailand\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=940'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090166-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Tiger Kingdom - Chiang Mai, Thailand\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=944'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090217-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Tiger Kingdom - Chiang Mai, Thailand\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=938'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090118-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Tiger Kingdom - Chiang Mai, Thailand\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Tiger Pounce\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/113615077?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>After the tigers, we went on to explore the countryside around Chiang Mai. It was so fun to drive the curvy roads through the mountains. We visited a hill tribe village, where there were no westerns tourists. Beautiful views and the best strawberries we\u2019ve ever had! They had really cool terraced gardens all around.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/theagostins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_6392.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-929\" src=\"http:\/\/theagostins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_6392-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Chiang Mai, Thailand\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_6392-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_6392-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_6392-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_6392.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We wound our way back with our jackets on \u2013 it got quite cold on the bike!<\/p>\n<p>Our next day was even better, thanks to Alvin and Jennifer for booking a whitewater rafting trip for us! But first Alvin cashed in on a bet he won against Rick&#8230; Rick&#8217;s lack of accuracy in the carnival shooting game cost him &#8211; Alvin got to pick one thing that Rick had to eat.\u00a0\u00a0Alvin was pretty kind, all things considered that he had to choose from at the roadside market. That&#8217;s a deep fried chicken head. Rick said it was surprisingly delicious.<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-2' class='gallery galleryid-928 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=953'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090491-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Chiang Mai Chicken Head\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090491-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090491-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090491-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090491-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090491.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=955'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090499-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Chiang Mai Chicken Head\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=952'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090490-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Chiang Mai Chicken Head\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=954'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090496-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Chiang Mai Chicken Head\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>We had so much fun. And how often is it that you get to raft by elephants in the river?! We also got a special surprise at the end of the trip. As we were pulling up to the side of the river to get out, a random guy was there bathing\u2026 well, we\u2019ll say bathing, but really it seemed like he was just hanging out naked on the shore of the river right where the rafts were coming in. We named him Steve. And inviting \u201cSteve\u201d to our activity for the day became a running joke.<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-3' class='gallery galleryid-928 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=958'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090528-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Rafting Chiang Mai\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=956'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090511-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Rafting Chiang Mai\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=957'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090517-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Rafting Chiang Mai\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=961'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090544-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Rafting Chiang Mai\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=960'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090540-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Rafting Chiang Mai\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=959'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090536-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Rafting Chiang Mai\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/theagostins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090552censored.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-962\" src=\"http:\/\/theagostins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090552censored-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"&quot;Steve&quot; Rafting Chiang Mai\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090552censored-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090552censored-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090552censored.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>While in Chiang Mai we explored some of the many waterfalls. We found one river that had 10 &#8220;levels&#8221; of waterfalls over the course of a couple of kilometers.<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-4' class='gallery galleryid-928 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=964'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090626-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Waterfalls Chiang Mai, Thailand\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=969'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090693-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Waterfalls Chiang Mai, Thailand\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=968'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090690-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Waterfalls Chiang Mai, Thailand\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=967'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090687-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Waterfalls Chiang Mai, Thailand\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=966'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090671-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Waterfalls Chiang Mai, Thailand\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=965'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090649-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Waterfalls Chiang Mai, Thailand\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>We \u00a0spent or last day in Chiang Mai hiking the\u00a0trail up the back way to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jdoqocy.com\/click-7677561-10775740?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tripadvisor.com%2FLocationPhotoDirectLink-g293917-d456320-i22129358-a_cja.10775740-a_cjp.7677561-m13092-Wat_Phra_That_Doi_Suthep-Chiang_Mai.html\" target=\"_blank\">Wat Phra That Doi Suthep<\/a>. Which also passes another smaller Buddhist temple. It was a fun little hike that ends in the little neighborhood the monks live in. Both temples had a bunch of awesome statues.<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-5' class='gallery galleryid-928 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=983'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090823-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Wat Phra That Doi Suthep\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=973'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090724-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=982'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090812-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Wat Phra That Doi Suthep\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=981'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090786-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Wat Phra That Doi Suthep\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=980'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090781-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Wat Phra That Doi Suthep\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=979'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090779-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Wat Phra That Doi Suthep\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=978'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090762-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Wat Phra That Doi Suthep\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=977'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090757-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Wat Phra That Doi Suthep\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=976'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090748-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Wat Phra That Doi Suthep\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=975'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090741-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Wat Phra That Doi Suthep\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=974'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090726-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Wat Phra That Doi Suthep\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/?attachment_id=972'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090721-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Monk Blessing\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/114667141?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After hot and sweaty Bangkok and spending a few nights in a brothel (unknown to us until we put all of the pieces together), we landed in Chiang Mai and immediately loved the weather. It was cool and dry in the mountainous north of Thailand\u2026. Okay, mountainous seems like an exaggeration, after going to the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[43,81,82,83,84,85,86,42,23,53,87,88],"class_list":["post-928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thailand","tag-animals","tag-beer-pong","tag-chiang-mai","tag-deep-fried-chicken-heads","tag-elephants","tag-hiking","tag-monks","tag-rafting","tag-temple","tag-thailand","tag-tigers","tag-waterfalls"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rickagostin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}