I was feeling much better today, although still not 100%. The weather in the morning showed some signs of getting better with patches of blue sky too. I tried to get on my way to see the renowned Doi Suthep temple and then ride north to Chiang Dao to see the Chiang Dao mountain. However, since I went to bed after 3AM I did not wake up early enough and I also needed to spend some time with the bike to check everything on it and also finally lube my chain properly for the first time in Asia. Until now the chain was being lubed by different bike shops with different oils with too low viscosity to hold on it. They don’t have anything else in the motorbike shops here and those low viscosity oils are obviously what they are using for their little bikes. I finally managed to get heavy motor oil for this purpose and by now I also had a toothbrush to work the oil into the chain with. I think my Kawa is happy now and I am too as I will stop getting the whole rear of the bike covered with oily drops shed by the chain and its centrifugal forces.

Anyway, when I finally got into my gear and set off it… well, really not hard to guess…. started to rain. Just a couple of minutes sooner I decided I would first ride to Chiang Dao in hope of escaping the clouds in which the hills where Doi Suthep is located were hiding. After riding in the rain just a few minutes I was seriously considering returning back and give it a pass again today. I’m happy to report that I didn’t and that the rain stopped 10 minutes later. I could see the black cloud hanging over Chiang May for another 20 km in my rear-view mirror. And you can be sure that I returned under the same cloud and into rain a few hours later. It seems that it decided to not move from above Chiang Mai until I move again…

On my way to Chiang Dao I stopped at the “Elephant Training Centre” that includes a tourist attraction of bamboo rafting. The elephants are apparently being trained (and therefore the centre is open) only two times a day and that is 9AM and 10AM (yes, only one hour later). I’m not sure how interesting is the elephant training but I heard from people who tried that there is almost nothing interesting on the bamboo rafting. I also went to check the elephant village but found no signs of elephants. I saw quite a few of them not far from there on my way back though.

Well, the Chiang Dao mountain is pretty, but I was really expecting some real mountains finally as Chiang Mai is only about 400m above sea level and everything before it from south is pretty much flat with only small hills/mountains around. There is nothing too tall though. There are supposed to be some very colorful tribes in the area, but I didn’t see anything – most likely because I was not stopping much since I didn’t have much time.

There was a tourist sign in Chiang Dao for a waterfall in the direction towards Myanmar border. I decided to follow it this time as Myanmar border was not too far from there which consequently meant that the waterfall couldn’t have been either. Not too far after Chiang Dao there was a left turn and a sign with a distance to the waterfall – another 24km. That wasn’t too bad so I continued. When I finally got there, after passing a couple of military checkpoints on the way, they wanted 200 Baht for letting one to see the waterfall! That is the standard entry fee to national parks for foreigners in Thailand and this waterfall is just behind the border of one of them. The girl behind the counter at the entry point first offered to give me 5 minutes of entry for free, but when I put the bike on its stand and took off my helmet and gloves she wanted 200 Baht again. Maybe it was because some people passed just a few seconds before and their might have been the park rangers which might have had scared her, or I misunderstood the first time, or she simply changed her mind, maybe expecting some bribe… I don’t know. 200 Baht seemed to be too steep a price for 10 minutes at a waterfall so I just thanked her and was on my way back to Chiang Mai.

On my way back to Chiang Mai I have stopped in a little different buddhist temple, where I was invited in to sit with the monks for a while. Unfortunately I had to appologize myself and leave after only a few minutes as I was still hoping to see Doi Suthep today.

As mentioned above I have returned into rain in Chiang Mai and so Doi Suthep sightseeing had to be postponed till tomorrow morning before I leave my guesthouse and be on my way south again.

(196km)