The Tuk Tuk Club

Like everyone else in the world, we have been limited to experiencing things "in country."

Um...we can visit cities too, Captain. In fact, we live in one!

I meant in the country we're in. Thailand. You know, the whole pandemic thing?

Well, that makes more since. Which is why we decided to go traveling around part of Thailand in our favorite form of transportation...a tuk tuk!

This trip was taken with Bruce and Yaya of thetuktukclub.com ! We had a lot of fun with them! We did the 5 day tour, which gave us the chance to see a lot of the countryside around Chiang Mai and Doi Inthanon! Let Spike and me take you through the trip day by day:

So on Day 1, we left our hotel in Chiang Mai and headed towards Mae Wong. We could have flown in really early in the morning, but we wanted a good night's sleep before meeting our tuk tuks, Flo and Rock, Bruce, the owner of the Tuk Tuk Club, and Yaya, our guide. First was the training on driving a tuk tuk, which we were unable to do successfully for the main reason of being unable to reach the clutch, gear shift, and throttle while looking out the windshield. 

Hmm. This could be a problem even with teamwork! Guess we're sitting in the back!

Our hotel is quite small with only 9 rooms. The rooms, however, were very, very nice! 

 

After our practice driving, which led to Spike and I being chauffered, we headed out on the road through the village that has a temple called Wat Nong Yen. On the other side of the villae is a temple that is still under construction called Wat Tham Nam Nu. A monk used to live in a cave on the site! After the afternoon driving, we enjoyed a fun dinner and a good night's sleep!

Wat Nong Yen

 

 Wat Tham Nam Hu

Day 2  was a day filled with tuk tuk travels! We stayed in the Mae Wang area, but this time traveled uphill to a large 5-story round temple and a huge statue of 4 Buddhas towering above the trees! From the top of Wat Doi Sapanyoo, we could see a lot of farms and some mountains! It was a lot of stairs to the top, but the view is well worth it!

 

At the bottom of a long staircase leading down from the Buddhas, we found a friendly elephant to hang out with for a bit. There was also a maze, which actually spelled out the name of the Wat.

 

Captain, you're forgetting where we went AFTER the temple! It was an interesting drive, where we were able to see a lot of rice paddies and houses, on our way to see the actual elephants at the Mae Vang Elephant House. Noom introduced us to his elephants, including a 6-month baby elephant!

As if I would forget elephants! And that was one fiesty little baby elephant! Although as we walked to the river for the elephants to play in the water, it was never far from his mom! We spent a lot of time with the elephants before heading back to our hotel room for dinner and a good night's sleep!

 

Day 3 meant we headed up the mountains. Seriously up. Like winding and winding and winding up.

It wasn't that bad, Captain. It was actually pretty cool to see the views. Especially the difference between the two sides of the mountain!

It's the rainy season so on one side of the mountains it was overcast, cool, and raining off and on. But then on the other side? Warm, sunny, and beautiful!

The top of the waterfall was hidden by the clouds.

But then on the other side of the mountain, the view looked like this:

There was a small village we saw, and we found that at the end of the main road is a Catholic Church, the Church of Saint Patrick! We took a moment to look inside. 

Before we saw the "other side of the mountain," (AND DON'T START SINGING THAT SONG AGAIN, SPIKE!) we checked in to our riverside cottage in the Mae Klang Luang village. We also ate lunch in a little restaurant overlooking the rice fields!

We also had a chance to hike through the woods to find Namtok Mae Pan, the highest waterfall in Chiang Mai at over 100 meters high! It took a bit of a hike to get there, but what a great view! A great ending to day 3!

 

But that wasn't the end, Spike! Don't you remember dinner?

Well, it's hard to forget if you've never eaten your dinner as it's cooking over hot coals while sitting in a rice field!

Which is why the waterfall wasn't the end of the day! The Mookata was! Mookata is a Thai barbeque where the center is raised, the juices from the grilling meat go into the trough around the bottom, mixing with broth, as it cooks the vegetables, fish balls, and other items that don't get grilled.

When day 4 arrived, we did not sit in the tuk tuk at all. This was a day of rest for the tired tuk tuks. After all, they had climbed into the mountains!

But bears and bulldogs had to keep going. We had to keep up with our Karen hilltribe guide, Lung Dii!

 

 

He took us through the Pha Dok Siew Nature Trail in the Doi Inthanon National Park. This is a "one-way" nature trail past a bunch of waterfalls and then around behind the fields to the upper part of the village where we were staying.  Keep in mind that it was a misty rain sort of day, plus the mist from the waterfalls, so the sign was really important to pay attention to!

 

                                             

            

 

 

 

Yaya carried our lunch through the hike so we could eat a picnic. Unfortunately, the ground was really wet beside the waterfalls, so we found a place with table to eat it later in the hike. Fried rice with an egg on top! The banana leaves were it's wrapping and our plate as we ate! It was delicious!

 

 

Unfortunately, day 5 arrived. This was the day for us to return to Chiang Mai and fly back to Bangkok. Spike and I worked on our teamwork for driving the tuk tuk back to Mae Wang, but we still can't reach the brake and clutch while shifting gears. Guess we will have to stay in the backseat!

Our drive back was picturesque, but we didn't stop until back in Mae Wang to park the tuk tuks!

 

If you are in Thailand and want to get off the tourist track to see a lot of authentic Thailand, Spike and I highly recommend becoming a "member" of the Tuk Tuk Club! Fun, relaxing, and adventurous all in one!