Good morning and it's another beautiful day and today we are off on an adventure
I have decided to go and find the floating pagoda which is about a hundred
kilometres from Chiang Mai according to the map I can't really find a great deal
of information about it very sketchy about the route how to get there what the
routes like but it looks really beautiful and it's on top of a mountain
somewhere
so stock up on my breakfast, pack some snacks
get on the bike let's see if we can show you, find the way, to the floating pagoda
it's gonna be quite a drive so it's gonna be a long day so I'm trying to leave
early.....ish
Let's get some breakfast
Oh away from the busy city, and into the country
beautiful
escaped the traffic of Chiang Mai it was reasonably busy this morning
for Chiang Mai
came through the traffic then the roads got quieter less vehicles and then
I turned off and I think I'm heading into the mountains now because now I'm
on little roads and it's very quiet
really nice
just pulled off to rest my bottom I've
been driving about an hour have a stretch
oh and enjoy this beautiful day
I haven't got far since our last stop but I found this lovely little coffee shop sitting beside
the road by the river I thought well I'll just stop for a stretch and a coffee and
it does seem a long time since breakfast and this seems such a nice little coffee
spot, look at it! I have no idea where we are but it seems time to get a coffee or a cold drink
how beautiful and relaxing is this
mustn't get side tracked though still got an hour and a half to drive but
this is beautiful good coffee too
and it's raining the sun is still streaming through in the clouds but just dropping
down into the valley and some rain came in so rather than drive on the slightly
slippery road thought it'll pass quickly tuck myself in a corner here have a
couple of snacks I've bought some biscuits with me a little snack
I'll carry on when the rain stops
I have arrived after a beautiful journey with rain sunshine twisty roads amazing
views I've arrived at the parking area where I;ve parked the bike, parked over there
and you
from now on have to pay and get a shuttle up to the top
well not up to the top, up to a point and then you walk from the last bit so let's go find
out about the ticket and when it's gonna go
and there's the way to go
tickets here?
- 270 baht
- 270 - yeah
- thankyou - on up and down
- up and down - yeah
oh, got the tickets
it's one up and down
- ticket 70 baht, entrance to the park 200 baht you get the class
- 270 baht - thank you very much
and what time? how long?
- one hour - one hour? - yeah
- meeting here 15 minutes - in 15 minutes? - yeah
- thank you very much - up and down 1 hour
thank you
one ticket it's 200 for the National
Park and 70 Baht for the truck up and down, that's 35 each way and apparently
next one's going in 15 minutes so I've got a little bit of time to have a drink
find a toilet and then take you up on the first stage before walking, and it's hot
I got my hat, some sunscreen, some water and let's go
thank you
and we're heading up the mountain, once you've parked at the bottom the next
stage is to get a songthaew, one of these little vehicles, that takes you up the next steep
step but unfortunately not all the way to the top, so enjoy the ride before we
start hiking up
Oh
oh my goodness
this is steep, and we're going at, you know "beaucoup de force", give it the speed
we've made it alive, and I don't think anybody fell out, that's gotta be a success
I'm looking forward to the trip down...
- it was a wild ride wasn't it? - that's a ride!
- Are you sure you don;t want to walk down?
thank you
and that's it a bit of a wild ride up but here safely
now peaceful and quiet now the pagoda is apparently 800 meters
along that way I'm not sure if it's steep or not but that's the path we're gonna
take down, down? up there
so let's go, oh it's so peaceful, oh the view
already from here is fantastic okay, let's go
well after a rather terrifying drive up at high speed the trucks go people
disappear and you're left halfway up hopefully more than halfway up almost at the
top of this beautiful mountain now the first part I think first 200 meters nice
and easy gentle slope up until this part and then
the stairs starts and they are here so yes oh it's only 400 meters
and then we're up the stairs let's go
we're still going, we're still climbing
a long steep, it's not difficult, all little steps so far, beautiful view, it is quite warm though
that's because I've got a beautiful, beautiful day
I think I can see it, that's what I keep telling myself
glad I
brought some extra water and some snacks with me
let's do the final push