Backdate: Chiang Mai trip Dec 2017 Day 5

Thursday, January 17, 2019

Backdate: Chiang Mai trip Dec 2017 Day 5

9/12/17 Sat: Woke up to porridge and egg and rice prepared by the Airbnb staff for us~ the egg is sweet… yummy breakfast imo! I saw Dragon Flight Adventure online, which was basically ziplining in Chiang Mai, and wanted to try it, so we booked it for S$147.26 for two people.

The van came to pick us up in the morning, and then three other china girls, and lastly, an Israel girl. One of the China girl got a stylish braid done in Bangkok, and she said it was the “in” thing there haha. *It’s cool, but I can’t risk not washing my hair though…*

The minute we reached Dragon Flight, we were ushered to put our stuff in a locker, including my phone. *Potato brought his along and took a few photos~* Then, we wore our helmets and safety gears, and I opted for a photographer to follow and take photos for us for an extra amount which I can’t recall, but reasonable imo.

We walked over to the starting point of the zipline stations with two instructors, in a group of 8. There was this Israel student, angmoh couple and three other Hong Kong ladies with us. The first zipline was just slightly above ground to help us “calm down” as we will be going up higher into the jungle, some parts 40 to 50m above ground.

Peanuts for Potato because he even tried to abseil upside down la! It’s said that there are 26 ziplines, and 3 abseils, I remember two being 20m and 40m each. *I was pretty scared of the abseils at first because there were “free falls” from videos I saw online, but luckily, ours was a slow drop down to the ground. *The photos taken were lovely!* There were also some slopes to climb (the last one to the exit was most tiring), a bridge to cross and some steps up and down as well. *Look at the lush greenery all around us!*

I tried flying fox in Secondary 3 before, and it’s a “love-hate” thing about it. The speed excites me, but my acrophobia is an obstacle. Though I knew we were very high up in the jungles ziplining, but as I look down (I tried to look far most of the time la), I see the top of the trees which made it look like I’m “not too far from the ground” haha, and that helped a bit I guess.

Halfway through, the instructor gave us some biscuits and drinks for a stop break. One of them was very enthusiastic and humourous; he would push us off the ledge, swing us hard a second before our feet left the platform, and make funny sounds to entertain us and that enriched the whole experience further. *He even cut a heart shaped-hole using a leaf and took photos for Potato and me hehe~*

After about 2 hours ziplining in the jungles, we took group photos and hopped onto a truck back for lunch that they prepared for us. Nothing wow, but they filled our stomach nicely. *Participants get a free t-shirt each too!*

The drive into and out of the jungle roads were not very safe, in the sense that there were sharp corners, so drivers will horn as they are nearing one, in case of collisions. We were back at our Airbnb in the late afternoon, and after a short rest, we began our walk to Saturday Night Market, which opens from 4pm to 12am!

Lots of street food, clothes, paintings and souvenirs around~ it was huge! I saw a colourful drawing of a village that I liked a lot (200 baht) but forgot to go back and buy in the end… what a waste.

We had egg sausages, sweet potato balls which were very Q, mushrooms and steamed eggs, and then turned into a corner for proper dinner! *There were BBQ crocodile meat and scorpions which we didn’t try though.* We managed to find seats and share a table with other tourists, and ordered my favourite Tom Yum Goong (200 baht) to share~ *Potato can’t take spicy food well, but he always wouldn’t mind sharing this with me… thanks dear.* It was kind of hot but shiok, and we ordered two Chrysanthemum drink in bamboo bottles (20 baht each) to relieve the spiciness… awesome dinner!

We walked for 4 hours there~ kind of testing for our legs. There were people playing music instruments, students singing, and even a stall to buy wines. I tried the Gac fruit drink (30 baht) which was said to be very beneficial for our health, and it’s sour. We had grass jelly with shaved ice for dessert. 2 of us bought a new pair of slippers each as well!