Doi Inthanon: final romp

The third and final day of our romping through Doi Inthanon was pleasant, mainly downhill, and all over by lunchtime. We had a relatively early start: we left the Karen village at about 9:30am; and it was more jungle scenery, winding paths, and fairly easy walking for most of the morning. We were followed for some time by a few of the village dogs: the dogs around here are amiable enough to visitors; but they're bloody wild and vicious with each other! I guess that's what happens when none of them are de-sexed, and when they're all on heat 24/7. The morning rest stop was a looong and very relaxing one: we found a lovely natural pool, with a bunch of flat rocks all around, that was perfect for a ½ hour or so of swimming and sunbaking (and reading).

Rice paddies near the village.

Random hut somewhere in the jungle.

Relaxing by the rock pool.

Excluding the break by the rock pool, the morning's walk couldn't have been more than about 2 hours. The end of the walk included the most captivating of the day's scenery: our wide dirt walking track was flanked on one side by towering bamboo plants, and on the other by a broad expanse of rice fields, which were bordered by hills and bathed by the clear sunny sky. Very classic, romantic countryside: felt like we were on a colonial safari in Imperial Siam.

Lovely rice fields towards the end of the walk.

At the end of the walk, we found a rag-tag collection of stalls run by local people, and selling a variety of souvenirs and refreshments. There was a group of young Korean tourists sitting nearby — and it was clear that they'd provided some good business to the vendors, since they were well-equipped with water bottles and with little ornaments. One guy even set up an amusement stall, for tourists bored of waiting around: 5B for some target practice with a pellet gun and an empty Coke can. I tried my luck, but sadly marksmanship isn't one of my finer skills — I missed the can by a mile. From there, the pickup trucks returned and picked us up; and they took us over to the elephant camp, where we had a delicious restaurant lunch, and where we enjoyed a rest before the big finale of the tour.