Product of ND: Ob Khan National Park Trekking

I recently took part in a scouting missions for an upcoming student program. The program consists of a two day hike in Ob Khan National Park here in Chiang Mai province Thailand. Ideally the students will be given a set of coordinates and a map and be told to make it from point A to point B. Needless to say, its a tough gig having to go on hikes and climb all the time, but then again someone has to do it. We packed up and took a red truck from the office to the Royal Project area, which was created by the king to reduce hill tribes growing poppies. The crew included Add, Katie, and myself. The hike was very scenic and will be a perfect introduction to backpacking for the students. After leaving it only took us about 5 hours to reach our destination down valley.

Add checking his iphone

Royal Project Area

Rice fields

Numerous river crossings

One of the few breaks we actually took

There happens to be a wide variety of food here in northern Thailand, however my personal favorite is ahan issan. This particular type of food comes from NE Thailand / S Laos and is essentially tons of meat prepared in different ways and eaten with sticky rice (cold beer also helps).

Gai Yai, tasty stuff

My favorite Isaan joint

This weekend Chiang Mai held the annual flower festival which consisted of tons of food, flowers, parades, etc. etc. Needless to say traffic was a bit ridiculous so I decided to walk around. En route I found this amazing pottery store. I will be spending a bit of money there in the future. Unfortunately I only caught the end of the parade, but luckily all the floats were parked afterward for everyone to see. Below are a few photos from the festivities.