Crazy Sunday

Hello friends. So sorry for not posting yesterday but I was a bit tuckered out after a good romping on the mountain. It was quite a day. Got picked up with my bike and gear around 1030 and headed to the mountain. Got dropped off at the base and found the trail. In was following written instructions online. Locked my bike to the map post and headed up. It was a steep climb. Met a guy named Mike from Ireland who was a nice fellow. Hike was pretty steep and beautiful. Got to the first temple and took a break. Really nice waterfall and a real cute and wonderful little temple on the side of the mountain. Ate lunch and then kept going. It started to rain hard which was actually kind of fun. On a multi day trek I care about my stuff getting wet but not on a day hike. I got to enjoy the cool down as I hiked steeply uphill on a clay path. Picked up trash on my way. Can't have any of that! Hit the road twice and the second time went through the back way to the main temple. Beautiful place. Great view of Chiang Mai. The temple was pretty expansive and there were a lot of people there. I got blessed by a monk :) ate crackers there a watched the rain move in over the valley. Then it hit and it was time to attempt the summit. Temple was about 3400 feet. Started at 1600 and the summit was a mile high. My guild was a written piece that was as interested in describing the wildlife as describing the path. But I managed. Bought some mangosteen and another fruit. Good stuff. Walked up the road and found the herb garden. Sheltered in a pavilion till the rain let up and then headed down the path. The plant were huge and beautiful! Came across a rock cliff where monks sometimes take up residence and a swollen waterfall that almost engulfed the bridge over it. Really great walk. Hit the road and found the path again. Walked on this one for quite a while. Saw a snake with a frog in its mouth :) but as I said, the directions were not that clear. But I found the right turn off from the path and eventually ran into the palace compound. This is kinda like camp David for the president. But the royal family wasn't there so there weren't any guards on duty. I took what I thought to be the right trail but after hiking up steep terrain I found that the trail had collapsed so I turned around to try the other path. Hiked past mutinous guard towers which was good because those were in the directions. Gained about 300 feet and found a path. I turned off and hit the road and helicopter pads. Not good. I wasn't suppose to hit these. They weren't in the directions. I are and drank and regrouped here. Also found my first leech crawling on me. Gross. Headed back and up on the path again. It was 4 by now. Found an abandoned house further up and the barbed fence turned left. I knew I had gone the wrong way then. Turned around and headed back to the bottom. Most smart people would have turned around by now but not Graham. He had to reach the summit. So I kept going. Climbed the trail I had originally taken and climbed over the collapse. It was very steep and a long trail. Very taxing on the body. This whole day had been. I decided I would turn around a six whether I was at the top or not. I found the right path and started hiking to the summit. Finally, at six, I reached to top of Dui Suthep at 5580 feet. There is a monument for the 13th century on the top. Very cool. But as I'm sure you know, getting to the top is half of it. Getting down is the other part. Here is where the going got rough. I sat down to eat and saw a leech on my leg. And then another. I pulled up my shorts and they were more. About ten in total. First time I had really self with them before. But I pulled them off and killed them. It was kinda scary. Then I realized it was 6 o'clock and the sun sets around 6:30. So I tightened my shoes and backpack and be gain to run to the road in the fading light. I ran for a solid 4-5 miles downhill. I lost 2000 feet in half an hour. I only fell once and only cut my shoes on barbed wire and not my feet. I had two flash lights but I wanted to cover as much ground as I could in the remaining light. I was greatly helped in my run because it was down hill but it was still a huge challenge. I finally got to the road after about half and hour and flagged down the first car a saw. It was three Thai men who drove me to the temple. Really nice guys. Didn't speak English but I speak enough Thai to get by. Hoped for a songtow down the mountain at the temple but they were all gone as it was almost 7. I checked myself for leeches again and found two more. Then they agreed to take me into town. Had a beautiful view of the city going down. These were really nice guys. Good music too. It was so good to be in a car lol. Near the bottom I tried to get them to take me to my bike but then it became clear that they were from around here and didn't know where anything was. We stopped three times to try and find an interpreter but just gave up in the end and got dropped off some where with people. Paid them 100 for their troubles. Found out where I was and walked to tha pad gate. Got a tuktuk to Suthep road where my bike was. He got lost but eventually found his way. Got suited up and bike 2ish miles to the city. I was trying to catch the bus the Prom but missed it because tuktuk got lost so I ended up buying a custard bun and black bean bun and then biked the 6 miles to Payap. Got home around 10:15. Showered and went to sleep. Crazy day. I'm glad I had the experience and fitness to be alright but someone without that probably wouldn't have gotten themselves into that situation in the first place. I was definitely lucky. Totally worth it but I won't be trying stuff like than any time soon. As I said, really crazy, intense, and wounded up day :)