Denied

Tried to go camping in the mountains, but it seems that the stars didn't align properly for us to make it work. We arrived at the bus station, found out that there wasn't a bus, but rather a yellow truck taxi to the first town we needed to get to. We arrived in Chom Thong after a couple of hours in the back of a truck. I'm convinced that I've been blessed with the skill of being able to fall asleep in any moving vehicle, no matter how uncomfortable. We were crammed in the back with about 12 people with bags and backpacks and I definitely fell asleep sitting up. I thank my mom for going on car rides to get her children to sleep; I've been classically conditioned.

Upon arriving in Chom Thong, which is the town where we would have to catch a taxi to Doi Intanon for camping, we found that this was hurdle #1. No one wanted to take two girls 38 km up a mountain, one-way (they have to drive all the way back), on a weekday, during the low rainy season. We tried walking to the road that leads up the mountain to try and hitch a ride but no one would stop. We were so close! We could see the mountain we so desperately wanted to get to, but it was too far to walk. We walked all around town, and found a motorbike rental place. Keep in mind that in these smaller towns there we are the only foreigners, and next to zero English speakers. It was a strange feeling not having people rushing up to help us, they just looked at us like we were animals from the circus strolling around their town. We thought there was hope at the motorbike rental place, but hurdle #2: they only had one bike left. There is no way we could fit the two of us with our stuff and learn how to drive up a mountain. That would be a circus stunt. We had been defeated by our own attempts to get around Thailand on the fly. So our camping trip was turned into a day trip to a small town, and I plan on going back soon. Actually getting to the mountain next time though. It seems that today, as hard as we tried, inevitably all roads lead to home.