All the time we keep on reminding ourselves that we need to slow down and the next place will be the one to stay longer, do nothing and rest. And then we do it again – after few days in Chiang Mai we rented a car to climb a long winding road to one mountain, see yet another temple, play with elephant poo, bathe in a waterfall or go to the highest peak of Thailand.

Doi Ithanon is aproximately 70 kilometers south-west from Chiang Mai. To catch sunrise from the top, we need to be there at 6 a.m. which means waking up at 4 and driving fast on a winding, narrow road (at least paved). To make things more interesting and less easy, we sent almost all our clothes (including shoes) to laundry on the day before. By the way some people asked me what you pack for a year of travelling – perhaps I write about it one day too.

Sooo…., it looks like we have 3 socks for 4 people and one is child size while we need at least 2 in size 43+. We put on ourseleves everything that is left so it looks like we continue the grand Polish tradition of climbing Giewont (popular mountain in Tatra) in flip-flops + socks and with a plastic bag from Biedronka (polish version of 7-eleven) to carry all our belongings. Tytus looks at us with disdain and keeps safe distance to avoid any possibility of random Thais associating him with the rest of us. At the age of 13 you prefer style over warmth and comfort. Even if you are at the other end of the world, at the top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere. At the same time I do prefer being dressed in what looks like a carry-on bag for a small UFO spaceship, as long as my teeth do not clench.

The sunrise was late due to a thick layer of smog over Northern Thailand. Actually despite warmth and humidity I do not remember when I saw a truly blue sky here. It always has this pale-blue-dirty-gray shade. Burning fields or trash is all well and similar to Cambodia you could be woken up by the smell of burning plastic. This is one of these things I will never get used to and it just pisses me off. The more we are on the road the more radical I become when it comes to ecology.

Doi Ithanon, apart from being the highest peak of Thailand is also a Natural Park. There are many waterfalls, and trails, so we stop at few of them but in the end lack of sleep hits us hard and we head back to return the car, pick up laundry and move on again. South.