Tat Lao & Pong Duad

I've gone on and on about how small this world is and how incredible it is to run into people that you've met on a train or with whom you've encountered on the busy streets of Bangkok. It happened again. This time it was while I was fifteen feet off the ground upon the shoulders of an elephant. Tat Lao and I were galumphing down the road when someone passed on a motor bike. It wasn't until after doing a U-turn behind us, backtracking toward us, and removing his sunglasses that he called up to me. Here I am, three hours away from home, on the back of an elephant and I run into a guy from the first week of school. Crazy, right? I mean, I know that when there's a destination listed in the guidebook, that it's likely that everyone will go there. But really? At the same time and in the exact same spot? I also ran into another kid from school the night before on one of the walking streets. We shared some mushrooms and a cocktail.

Though I was trying to make it back to Chiang Mai during daylight hours to see if I could score a better view from the mountain, I did scurry 24km off the path in order to check out Pong Duad Geyser. It was well worth it. Never before have I seen an active geyser. The particular hydrogeological conditions necessary to form a geyser exist in only a few places on Earth, so they are a fairly rare phenomenon. As surface water works its way down to come in contact with hot rock, the hot spring at Pong Duad spurts out steam 4 meters above ground. I was able to bathe in that same hot spring water after playing with Tat Lao. The facility offers hot spring-fed baths. Since I've encountered nothing but stand-up showers since Tyoko, this was a refreshing alternative.