Hiking the Galae Loop in Chiang Mai

At the beginning of this month, I told myself that it is about time again to start exploring a bit more of Chiang Mai again, the great place where I now ended up staying at a lot longer than I had planned for this year.

With the whole coronavirus situation seemingly becoming a bit more easier and controlled here in Asia, people are a bit more relaxed now, with businesses getting back to their daily rhythm.

I was spending a lot of time in my room and at my laptop over the past few months and weeks, and I could feel a strong urge to spend more time in nature to compensate for what wasn’t really possible to do before.

So, I decided to get out into the nearby mountains and to explore different hiking trails on a weekly basis, which is probably the most fulfilling and grounding experience that I can make to get away from my life and business thoughts, worries, and uncertainties.

Nothing good comes from never taking a break.

To get started, I was looking for a tool that could help me to find nice hiking trails and also to navigate by GPS, in case of ending up somewhere more remote without phone reception.

While I enjoy hiking with others of course, I also like going all alone sometimes, only listening to the sounds of the wildlife around. It’s very refreshing for the mind!

I quickly discovered this app called AllTrails and I am absolutely loving it already. I don’t think any other app ever convinced me to sign up for a paid plan that quickly, but it’s just really worth it.

I can find amazing hiking trails all around the world, can download them on my phone to navigate without an internet connection, and record my adventures precisely.

Through the app and a recommendation from a nice guy in a local Facebook group, I also quickly found my first trail — the Galae Loop.

Through AllTrails I can even show you precisely where that is with the widget below, which is interactive. Isn’t that awesome? 

The hike started off at a small lake and took me through a steep hike up the Doi Suthep mountain, where I could take a small lunch break at a nice viewpoint. It was more exhausting than I thought, but exactly what I was looking for.

After walking down the busy street for a short while, I then had to look for a hidden path at the side of the street, which took me to the Pha Lat Temple.

From there I started my way back down the mountain, going down the Monk’s Trail.

It was a lovely walk down through the jungle, which inspired me to make a video to talk a bit about my current situation, and where things are going.

I didn’t plan to, but in the moment I just felt like doing it. I’ve been playing to create more videos for a while, it seemed like a good starting point.

After finishing the hike and only having eaten some pineapple and a passion fruit juice all morning, it was about time for a great meal. Therefore I headed to the Thanin Market, to grab myself a great avocado shake and a great portion of stir-fried pork with Thai basil.

It was a perfect finish to a great Sunday morning.

I have already and will go on more trips out into the nature as long as I am here, because at some point not too far from now I will be leaving and who knows when I’ll have a chance to come back.

Time to make the most out of this unplanned long-term stay!