Meeting the Long Neck tribe people in Chiang Mai

The previous post in this series is here..

Joy showed up in the morning to pick us up at 7AM sharp. We had received the breakfast and they gave what they could. San was covered. I was not. Luckily I still had some energy bars left for the day. We also wanted to stop by a pharmacy to get some throat lozenges. Joy helped San buy stuff. It was good we had a translator!

With a quick pharmacy stop, we were on our way to our first stop on a very packed day. Joy was surprised that we wanted to see all that in one day, but we promised him we will step up and we will be done before 6PM for sure. He simply smiled. As we drove out of the busy area of Chiang Mai, he showed us the old houses in the area made of Teak wood on one street where the trees were also old and lined the street on both sides. It was going to be an almost 100km drive. Gave us some rest. We saw an airplane that was converted to a restaurant on the way as well.

Our first stop was to visit the Long neck tribe who are originally from Burma but have been given refuge in Thailand. They can sell trinkets to tourists and have some land to cultivate crops for themselves, but are restricted to that area. The women have long necks and wear a heavy set of rings from the time they are children. Originally only women born on a full moon Wednesday had to wear it. Now all girls are wearing it here. Learning about their history and way of life was interesting. We took some photos with the women and children, bought some souvenirs and walked back to the car. The river that ran through their area was key to their survival and there were beautiful waterfalls right near the houses of the tribe.

A few more photos..

A video highlights reel..

The reason for visiting them first was that the next stop wasn’t going to be ready for us that early and they were on the way..

A lucky escape from falling in a waterfall - Sahasralinga or 1000 linga falls Cambodia

The previous post in this series on the Thanksgiving 2025 trip is here..

After finishing the walk along the 1000 linga river to its source and back, we got in the car to go down to the 1000 linga waterfalls (Sahasralinga falls is the name). It was a short drive and we managed to find parking. The parking lot was getting full as by now a lot more visitors had shown up. It was almost noon. We ate some fruits and started walking towards the falls.

We walked past a bunch of shops that sold herbal remedies and trinkets. There were also a lot of cute dress shops. My attempts to encourage San to buy some failed. Eventually we did buy clothes at the night market the next evening. We were blown away by the width of the falls and the amount of water. Saruk took some nice photos. I showed him the trick of walking towards us steadily and pushing the iPhone between our heads to show the falls. He was impressed. Told him the credit for that doesn’t go to me but our guide in Giza plateau who showed us that. Now Saruk has this in his trick shot list!

Was about to walk back when he said “this is just the upper falls. we have to walk down narrow steps to go to the actual falls!”.. we were thrilled. After walking down narrow steps (which were also wet and slippery and reminded us of the waterfalls in Costa Rica), we were treated to an amaziing view of the 1000 linga falls. Thundering water and a mist that created a fantastic effect with the sunlight going through it.

Did not know that I was going to get in water. My BYSJ shorts was tucked away in the suitcase in the hotel room. But there is a guy making a quick buck here at the falls renting shorts and a changing cabin for a dollar and 50 cents. Rented the shorts and got in the cold water. Was doing yoga poses close to the edge (it was 4 feet deep). Then decided to swim a bit to the rock in the middle of the water and do yoga pose there. Apparently San was not okay with it but in the din of the falls, could not hear her protesting. Saruk was camera ready. That is all I could see. After bobbing up and down to the rock stood up on it and started doing tree pose. It was slippery. That is when the crowd started cheering for me.. or so I thought.

Apparently the wind had changed direction and the mist that was going right to left behind me was coming towards the crowd. That meant a wall of water was going to slap me from behind. Luckily I just finished doing the pose and had both feet on the rock when it hit me with so much force! Had to sit down to brace myself. It almost threw me off the rock.

Got back down safely but as I was trying to climb back up to San, slipped on a rock and scratched my leg. Just decided to let it go and find ointment later in the hotel. Changed back, took some more photos and hiked back up the narrow steps.

Here is the must watch video highlights reel..

We were hungry but our driver said “just hold on for another 45 minutes or so. Will take you to a beautiful spot where you can have lunch”. So off we went to our next stop..

Emerald Pools - a little extra to wrap up Zion

The previous post in this series is here..

I was craving hot cocoa, but the Zion lodge cafe did not have any. Ate some Parle G, lemon rice and chips to more than make up for it. Then we decided to go to Emerald pools. Our knees were shaky to start with but all of us decided to go.

We made it to the waterfall area, but there was not much water. We walked behind the falls in red slushy mud and the ladies decided to call it a day. They wanted to go make tik tok reels in the lawns of the lodge. A brave man decided to be their reels photographer while two of us decided to go all the way to the Upper Emerald pool. Our local trail guides aka ladies said “it is only another 0.3 miles.. you two should be back in another 30 minutes”. Turned out it was much more than that and the last part was pretty steep. We slowed down and kept talking about random things and made it to the lower, middle and upper pools and took photos.

An unruly crowd greeted us again. So we stayed for maybe 5 mins tops at the upper pool and made our way back. The pools may not have a lot of water now but the reflections are still beautiful!

After making our way back we took the shuttle to the visitor center, and then drove back to our cabin. We were going to have some chai and biscuits in the porch. Then we changed and found dinner. There was a place called Thai Sapa which the ladies had an eye on… what with the big Ganesha greeting them… so we went there. Given my allergies I usually don’t go anywhere near Thai places and ended up eating a Pizza there.

Was still craving a hot cocoa and we finally found it in the Zion General store. Spent some time walking around with the group and made it back to the cabin. It was time to pack and get ready for an early morning drive to our next stop..

A short highlight video…

If you have a good two to two and a half hours to spare after doing Angels landing, definitely recommend the hike to the Upper Emerland pool. Take it nice and slow and enjoy the breathtaking scenery on the way.