The second highest rated activity in Chiang Mai, I believe that we really should try it. Afterall, you don't glide between treetops on a daily basis.
Having read the reply from the management to an earlier post, we decided to book our trip online. It was Saturday at the time; I wanted to go Monday. However, there was no reply by Sunday afternoon; we ended up asking the hotel staff to call them, and the booking was done instantly. The hotel staff suggests that we do everything by phone. So, if you don't book in advance or are really tight on schedule, just get the hotel staff to ring them.
We opted for the earlybird pickup to save a few hundred baht. The van came on time; it's a big toyota commuter, comfortably sitting 10 people. So comfortable that everyone, including me, fell asleep. Or perhaps, everyone's simultaneously jetlagging, hang'n over, or had partied too hard last night...
it's around 30 minutes of drive along the countryside, then 30 minutes of drive uphill to reach the forest. We were told that the entire flight area, is around 1400meter above sea level.
We were dropped off at the office, where we were fitted with the gear. The entire gear is manufactured by a French company "Petzl". Even the helmet. The equipments are very strong and tough; imagine that it can support a 330 pound person, it's probably safe enough for you and I. The gear needed a wash, it smelled pretty bad...
After we got the gear fitted, we were driven to a higher altitude to begin our flight. The staff were very professional and they took care of us well. There were 4 of them looking after our group of 10 people. We were chained to a safety cable at all times, eliminating the possibility of falling off the canopy.
If you intend to bring your camera, make sure it's strapped on tightly. I now feel very foolish to be holding onto one, without any string attached, while taking a 10 second video across the 2 trees. There is no chance of recovering it even if it survives the 300 foot drop.
During the flight, the staff also offered to take pictures for us and a few other couples, which I'm grateful for.
We expected to see some wild animals, but there was none.
Didn't know that the trip included a talk on the environment, until the end, when we were given a questionnaire, to ask us what we thought of experience, one part being the talk on the environment - there wasn't any!
We were driven back to the office after the flight, and was given lunch, consisting of vegetable soup, mildly spicy curry with pork, and some boiled vegetables. It was adequate.
Then, it's time for the hike up the waterfall. It was a bit "unfruitful", cos we walked up the stairs to reach the top of the waterfall, which took 20 minutes of vigorous exercise, only to find a deadend, and had to walk back down. The van was down there all the time waiting for us. (I thought it will pick us up elsewhere initially.) So if you are already too tired, do save the walk.
I would like to thank Jacky for his professional guidance during the flight.