Doi Inthanon. When I hear the words Doi Inthanon I instantly think the word cold. Then, other memories come flooding back, the green trees all around, looking for the pines as I get closer to the top. Sitting in a car, huddled with blankets and a mattress, while it’s still dark at 5 in the morning, going to see the sunrise. Oh, how I love that thin, pink mattress. Sleeping on it with cousins, the hot, Thai sun beating down, as I watch the mountain seem to shrink behind me. The sun, coming up so incredibly slowly, at first there is only a band of rainbow. Then as it comes higher and higher up, the band of rainbow gets bigger, till the blue turns into the sky, and where there used to be all colors, only yellow remains. Then I think about the sweetest toast ever, dripping with condensed milk. The stickiness of it all as I chew on that buttery magic. And then, the warm, warm fire, that helped me unfreeze my hands. Then I go higher, to the highest point in Thailand. Both of them. (I say this because there are two signs that say ‘highest point in Thailand’) Then the boardwalk we always go on, and how I always have a hot chocolate in my hand as I begin the walk. And how the most recent time, the neutrino detector has been opened. Where there used to be closely guarded secrets and no photos, now there is easily available breakfast and hot foods. I think how there was frost on the ground, and I didn’t believe my uncle that it actually was frost, and I remember how tired I was on the way back down. Then I think about the big waterfall, that hits the ground at just the right angle so that it creates a light mist that tickles your skin. I think about how I saw those 2 super fat americans on those poor motorbikes going up the hill. And how I stopped at the clear, rocky stream one time to wait for my friend. how the stream curves, and twists, then as I go back down, I recall the lady who sold us the kilogram of that vile fruit: pab. And going back up, about the Queen’s gardens, filled with sweet smelling flowers, and has been built on top of a cliff. I remember how I sat on the very edge and took photos with a friend, while my mother stood helplessly by, praying I didn’t fall. I remember the wide, dirt steps to the top, and how at the top of the boardwalk, those two looked so happy together, how they’re now married, after such a short engagement. I remember getting to the Queens gardens on my bike, and how the guy still made us pay to enter. Soaking wet, freezing cold, exhausted. We still had to hand over the 40 Baht that would allow us to take shelter. I remember how we sat in the restaurant for about two hours. Checking facebook on my friends iPhone, and then having to leave. That cold, cold door, opening into the bone chilling wind and rain, how we still had to travel 5 more kilometers to reach the summit. Those intense, gruelling, foggy horrible five kilometers. I remember reaching the top, and after 8 hours of biking, being too exhausted to be too happy, and eating my delicious Snickers bar. Doi Inthanon will always hold a special place in my heart. That big, wonderful, cold mountain.