Ar had told us before we went to bed that the roosters would crow at 4am. Okay, no big deal. What he didn’t tell us was that they kept up the racket until dawn. Fitfully we slowly awoke to start the day. The Chaing Mai nights are cold and misty. The fog still hung over the town when we awoke and the chilly air made us not exactly look forward to jumping in a river with the elephants. We were served toast and hard boiled eggs for breakfast, and then headed out to meet the pachyderms.
A short walk later we were waiting on a hillside, while the remains of a fire smoldered in a nearby firepit. The fog was only letting us see a few hundred meters still, and we heard the wooden bell on the elephant before we saw it, then out of the mist walked the elephant, with a young baby elephant in tow and its Mahout on its back. It walked over to the clearing we were in and the Mahout jumped down. Some time passed, and from a different direction, another grey behemoth emerged from the fog.
We were hopping to have 6 elephants, one for each of us, but Ar told us that one of the elephants got ill and had to go to a conservation center.
Soon a 3rd and a 4th elephant appeared. The Mahouts went out to find the fifth, but eventually we were informed that it had roamed too far away (yes, these were free-range elephants) to let us ride today, so two of the elephants went to get fitted with seats so that we could have two people on it, one on the neck, one on the seat attached to the back.
We walked with the huge mammals down to the river and tentatively entered the current. Predictably it was ridiculously cold. However, the fact that there were elephants in the water with us made it worth it. Water was splashed on the animals to clean them off and we got to sit on their necks as they stood up and that when it stood up in the water Will got a refreshing dunk as he fell off.
I was perched on the neck of my elephant when he stood up. I luckily, didn’t take a plunge, but I realized how at the mercy of this creature I was. When it was time to ride the elephants back to the village Ashton got into the seat behind me and we started riding. The elephants moved rather slow, which is not surprising for the size of the beast, but they did walk with a certain amount of grace and surefootedness on the mountain paths. The mahout in charge of my elephant informed me with a laugh that I was riding on ‘Katoey“. That translates into English as “Ladyboy”. From our elevated positions the backs of the elephants the scenery was even more epic than when we had walked through the same areas the day before. We could see over trees, and further into valleys to the rivers cutting through them. The only issue is that when you are perched on the neck of an elephant, the shoulder blades of the beast alternate digging into your bum, which for an extended period of time causes quite a bit of discomfort in the bottom regions. It was not unbearable however, and it was a bit of a disappointment when they delivered us back to the ‘hotel California’ so that we could start walking.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
The Trek Part 6: The 'Hotel California'
Our hotel was a 3 bedroom house, with a large porch and outdoor dinning room. It was undoubtedly constructed as a place for trekkers to stay. There was a kitchen and bathrooms in separate buildings. The family that owned the building lived on the ground floor and all of the accommodations for us were located above them.
The large porch and outdoor kitchen were staples of any village home. The porch was where shoes were removed before stepping into the ‘dinning room’ which was merely an open area with a bamboo mat where we sat to eat. The bedrooms were down the hall (Note, the bedrooms were the only real rooms, the rest was open to the elements, and the only difference between the ‘porch’ and the ‘dinning room’ was that the dinning room was a step up and covered by the roof.) and consisted of hard mattresses with mosquito nets over them.
The bathrooms were out the ‘back door’. They were two outhouses, with a oil drum full of water, with a bucket floating in it, and a western style toilet. The toilet was flushed by scooping water into it. You showered by scooping water over yourself.
When we arrived, we climbed the stairs and sat down on the porch to admire the village. There were chickens squaking about, people passing on the road, and Water buffalo lounging around. There were also 2 cats and their kittens, who were also residents of the place we were staying. A cooler near our dining area had soda, water and beer for sale, with a notepad to write down how much you took. Needless to say we all went for the water.
As we relaxed some young girls, ostensibly sent by their mothers, came to sell us ‘traditional tribal crafts’. They looked strangely like any crafts we see in the market. Jennifer made the mistake of looking at them for more than a split second and was swarmed by 4 or 5 little girls, all selling the same things, but making it known that they didn’t share profits. Eventually we got them to leave, but it took quite a bit. The goods were overpriced, as one may expect. Meanwhile Ar went to cook us dinner.
After a short bit he came out with spring rolls with sweet spicy sauce as an appetizer. They were greasy as a fastfood burger, and tasted even better. A little later, and we were getting settled the bowls of rice appeared on our ‘dinning room table’ and we all went to sit on the floor. The food was plentiful and delicious. The leftovers would be given back to our hosts, which if they didn’t need them would give them to the animals. The cats begged for the food, but we didn’t concede more than a few grains of rice to them.
As the sun set while we ate there were no lights to turn on. Out came the candles, that were put on top of empty soda cans to light our evening. After walking for the day, and with no remedy to the darkness that seemed to encase us fatigue started to wash over me.
When all the dishes were cleared away Ar came back out (he had eaten with the family and snacked while cooking) and gave us a lesson on the village. We were staying in a White Karen village, one of the 4 different Karen tribes. This village was quite prosperous, with a school and a church. Yes, that’s right, a church, not a Wat. Ar told us that a monk once passed through the village and converted most of them to Buddism, but having no money, he wasn’t able to give them a Wat. Then when the Christian missionaries came through they had the money for a small church, so the people converted to that.
The village is prosperous because of a deal that they made with the Thai government. The Karen, who are all formerly from Burma, prospered with their opium farming. The government, in exchange for them to cease farming the poppies, taught them how to farm other cash crops and built them a school. At the school they teach the basic subjects, plus skills that are unique to village life, such as foraging in the mountain forests. There is also one teacher, who is also an army officer. It is his job to make sure that no one in the village is in the opium trade. Because it is the only village in the area with a school, the school serves as a weekly boarding house for all of the children form neighboring villages that attend there.
After the little history lesson Ar brought out his guitar, and started playing us almost all of Green Days singles. Song returned to join us. We sang late into the night…or at least it felt that way in the darkness, but it was undoubtedly before midnight when most of us hit the hay.
The large porch and outdoor kitchen were staples of any village home. The porch was where shoes were removed before stepping into the ‘dinning room’ which was merely an open area with a bamboo mat where we sat to eat. The bedrooms were down the hall (Note, the bedrooms were the only real rooms, the rest was open to the elements, and the only difference between the ‘porch’ and the ‘dinning room’ was that the dinning room was a step up and covered by the roof.) and consisted of hard mattresses with mosquito nets over them.
The bathrooms were out the ‘back door’. They were two outhouses, with a oil drum full of water, with a bucket floating in it, and a western style toilet. The toilet was flushed by scooping water into it. You showered by scooping water over yourself.
When we arrived, we climbed the stairs and sat down on the porch to admire the village. There were chickens squaking about, people passing on the road, and Water buffalo lounging around. There were also 2 cats and their kittens, who were also residents of the place we were staying. A cooler near our dining area had soda, water and beer for sale, with a notepad to write down how much you took. Needless to say we all went for the water.
As we relaxed some young girls, ostensibly sent by their mothers, came to sell us ‘traditional tribal crafts’. They looked strangely like any crafts we see in the market. Jennifer made the mistake of looking at them for more than a split second and was swarmed by 4 or 5 little girls, all selling the same things, but making it known that they didn’t share profits. Eventually we got them to leave, but it took quite a bit. The goods were overpriced, as one may expect. Meanwhile Ar went to cook us dinner.
After a short bit he came out with spring rolls with sweet spicy sauce as an appetizer. They were greasy as a fastfood burger, and tasted even better. A little later, and we were getting settled the bowls of rice appeared on our ‘dinning room table’ and we all went to sit on the floor. The food was plentiful and delicious. The leftovers would be given back to our hosts, which if they didn’t need them would give them to the animals. The cats begged for the food, but we didn’t concede more than a few grains of rice to them.
As the sun set while we ate there were no lights to turn on. Out came the candles, that were put on top of empty soda cans to light our evening. After walking for the day, and with no remedy to the darkness that seemed to encase us fatigue started to wash over me.
When all the dishes were cleared away Ar came back out (he had eaten with the family and snacked while cooking) and gave us a lesson on the village. We were staying in a White Karen village, one of the 4 different Karen tribes. This village was quite prosperous, with a school and a church. Yes, that’s right, a church, not a Wat. Ar told us that a monk once passed through the village and converted most of them to Buddism, but having no money, he wasn’t able to give them a Wat. Then when the Christian missionaries came through they had the money for a small church, so the people converted to that.
The village is prosperous because of a deal that they made with the Thai government. The Karen, who are all formerly from Burma, prospered with their opium farming. The government, in exchange for them to cease farming the poppies, taught them how to farm other cash crops and built them a school. At the school they teach the basic subjects, plus skills that are unique to village life, such as foraging in the mountain forests. There is also one teacher, who is also an army officer. It is his job to make sure that no one in the village is in the opium trade. Because it is the only village in the area with a school, the school serves as a weekly boarding house for all of the children form neighboring villages that attend there.
After the little history lesson Ar brought out his guitar, and started playing us almost all of Green Days singles. Song returned to join us. We sang late into the night…or at least it felt that way in the darkness, but it was undoubtedly before midnight when most of us hit the hay.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
The Trek Part 5: Walking to the Karen village
After the cave we said farewell to our cave guide and thanked him for his help. It was then time to start hiking. We were told that the hike took about 3 hours for us to finish, but that an average hill tribesman would be able to complete it in about 2 hours. Setting out the path was well worn, but slowly the path petered out and it seemed like we were just walking through the woods, hoping that our guide knew where he was going. The going wasn’t exactly quite, as the leafs that had fallen were huge and they crunched with a lot of power. When we were no longer on the trail and merely walking across the path, the ground was covered with dried leaves the size of dinner plates. The trees stood all around us like pillars holding up the sky. From time to time we would emerge from the forest onto the side of the mountain and see for miles, looking at layers of mountains shielding the valleys from our prying eyes.
As we walked along through the forest, the leaves at our feet making quite the racket, Ar found us a bug to look at. Its body was about the size of a thumb, and its legs extended to about the size of my hand. It was a creamy white color, and when Ar handed it to me, its head started jerking up and down and it made almost a barking sound as it twitched in my hand. After having tasted bugs at the market a couple weekends ago I wondered how this little guy would taste, but I had purchased oranges earlier so we let him go.
Eventually we came to a wooden fence and passed through the gate of it. Ar informed us that we were in a ranger station. There were about 4 buildings in the area, and many animals running around. There was a cat that was very affectionate, and a bitch being chased around by her thirsty puppies. A handful of chickens ran around, attempting to wrangle their respective chicks. There were a few picnic tables set out which we sat on for a few moments to let our feet rest and admire the sounds of the nearby river.
We were soon all handed bamboo walking sticks and told we should take off our shoes, it was time to cross the river. Rolling up our pants we hesitantly plunged into the cold mountain water. Luckily after walking as far as we had, it was quite refreshing both in temperature and on the feet. Unluckily, the current was rather strong in places as made balancing on algae covered rocks, with a moderately heavy pack on our backs a bit more challenging than I had expected.
The river was maybe 10 meters across, but the crossing took quite a few minutes. Bringing up the rear was Jennifer, who may have been disadvantaged by here small size, as the river was a bit deep in certain spots. On the shore we all rolled down our pants legs and those who had taken off their shoes washed the sand off their feet before putting them back on (I wore teva sandals so it was no issue for me).
Heading off again we worked our way up and down the hills, mostly sticking near this river. Eventually we started to pass people in the river or on the trails to the river. There were fishermen, perched on rocks in the middle of the river, throwing their weighted nets into the current; there were people swimming, and others doing wash. I of course had the expectation that we were right near the village, yet 20 minutes later we still had not reached it. 20 minutes later however our hike had taken us out to a wonderful lookout point. From this vantage we could see mountains behind mountains, hiding the valleys we hiked through. Ar pointed to one that was about 4 valleys away and was too indistinct to be captured by our cameras and said that that was where we had started our trek that morning. I felt rather accomplished as the distance was literally as far as the eye could see, and pulled an orange out of my backpack to celebrate. (both me and Jennifer purchased a kilo of oranges since we are so used to eating constantly from street vendors in Bangkok). After a short breather it was time to press on, and so off we went. We walked across some dry rice paddies on a hill side and went away from the river, hiking up and down small valleys.
As we started to see signs of civilization (such as a dead water buffalo) we saw up on a hillside an elephant. At first it was rather hard to figure out what was behind the trees, as the elephants gray coloring is actually quite wonderful camouflage for it. We were all very impressed that it was able to get where it was, as the thick brush looked hard for us to navigate, much less the large boulder of a beast that the elephant was.
A past the elephant we walked past banana orchards and then the village school, before long we were on the main road of the village, where we were invited to the ‘Hotel California’ by a villager.
As we walked along through the forest, the leaves at our feet making quite the racket, Ar found us a bug to look at. Its body was about the size of a thumb, and its legs extended to about the size of my hand. It was a creamy white color, and when Ar handed it to me, its head started jerking up and down and it made almost a barking sound as it twitched in my hand. After having tasted bugs at the market a couple weekends ago I wondered how this little guy would taste, but I had purchased oranges earlier so we let him go.
Eventually we came to a wooden fence and passed through the gate of it. Ar informed us that we were in a ranger station. There were about 4 buildings in the area, and many animals running around. There was a cat that was very affectionate, and a bitch being chased around by her thirsty puppies. A handful of chickens ran around, attempting to wrangle their respective chicks. There were a few picnic tables set out which we sat on for a few moments to let our feet rest and admire the sounds of the nearby river.
We were soon all handed bamboo walking sticks and told we should take off our shoes, it was time to cross the river. Rolling up our pants we hesitantly plunged into the cold mountain water. Luckily after walking as far as we had, it was quite refreshing both in temperature and on the feet. Unluckily, the current was rather strong in places as made balancing on algae covered rocks, with a moderately heavy pack on our backs a bit more challenging than I had expected.
The river was maybe 10 meters across, but the crossing took quite a few minutes. Bringing up the rear was Jennifer, who may have been disadvantaged by here small size, as the river was a bit deep in certain spots. On the shore we all rolled down our pants legs and those who had taken off their shoes washed the sand off their feet before putting them back on (I wore teva sandals so it was no issue for me).
Heading off again we worked our way up and down the hills, mostly sticking near this river. Eventually we started to pass people in the river or on the trails to the river. There were fishermen, perched on rocks in the middle of the river, throwing their weighted nets into the current; there were people swimming, and others doing wash. I of course had the expectation that we were right near the village, yet 20 minutes later we still had not reached it. 20 minutes later however our hike had taken us out to a wonderful lookout point. From this vantage we could see mountains behind mountains, hiding the valleys we hiked through. Ar pointed to one that was about 4 valleys away and was too indistinct to be captured by our cameras and said that that was where we had started our trek that morning. I felt rather accomplished as the distance was literally as far as the eye could see, and pulled an orange out of my backpack to celebrate. (both me and Jennifer purchased a kilo of oranges since we are so used to eating constantly from street vendors in Bangkok). After a short breather it was time to press on, and so off we went. We walked across some dry rice paddies on a hill side and went away from the river, hiking up and down small valleys.
As we started to see signs of civilization (such as a dead water buffalo) we saw up on a hillside an elephant. At first it was rather hard to figure out what was behind the trees, as the elephants gray coloring is actually quite wonderful camouflage for it. We were all very impressed that it was able to get where it was, as the thick brush looked hard for us to navigate, much less the large boulder of a beast that the elephant was.
A past the elephant we walked past banana orchards and then the village school, before long we were on the main road of the village, where we were invited to the ‘Hotel California’ by a villager.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
The Trek Part 4: Bear Cave
The forest gave way to a sheer dark grey cliff untill we were surrounded by rock on 3 sides. The light was different here, not dimmer than the rest of the forest, but more restless, as if it was being sucked into the mouth of the cave that stood to my left. We all had bought small handheld flashlights at the market, but these were to serve as more of a backup to our highpowered headlamps that we all wore, looking like some kind of space tribe from the future. I have not yet discussed our professional cave guide, and I must say he was not quite what I had expected. He was a little shorter than the average Thai, although I think that might be in part do to the shrinking that is typical of people in their later years. His face was creased with smile lines, and the veins under his skin were clearly visible. On his feet he did not wear hiking boots or any other protective footwear that one would think an avid and professional outdoorsman would favor, but rather flip-flops. And this man, rather unassuming and humble looking, humbled us all with his ability to climb over rock formation and scamper through the harder parts of the cave with ease. He spoke no English, so after we finished our caving adventure we requested Ar to ask him his age for us. He replied that he was in his 60s. Brete had Ar ask him the secret of his staying youthful and he replied that it was his consumption of healthy herbs throughout his life. But again it seems I have gotten ahead of myself, as that conversation happened after we exited the cave.
The cave started as a small room, open to the forest, and quickly shrunk and headed downwards. The first part of our decent was down an old wooden ladder. I could feel it bend under my weight, and I was not the largest of the group. Below the ladder was hard rock. We each went down the ladder separately, and luckily it held. The first part of the caving was much of the same. We would walk for a short time and then have to squeeze down small shafts, most without ladders. Loving the thrill of rock-climbing, this was a most fun experience for me. After the first ladder we left all traces of natural light far behind us and the world was only lit in areas that we would look at with our headlamps. The cave went up and down and we scampered, at times graceful, but more often than not, gracelessly over rocks.
We came across a species of spider, about the size of the palm of a hand that dwelt in the cave. Like most creatures it was more scared of us than we of it. The tight areas we were climbing through soon opened up and we wandered through vast caverns with stalactites hanging down from the subterranean cathedral ceiling. The rocks were mostly gray, but at times a sparkling white mineral would run through and across it. We had no clue how far under the mountain we were, but after joking about getting lost in the cave we were all glad that volunteer Tourist Police officer Dan Kelly had our itinerary.
In one large chamber we all turned off our lights to see how dark darkness really is. Dark really is dark. It was so dark I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. In fact I couldn’t be completely sure if my eyes were open or closed.
Most of the cave formations were formed by Stalactites rather than stalagmites. (The former being the hanging down kind, the later being the growing up sort). Man of them hung nearly to the ground. Ashton had the misfortune of walking straight into one with his face. How he missed it, I’m not sure as his headlamp illuminated the collision quite nicely. Fortuitously he was uninjured.
Another Stalactite hung down rather phallicly. Our guides had a good chuckle when they came across it. We all rubbed its head in order to gain virility.
There was only one stalagmite of note, which the guides seemed to hold in reverence. Ar translated that our cave guide said ‘most of the rocks hang down from the ceiling but only this one grows up like a flower. It is very special”
This cave, of course had what all good caves should, and that is a healthy supply of bats. Luckily we didn’t have too much problems with guano smell or gasses, as the cave is open too the air on both ends, and not a dead end cave where the gasses could be noxious.
After walking through the cave for what I think was over an hour, we could see light up ahead. As we approached it, we could see a wall of green filtered light, coming through the trees. This mouth of the cave opened up to about 20 feet tall by 10 feet wide. A gaping hole in the side of the earth. Turning around I watched the last of our group emerge from the orifice, leaving only blackness behind.
Our caving guide squatted down and pulled out tobacco and banana leaf to roll a cigarette. I pulled out an orange to eat, and we all just took some time to relax and marvel at the underground world we had just experienced.
The cave started as a small room, open to the forest, and quickly shrunk and headed downwards. The first part of our decent was down an old wooden ladder. I could feel it bend under my weight, and I was not the largest of the group. Below the ladder was hard rock. We each went down the ladder separately, and luckily it held. The first part of the caving was much of the same. We would walk for a short time and then have to squeeze down small shafts, most without ladders. Loving the thrill of rock-climbing, this was a most fun experience for me. After the first ladder we left all traces of natural light far behind us and the world was only lit in areas that we would look at with our headlamps. The cave went up and down and we scampered, at times graceful, but more often than not, gracelessly over rocks.
We came across a species of spider, about the size of the palm of a hand that dwelt in the cave. Like most creatures it was more scared of us than we of it. The tight areas we were climbing through soon opened up and we wandered through vast caverns with stalactites hanging down from the subterranean cathedral ceiling. The rocks were mostly gray, but at times a sparkling white mineral would run through and across it. We had no clue how far under the mountain we were, but after joking about getting lost in the cave we were all glad that volunteer Tourist Police officer Dan Kelly had our itinerary.
In one large chamber we all turned off our lights to see how dark darkness really is. Dark really is dark. It was so dark I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. In fact I couldn’t be completely sure if my eyes were open or closed.
Most of the cave formations were formed by Stalactites rather than stalagmites. (The former being the hanging down kind, the later being the growing up sort). Man of them hung nearly to the ground. Ashton had the misfortune of walking straight into one with his face. How he missed it, I’m not sure as his headlamp illuminated the collision quite nicely. Fortuitously he was uninjured.
Another Stalactite hung down rather phallicly. Our guides had a good chuckle when they came across it. We all rubbed its head in order to gain virility.
There was only one stalagmite of note, which the guides seemed to hold in reverence. Ar translated that our cave guide said ‘most of the rocks hang down from the ceiling but only this one grows up like a flower. It is very special”
This cave, of course had what all good caves should, and that is a healthy supply of bats. Luckily we didn’t have too much problems with guano smell or gasses, as the cave is open too the air on both ends, and not a dead end cave where the gasses could be noxious.
After walking through the cave for what I think was over an hour, we could see light up ahead. As we approached it, we could see a wall of green filtered light, coming through the trees. This mouth of the cave opened up to about 20 feet tall by 10 feet wide. A gaping hole in the side of the earth. Turning around I watched the last of our group emerge from the orifice, leaving only blackness behind.
Our caving guide squatted down and pulled out tobacco and banana leaf to roll a cigarette. I pulled out an orange to eat, and we all just took some time to relax and marvel at the underground world we had just experienced.
Monday, February 1, 2010
The Trek Part 3: First Foray into the Forest
Its been a few days since I last tried catching up on the blogging, our travels took us to Koh Samet (Samet Island) for a few days where I spent most of my free time reading rather than blogging. However, I am getting ahead of myself again and now that I am on the bus back to Bangkok, which is not nearly as nice as the bus I described earlier in this chronicle I shall continue writing of our trek.
The 2 hour drive into the mountains held some of the most breathtaking sights. The road winded up into the forest, its switchbacks hugging the side of the mountain where we could see deadly dropoffs on the side of the road. Sticking my head out of the side of the truck I saw a huge rocky mountain raising above us. Every so often a break in the trees would allow us spectacular valley spanning views. At first we were able to see civilization nestled in the bottom of the valley, and eventually as we progressed into the wilderness all we saw was the wild flora of northern Thailand.
We traveled to the eclectic soundtrack provided by Ashton’s iPod and speakers. The noise of the truck shattered any peaceful sounds of nature that we might have been enjoying, so our sing-alongs to regge, pop-punk, alt rock and contemporary country just added to the feeling of adventure.
Our ride on the truck ended in a storybook mountain village. On all sides we saw nothing but mountains rising up across the large valley we were in. Further down the road from where we had stopped was a nice looking bridge, upon which flew the yellow flags of the king and the blue red and white strips of the flag of Thailand. We all walked over to the bridge, stretching our arms and legs after the relatively cramped journey. Looking down into the waters below the bridge we saw a school of fish, seemingly eager to feast upon scraps they thought we would throw to them as they swam around our shadows hitting the water. To the side of the river were a couple of water buffalo, wallowing in mudholes. The water buffalo are very valuable to mountain farmers as they are used as both a draft animal and a source of food. Walking to the other side and looking over, we saw an entire herd of the beasts, milling about in and out of the water. We weren’t quite sure what it was about us, maybe they were not used to seeing people with skin as pale as our own, but we seemed to startle the herd and I was glad we did not start a stampede, as almost all of them ran for a few meters when we looked down at them from the bridge.
When the novelty of these animals, which looked like skinny cows with big horns, wore off I went over to Ar and Song who were sitting underneath an awning talking with one of the villagers. Eventually the rest of the group joined us and Ar explained that we were waiting for a professional caver to come and join us to lead us through the cave. I’m not sure how long we waited for him to show up, it was at least a few more minutes, but it could have been a half hour. Time seemed to pass at a different pace in the sleepy town. People walked past us on their way to somewhere, and others drove past on their way somewhere different, and it seemed they would all get there at the same time.
The group grew larger as a few motorbikes pulled up and chatted with our guides. After a few minutes it was revealed that these were the men that we were waiting for and it was time to hike onwards. One of the men drove his motorbike onto the trail, and we followed a second one who went on foot. Song drove off with the truck to join us later. In good spirits we all walked into the woods to begin our trekking part of the journey. At the trailhead the path was well worn. We walked out of the woods and we were in a large terraced clearing.
The terraces were for rice farming, but at this time were dry. Our guide marched us across the clearing and we chatted about how much we felt like we were trespassing. Further down the valley I could see some men working their field, and midway through there was a creek. Two men were fishing it and we waved at them as we passed. At the other end before we rentered the forest I looked behind me, and realized that I had walked through what almost seemed like a movie set. It was a scene from a book, the small farm under large mountain, with a few men and a water buffalo off the side, and a thatch hut dropped in for good measure. And yet, it was real, I walked through it feeling the sculpted terraces under my feet, heard the chatter of the men fishing, and smelled the smells of the farm and the forest.
Into the forest we plunged, walking for only a few more minutes, which took us over another farmers fence, then across a small brook to an old saalaa (an open structure with a roof but no walls) that was in quite the state of disrepair. The frame for the roof was still there, but there was no roof to speak of, not that it was necessary as the ancient trees provided any shade that was needed. It was here that we lunched. The six of us sat at a table, while our guides sat separately. We never really did truly eat with our guides, which was a constant source of disappointment for me during the trek. Ar handed us all Styrofoam containers of chicken and rice which he had picked up at the market and we dug in. After we had finished we walked up the hill to the looming entrance to the cave.
The 2 hour drive into the mountains held some of the most breathtaking sights. The road winded up into the forest, its switchbacks hugging the side of the mountain where we could see deadly dropoffs on the side of the road. Sticking my head out of the side of the truck I saw a huge rocky mountain raising above us. Every so often a break in the trees would allow us spectacular valley spanning views. At first we were able to see civilization nestled in the bottom of the valley, and eventually as we progressed into the wilderness all we saw was the wild flora of northern Thailand.
We traveled to the eclectic soundtrack provided by Ashton’s iPod and speakers. The noise of the truck shattered any peaceful sounds of nature that we might have been enjoying, so our sing-alongs to regge, pop-punk, alt rock and contemporary country just added to the feeling of adventure.
Our ride on the truck ended in a storybook mountain village. On all sides we saw nothing but mountains rising up across the large valley we were in. Further down the road from where we had stopped was a nice looking bridge, upon which flew the yellow flags of the king and the blue red and white strips of the flag of Thailand. We all walked over to the bridge, stretching our arms and legs after the relatively cramped journey. Looking down into the waters below the bridge we saw a school of fish, seemingly eager to feast upon scraps they thought we would throw to them as they swam around our shadows hitting the water. To the side of the river were a couple of water buffalo, wallowing in mudholes. The water buffalo are very valuable to mountain farmers as they are used as both a draft animal and a source of food. Walking to the other side and looking over, we saw an entire herd of the beasts, milling about in and out of the water. We weren’t quite sure what it was about us, maybe they were not used to seeing people with skin as pale as our own, but we seemed to startle the herd and I was glad we did not start a stampede, as almost all of them ran for a few meters when we looked down at them from the bridge.
When the novelty of these animals, which looked like skinny cows with big horns, wore off I went over to Ar and Song who were sitting underneath an awning talking with one of the villagers. Eventually the rest of the group joined us and Ar explained that we were waiting for a professional caver to come and join us to lead us through the cave. I’m not sure how long we waited for him to show up, it was at least a few more minutes, but it could have been a half hour. Time seemed to pass at a different pace in the sleepy town. People walked past us on their way to somewhere, and others drove past on their way somewhere different, and it seemed they would all get there at the same time.
The group grew larger as a few motorbikes pulled up and chatted with our guides. After a few minutes it was revealed that these were the men that we were waiting for and it was time to hike onwards. One of the men drove his motorbike onto the trail, and we followed a second one who went on foot. Song drove off with the truck to join us later. In good spirits we all walked into the woods to begin our trekking part of the journey. At the trailhead the path was well worn. We walked out of the woods and we were in a large terraced clearing.
The terraces were for rice farming, but at this time were dry. Our guide marched us across the clearing and we chatted about how much we felt like we were trespassing. Further down the valley I could see some men working their field, and midway through there was a creek. Two men were fishing it and we waved at them as we passed. At the other end before we rentered the forest I looked behind me, and realized that I had walked through what almost seemed like a movie set. It was a scene from a book, the small farm under large mountain, with a few men and a water buffalo off the side, and a thatch hut dropped in for good measure. And yet, it was real, I walked through it feeling the sculpted terraces under my feet, heard the chatter of the men fishing, and smelled the smells of the farm and the forest.
Into the forest we plunged, walking for only a few more minutes, which took us over another farmers fence, then across a small brook to an old saalaa (an open structure with a roof but no walls) that was in quite the state of disrepair. The frame for the roof was still there, but there was no roof to speak of, not that it was necessary as the ancient trees provided any shade that was needed. It was here that we lunched. The six of us sat at a table, while our guides sat separately. We never really did truly eat with our guides, which was a constant source of disappointment for me during the trek. Ar handed us all Styrofoam containers of chicken and rice which he had picked up at the market and we dug in. After we had finished we walked up the hill to the looming entrance to the cave.
The Trek Part 2: The Morning Errands
Wake up for the trek was at 7 since Ar would be picking us up at 8. I was probably awake from 6 just laying in bed for Jennifer’s phone to start alarming. I suppose it was a good thing since her phones alarm was quite wimpy and did not wake her. The shower was bearly above room temperature, but that’s about as good as can be expected from dorm accommodations for 100B a bed. As we all got ready we dragged our bags out to pack what we were bringing on the trek. The rest we could leave in the guesthouse office. Ar arrived early at about 7:45, and by 8 we had all piled ourselves and our gear into the back of the songtau. The songtau was driven by our second guide and Ar’s friend, Song. Our first errand to run before heading on the trek was to stop by the Tourist Police offices. Volunteer officer Dan Kelly, from Northern Ireland talked to us and was given a copy of our itinerary and passports, and basically assured us that if anything bad happened he would come find us. He made some quip about our proximity to the Burmese boarder during the trek but said not to worry; he was from Northern Ireland and they are bomb making experts. (The closet we came to the boarder was 60km, but that is a measure by trail rather than as the bird flies)
We then drove off to our second destination of the morning, a local market. At this market Song and Ar went off to buy the food supplies that they would need to cook for us during the trek and we found water, bug spray, suntan lotion, flashlights (or torches as they call them here, british influence I suppose) and oranges.
Back into the Songtau we started our long drive into the mountains. Slowly but surely the landscape we were driving through changed from urban sprawl with majestic emerald mountains in the distance to forest surrounding us on all sides, stretching as far and as high as the eye could see. Ashton brought his iPod and a set of external speakers so we rocked out and sung along to the songs as we ascended the mountain through winding switch backs and epic views of towering forested monoliths. We made two stops before reaching our final destination. The first one seemed like a boarder checkpoint, although we hadn’t crossed any boarder that I knew off, and Ar handed our itineraries to a solider and after a short discussion he let us through. Our second stop was at the Chang Dao National Park Headquarters. This was the last western toilets available to us for the next few days. I didn’t take advantage of it, I just got out to stretch my legs, but both of the girls made sure to make a quick pit stop.
Then it was back into the vehicle for more driving. By the time we had reached the picturesque mountain village we had driven for 2 hours, although it was 2 hours of the most wonderful scenery.
We then drove off to our second destination of the morning, a local market. At this market Song and Ar went off to buy the food supplies that they would need to cook for us during the trek and we found water, bug spray, suntan lotion, flashlights (or torches as they call them here, british influence I suppose) and oranges.
Back into the Songtau we started our long drive into the mountains. Slowly but surely the landscape we were driving through changed from urban sprawl with majestic emerald mountains in the distance to forest surrounding us on all sides, stretching as far and as high as the eye could see. Ashton brought his iPod and a set of external speakers so we rocked out and sung along to the songs as we ascended the mountain through winding switch backs and epic views of towering forested monoliths. We made two stops before reaching our final destination. The first one seemed like a boarder checkpoint, although we hadn’t crossed any boarder that I knew off, and Ar handed our itineraries to a solider and after a short discussion he let us through. Our second stop was at the Chang Dao National Park Headquarters. This was the last western toilets available to us for the next few days. I didn’t take advantage of it, I just got out to stretch my legs, but both of the girls made sure to make a quick pit stop.
Then it was back into the vehicle for more driving. By the time we had reached the picturesque mountain village we had driven for 2 hours, although it was 2 hours of the most wonderful scenery.
The Trek Part 1: The night train and Kantoke Dinner
Our time in Chaing Mai is coming to a close, as I start to write this up; I am in a double deck coach bus (on the second level of course). On the TV screen I can see Thai Pop music videos, and the volume is at an annoying high level. The interior of the bus is mainly purple, but it also has day glow accents on the upholstery of the seats and the ceiling. The bus is the perfect place for a rave (which unfortunately we are not having) and the worst place for someone with a hang over (which fortunately I do not have).
In any case it looks like it will be a more comfortable, if more boring trip than our train ride to Chaing Mai.
Steve Jennifer and I arrived at the train station to meet Ashton and Will. We thought we had come early enough to get a second class sleeper car on one of the night trains, but such was not the case. We were able to get normal second class seats on the last train out. This gave us a few hours extra to sit around and chill. We first stopped by the Train stations KFC and found an out of the way corner on the second floor to chill. Ashton and Will ordered some food from there, and eventually we all went over to the 7-11 across the street to buy food and drinks for the trip. Still having time to kill, and feeling we had overstayed our welcome at KFC we found a spot in the middle of the terminal floor and someone took out a deck of cards. We played the game Yanif, which a group of Israeli travelers taught Ashton and Will when they were in Pattaya.
When we got on the train we found our accommodations not bad. It was at least better than the 3rd class trains I was used to riding in to Auyttaya and to Samut Songkram. The seats were upholstered and kind of reclined and we had air-conditioning. The car in front of us was the dinning car, which we had heard was where the real parties were on the night train, so after awhile we decided to check that out. Rumors were true, the place was loud and boisterous. Part of that might be the cars policy of kicking you out unless you were consuming either food or alcohol. We played more Yanif and chatted with other travelers. There was a group of Brits who said that they would meet us at the train station to see if we could trek together. (they never did, either they were just being polite or they were all too drunk to remember having said that), There was a group of Spaniards from Madrid who taught Jennifer a new card game (which she has yet to share with us, so either it sucked or she forgot how to play) and there were a couple of undercover Thai cops, who were too drunk to stay undercover. They were a joy to chat with, and insisted on sharing their beer. I do not altogether like beer, however it would have been rude not to drink with them (and they were cops, which made it a bit more important to not be rude to them) and it would have been ruder to not toast with them (“chaio!”). My polite manners, coupled with the fact that that they never let my glass stay less than half empty led to me consuming an uncomfortable amount of alcohol, which I will not bother to elaborate on.
At 2am the dinning car closed and most of us went back to our seats while some people stood on the areas between cars to smoke. I heard later that one of the cops was trying to sell Will and the Spaniards some weed. Luckily everyone was in a clear enough state of mind to realize that that would have been a very bad idea and angrily declined.
Upon waking up the next morning I saw a landscape out the window quite different than I see in and around the central plans of Bangkok. Our train chugged along in large valleys, with forested mountanis in the distance, and we ran through and occasional tunnel to punctuate our continued progress into the northern provinces.
We were served an American breakfast for 100 baht. I tried to eat the eggs, but that was quite unpleasant so I just stuck to the toast. After breakfast a Canadian traveler sat down to chat with us. Her name was Brette and she was traveling alone through Southeast Asia while her husband worked in the oil fields. She said that she didn’t yet have a place to stay in Chaing Mai and was hopeing to go on a trek. I had booked beds at the dorm for 6 people, since we were originally traveling with that many, but since we were down to five we invited her to come with us.
We finnaly arrived at the Chaing Mai train station sometime after noon. We found a Songtau that would take us to A Little Bird Guesthouse for 20 Baht each. We loaded our bags onto the top and pilled in the back. At the guesthouse, we checked in and were shown to the ten person dorm room that we would be staying in. I set to calling our trekking company to work out payment and confirm our trek and finalizing arrangements for our traditional Northern Thai Dinner that I had been trying to book for that evening. The rest of the group went to make copies of their passports and grab a bite to eat.
Chaing Mai is quite a ways away from Bangkok and unsurprisingly has a different culture. A northern banquet dinner is called a Kantoke. On the website I was booking from it was quoted at costing 200 Baht per person for transportation, dinner and entertainment. My email confirmation however listed the price at 350 Baht. I called the company and explained that I was very set on the website price and the lady on the phone conceded. Later, while I was busy dealing with something else, some body else called and when Jennifer answered explained that it had to be 300 Baht. When I was told of this I was rather frustrated and again called the company back. They offered me a ‘deal’ at 270 Baht, but I explained to them that 250 each was the highest my group of 6 would go. They agreed to that price.
The trekking company sent someone to the guesthouse to collect the money for the trek and then later they sent our trek guide to provide us with an orientation and a question and answer session. Our guide introduced himself as Ar. However, we all heard his name as Ah, and called him that until the second night of the trek. When we had run out of questions he took his leave and said he would see us at 8am the next morning.
Shortly after Ar left the minibus to take us to the Kantoke arrived. I made certain that we were only paying 250 each, and then we all paid and climbed aboard. We drove to an expensive hotel which had a space set aside for such events. It was an open air space, with a performance area in the middle, surrounded by rugs and pillows. We all had a triangular pillow for our backs and sat in a circle. We were brought out two communal platters of traditional, delicious, northern food to eat from, with sticky rice. The best part was when we finished a dish, more was brought out to us. It was all you can eat!!
Part of the way through dinner the dancing started. People from the different local tribes came to perform traditional dances. They ranged from the rather boring to exciting sword dancing. After we had eaten untill very full and told our waiters that we were done, we were served platters of fresh fruit. Luckily there is always room for more in my stomach, and in all of my friends stomachs it seemed. The fruit was delicious. (I’m rather certain that ill never be able to eat a supermarket purchased fruit when I return back home without thinking about how much better the fresh Thai fruits are)
After Dinner and dessert was done the night still was not over. We had a change in location to go see the Hill Tribe show. As we walked to the stage, we deduced that the only real reason for this change in local was so that we had to walk through a small marketplace. And of course they had my least favorite of all goods found in Thai markets. Wooden frogs.
The wooden frogs are frog carvings, with a stick that when you rub across its spine makes a kind of croaking noise. The vendors seem to think that by annoying you with the noise from these infernal devices that you will want to buy one of your very own. I personally would not be opposed to destroying each and everyone one in Thailand.
The Hill Tribe show was just an extension of the dinner performances, with the very boring old Hmong ladies chanting, to the much more exciting fire dancer.
After the hill tribe show we returned to our minibus and were driven back to the little bird to get some rest before the start of our trek.
In any case it looks like it will be a more comfortable, if more boring trip than our train ride to Chaing Mai.
Steve Jennifer and I arrived at the train station to meet Ashton and Will. We thought we had come early enough to get a second class sleeper car on one of the night trains, but such was not the case. We were able to get normal second class seats on the last train out. This gave us a few hours extra to sit around and chill. We first stopped by the Train stations KFC and found an out of the way corner on the second floor to chill. Ashton and Will ordered some food from there, and eventually we all went over to the 7-11 across the street to buy food and drinks for the trip. Still having time to kill, and feeling we had overstayed our welcome at KFC we found a spot in the middle of the terminal floor and someone took out a deck of cards. We played the game Yanif, which a group of Israeli travelers taught Ashton and Will when they were in Pattaya.
When we got on the train we found our accommodations not bad. It was at least better than the 3rd class trains I was used to riding in to Auyttaya and to Samut Songkram. The seats were upholstered and kind of reclined and we had air-conditioning. The car in front of us was the dinning car, which we had heard was where the real parties were on the night train, so after awhile we decided to check that out. Rumors were true, the place was loud and boisterous. Part of that might be the cars policy of kicking you out unless you were consuming either food or alcohol. We played more Yanif and chatted with other travelers. There was a group of Brits who said that they would meet us at the train station to see if we could trek together. (they never did, either they were just being polite or they were all too drunk to remember having said that), There was a group of Spaniards from Madrid who taught Jennifer a new card game (which she has yet to share with us, so either it sucked or she forgot how to play) and there were a couple of undercover Thai cops, who were too drunk to stay undercover. They were a joy to chat with, and insisted on sharing their beer. I do not altogether like beer, however it would have been rude not to drink with them (and they were cops, which made it a bit more important to not be rude to them) and it would have been ruder to not toast with them (“chaio!”). My polite manners, coupled with the fact that that they never let my glass stay less than half empty led to me consuming an uncomfortable amount of alcohol, which I will not bother to elaborate on.
At 2am the dinning car closed and most of us went back to our seats while some people stood on the areas between cars to smoke. I heard later that one of the cops was trying to sell Will and the Spaniards some weed. Luckily everyone was in a clear enough state of mind to realize that that would have been a very bad idea and angrily declined.
Upon waking up the next morning I saw a landscape out the window quite different than I see in and around the central plans of Bangkok. Our train chugged along in large valleys, with forested mountanis in the distance, and we ran through and occasional tunnel to punctuate our continued progress into the northern provinces.
We were served an American breakfast for 100 baht. I tried to eat the eggs, but that was quite unpleasant so I just stuck to the toast. After breakfast a Canadian traveler sat down to chat with us. Her name was Brette and she was traveling alone through Southeast Asia while her husband worked in the oil fields. She said that she didn’t yet have a place to stay in Chaing Mai and was hopeing to go on a trek. I had booked beds at the dorm for 6 people, since we were originally traveling with that many, but since we were down to five we invited her to come with us.
We finnaly arrived at the Chaing Mai train station sometime after noon. We found a Songtau that would take us to A Little Bird Guesthouse for 20 Baht each. We loaded our bags onto the top and pilled in the back. At the guesthouse, we checked in and were shown to the ten person dorm room that we would be staying in. I set to calling our trekking company to work out payment and confirm our trek and finalizing arrangements for our traditional Northern Thai Dinner that I had been trying to book for that evening. The rest of the group went to make copies of their passports and grab a bite to eat.
Chaing Mai is quite a ways away from Bangkok and unsurprisingly has a different culture. A northern banquet dinner is called a Kantoke. On the website I was booking from it was quoted at costing 200 Baht per person for transportation, dinner and entertainment. My email confirmation however listed the price at 350 Baht. I called the company and explained that I was very set on the website price and the lady on the phone conceded. Later, while I was busy dealing with something else, some body else called and when Jennifer answered explained that it had to be 300 Baht. When I was told of this I was rather frustrated and again called the company back. They offered me a ‘deal’ at 270 Baht, but I explained to them that 250 each was the highest my group of 6 would go. They agreed to that price.
The trekking company sent someone to the guesthouse to collect the money for the trek and then later they sent our trek guide to provide us with an orientation and a question and answer session. Our guide introduced himself as Ar. However, we all heard his name as Ah, and called him that until the second night of the trek. When we had run out of questions he took his leave and said he would see us at 8am the next morning.
Shortly after Ar left the minibus to take us to the Kantoke arrived. I made certain that we were only paying 250 each, and then we all paid and climbed aboard. We drove to an expensive hotel which had a space set aside for such events. It was an open air space, with a performance area in the middle, surrounded by rugs and pillows. We all had a triangular pillow for our backs and sat in a circle. We were brought out two communal platters of traditional, delicious, northern food to eat from, with sticky rice. The best part was when we finished a dish, more was brought out to us. It was all you can eat!!
Part of the way through dinner the dancing started. People from the different local tribes came to perform traditional dances. They ranged from the rather boring to exciting sword dancing. After we had eaten untill very full and told our waiters that we were done, we were served platters of fresh fruit. Luckily there is always room for more in my stomach, and in all of my friends stomachs it seemed. The fruit was delicious. (I’m rather certain that ill never be able to eat a supermarket purchased fruit when I return back home without thinking about how much better the fresh Thai fruits are)
After Dinner and dessert was done the night still was not over. We had a change in location to go see the Hill Tribe show. As we walked to the stage, we deduced that the only real reason for this change in local was so that we had to walk through a small marketplace. And of course they had my least favorite of all goods found in Thai markets. Wooden frogs.
The wooden frogs are frog carvings, with a stick that when you rub across its spine makes a kind of croaking noise. The vendors seem to think that by annoying you with the noise from these infernal devices that you will want to buy one of your very own. I personally would not be opposed to destroying each and everyone one in Thailand.
The Hill Tribe show was just an extension of the dinner performances, with the very boring old Hmong ladies chanting, to the much more exciting fire dancer.
After the hill tribe show we returned to our minibus and were driven back to the little bird to get some rest before the start of our trek.
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