Day: April 30, 2006

As we lumbered along on our elephant, our guides slide by on a bamboo raft they had built (or at least lashed together) after we left. It was perhaps a more elegant way to travel the river. Don’t get me wrong, we loved the elephant, but were more than ready to get off when we got to our destination.

So, after a lunch break and short siesta in another large hut built to aid visitors we began our trip down the river. No sooner had we started, then a rain that turned into a torrential downpour began. It was almost cold for a while and gave us a better appreciation for the characters in “Forrest Gump” as they survived the seasonal rain in southeast Asia.
Here we are during a break in the rain.

I was even allowed to pilot the craft for a while.

The last night, we stayed in our own small, private hut over the river. At this point in the river, the rapids became too large for the bamboo rafts, and the only watercraft beyond were traditional rubber river rafts or kayaks.

Another view of the place we stayed (which also doubled as a restaurant). However, as they had for the rest of the
trip, our guides provided us with traditional and truly spectacular dishes to our culinary delight. Even I, who am not a “food” person, really appreciated the meals they made for us.

Since we were not burdened with have to make or clean up the meals, we were able to take short hikes in the area to appreciate the views of the cloud forest (as Anna called it).

This is probably just the name of the person who lives here, but I liked the sign.

Yet another symbol of the devotion so many Thais feel for their religion. However, while a vast majority of the country is Buddhist, the missionaries that have visited many of the hill tribes, have converted a number of them to Christianity, but their “traditional” religion (often a form of animism) is still very strong and sometimes intermixed with other faiths.

Another friend we met along the way.

The last day, we used a truck to get us out of the deep jungle. On the way, we saw a number of villages and these two large rocks in the river. No wait, those are elephant butts.

We also stopped by another holy temple. In it, there was a local monk whose embalmed body and wax likeness was on display.

Outside, this row of Buddhas caught my eye.

The last stop on the trek was to a butterfly and orchid farm on the outskirts of Chang Mai. These orchids were very pretty and are my favorite tropical flower.


Anna blended right in.

That concluded our hill tribe immersion experience, but it was quite memorable. If you have a chance to go, I highly recommend it. Our guide, Jai, was of decent from one of the hill tribes (Hmong) and his ability to speak the language (which is linguistically very distinct from Thai, and even from the other hill tribes), move with extensive
local knowledge, training in horticulture and most importantly, his ability to explain and decipher the local customs and practices for us was a VERY enlightening experience.
When we arrived back to our hotel in Chang Mai, we had all afternoon to enjoy ourselves by the pool. Then, we discovered a local dish that is absolutely delicious: mango and sticky rice. After our afternoon snack, we headed down the street for one more Thai massage. This one was not as perfect in terms of setting, just a simple bed and towel, but the price was tough to beat. We had a 2 hour massage for $8 (US) each. Then another delightful dinner, then back to the night market. This time I was armed with my camera, so I can share what it looks like.


Today brought to a close our simply magnificent voyage into Thai culture and living. We loved every minute (well, almost every minute). We would love to come back and perhaps stay a little longer next time.
So, until our next adventure.
–Jim

This was without question, our favorite part of the trip. We certainly enjoyed all of it, but this was the most enlightening and unique. It offered a view into a different part of the world that we knew very little about (and quite honestly, still have only scratched the surface).
We chose to go on a 3 day, 2 night trek that included hiking through the jungle, visits with five villages and three tribes, an elephant ride, a bamboo rafting trip, a personal guide (and 2 very able assistants) to give us cultural as well as flora and fauna education.
We started the trek out with a visit to a hot springs. It was too hot to get in, but people used to bring their eggs to boil in the water (it took about 6-7 minutes). Now, the government has disallowed the practice, but it’s still very pretty to watch as the hot water roils from the steam below.

Here is our guide, Jai and I on the jungle trail. Some parts were very easy to pass (like this), and others were a little more rough, but none were too difficult. Since the region was hilly, it made for many up and downs, but our hiking in Guam was good preparation.

The first hill tribe village we came to was a Karen village. In fact, one of our assistant guides, B, was from there.


Here is a picture of B’s older sister working the loom to weave a handbag. Each one takes her about 2 weeks to complete.

Here are more people from the village.


After a brief visit with them, we headed back out on the trail.
Here is the view from the next place we stopped for a drink of water and snack.

Here I am with our guides, from left to right: Beek (I’m afraid I don’t know how to spell his name), me, B, and Jai.

If you look close in the center of this picture you can see the Karen village we had just stopped at. This may give you a better sense of the vastness of the jungle in this part of the country. It reminded me most of the woods in Ontario, where you wouldn’t see another person (or sign of human habitation) for miles.

The next village was a Lahu village. This is the inside of the hut where Anna and I slept. It was owned by a family who allowed tourists to stay there (for a small fee of course). They used to house them in the same house as the family, but to give their visitors a little more privacy and solitude, they built a separate house. As you can see, it can handle quite a few more than our group, but since it was just me and Anna, we got the whole room to
ourselves. Of course, that night there was a typical tropical downpour and the roof right above me had a leak. It wasn’t large, but it was enough to quickly soak the area I was sleeping, so it was fortunate that we could just slide right over, drop the mosquito net and go back to sleep.

This small village is isolated and little to no commerce goes on, so people farm and raise animals for subsistence alone. They also have to thrash their own rice by hand. Here is a woman we were able to watch doing just that:

Another hut in the village. I believe there were about 50 huts in the whole village. It was so small that the children from both this village and the last had to walk to other, larger villages to go to school (sometimes as much as an hour and a half, each way).

Two years ago, the government of Thailand gave these villages the first electricity in the form of solar cells.
They are not terribly powerful, but do allow enough for a couple hours of fluorescent light at night, or an hour of TV or radio.

Here is the outside of the hut we stayed in.

Sometimes, there is very little to do…

The next morning, as we were getting ready for breakfast, a small friend wandered over. Those of you who know me, know that I have a soft spot for cats. In particular those that are undeniably affectionate (even if they are a little dirty…).

Back on the trail, we came across a couple local men who had used dogs to local a large, rat-like creature in this termite hill and were in the process of digging it out to have rat for dinner that night.

Our next unique experience was trip to an elephant camp. Here we hopped on the back of a very large (at least she seemed large to us!) elephant. Our mahout (who is the person dedicated to working with that one animal for its life … this relationship is begun at a very young age for both elephant and boy) guided us for about an hour and a half ride down and through the river to the next village. I can’t say the ride was the most comfortable, but it certainly was a first for both of us.

The mahout probably had a more comfortable location to ride on. I don’t know what the elephant thought, but I know I wouldn’t want someone riding on my head for extended periods of time!

Here are a couple other mahouts returning from their last ride to the next village.

–Jim