Day 1 – Embracing My Inner Jane
As hard as it might be to imagine, I spent two nights in bamboo huts in the jungle without running water or electricity (although there were several solar powered lights). I had a similar experience two years ago in Panama when I went with a group of UW students and spent several nights at a farm several hours outside of Panama City. Even though I don’t like camping as a recreational activity, I don’t mind it if I have an opportunity to “get off the grid” and experience something you couldn’t otherwise do.
I am pretty sure my guides for the trip (a husband and wife team) were worried for my well-being when I showed up to the meeting the night before we left in a dress and my Audrey Hepburn like sunglasses, but little did they know, I was so well prepared for the days ahead. Granted I might have had a little help from my dad who likes to backpack and the people at REI, but still. I had my daypack first aid kit, headlamp, Gatorade tablets, heavy duty bug spray, dry sacks, fancy “cooling” clothing that protects you from the sun (or something like that), super absorbent travel towel and even a waterproof camera with a bendable travel tripod. I may be a little bit of a diva, but at least I am a self-contained one. Thai jungle: bring it on.
Apparently October is one of the slower months for trekking and things have also slowed down even more because of the fear of flooding, so I was the only person on the trekking trip and got the guides all to myself. Our day started out with a 2ish hour drive to a market where we bought everything we needed to cook while on our journey. This market was a lot different from the other ones I had seen in that it was much more catering to the locals than the tourists, so obviously there was some very different meat happening. Pigeon? Buffalo placenta? Silk worms? Chicken feet? Komodo dragon? Any part of a cow you could possibly imagine? You could find it all here. It was also great to see some beautiful fruit, flowers, and spices being sold in their natural form.
We then headed to the Doi Suthep Pui National Park and our first stop, which was the Mork-Fa Waterfall for a quick swim.
We stopped for lunch along the way at one of the roadside stands and I tried guava for the first time. I loved the way the pots were hung in the corner of the kitchen!
Our driver took us to the trailhead where we started our journey and I was thinking I was playing the part of jungle woman pretty well! Somewhere between the first and second hour though, after slipping and falling once (it was super steep and the ground was very wet) and being handed a stick to ward off any leeches that tried to latch onto me (what did I sign myself up for?), I accepted the fact I was going to be a sweaty hot mess for the next several days and embraced my inner jungle Jane. In my defense, the guide also fell once and none of the leeches made it past the sole of my shoe.
The tribes where we spent both nights essentially lived off the land, so as we trekked through the jungle, the guides told me a lot about how the people survive and their beliefs about their surroundings. For example, they use tree bark for many different things, but since the sap attracts bugs that can destroy the tree, they have to burn the area where they remove bark. I also learned that the locals believe there is a spirit living inside termite hills that can give them luck in their lives, so they pay their respects when they pass a termite hill (especially when they are heading out on a hunting trip).
Both nights were spent at villages of Karen people. In Thailand, there are over 20 different native languages spoken by the hilltribe people, but the Karen people represent one of the bigger populations with over 1 million Karen people in Thailand. The first woman we met had cut three of her fingers while chopping up some bamboo to make pig food several days earlier, so the guides helped her get it wrapped up with an antiseptic wipe, breathable fingertip bandage and Neosporin from the first aid kit I brought. It puts things into perspective when the medical care you can provide from a daypack is better than what someone has on a daily basis.
Before stopping at our house for the night we walked around the village of just over 20 houses and 120 people. I got to see a man repairing his house with some bamboo he had just harvested as well as some weavers.
This was my home for the night! We made dinner over the wood stove and enjoyed it under the vibrant stars in the sky. Naturally, they put me in charge of stirring up the coconut water since I am obsessed. The guide even helped me to make up a “princess” bed (I don’t think there is a Thai word for diva) by layering a bunch of the sleeping pads they had since I was the only one in the room which normally housed about 18 people.
Day 2 – Part of the Family
The climb the day before was completely worth it when I woke up to the sight of this beautiful rice field.
The guides were up early cooking a sack lunch for the day and then toasting bread for breakfast. The hilltribe people are known for utilizing all different types of plants and animals for what they need on a daily basis. When your sack lunch involves softening banana leaves to serve as a container and getting wrapped up like a little package with pieces of grass, you know your lunch is going to be pretty epic.
We bid farewell to the village as we continued our trek.
On our way, we saw some very cool things like beautiful mushrooms, fig trees, a man working in his rice field on the hill, giant beetles, lovely rice fields, termites galore, a tarantula in its hole and really big spiders. All the interesting things in the jungle made the almost entirely uphill climb a little more bearable.
After climbing over several rivers, we finally made it to the elephant camp where we stopped for lunch. Even in the jungle, we still have good desserts such as these amazing rice cakes with brown sugar drizzle.
These elephants used to haul logs for the logging industry in Thailand, but when the industry collapsed, they no longer served a purpose. Now the elephants just live in the jungle and provide rides for tourists. A different boy in the village where we spent the second night owns each of the 5 elephants and knows their personalities very well. When the elephants are not being used and during the night, they are set free in the jungle and then the elephant owner is in charge of finding them when they need them for rides. They are creatures of habit, so they usually are not hard to find because they go to the same places every night. Apparently, the elephant I rode is one of the more active ones, so the boy was tired of having to go so far to find her every time he needed her. How adorable (well not adorable for having to find her all the time, but the idea)! <3
I am a little bit in love with her and wanted to take her home with me, but something makes me think she would probably not make it through customs.
After a quick hike, we arrived at the village where we were staying for the night. It was about twice the size of the village where we stayed the night before with about 300 people. When we arrived, many of the people were working on different parts of rice processing, so it was very interesting to see rice in all of its different forms.
Since the village host’s wife was away visiting her son for a couple nights, the guide cooked extra food to feed him and his kids. In the Karen culture, there are fairly set family roles for men and women, so men usually do not cook for their families since they are the ones working in the fields all day and hunting at night several times a week to provide food for their families.
Normally on trekking tours, the “clients” (i.e. me) are not allowed in the kitchen because it is considered to be the most private part of the house and guests should not have to make their own food. I, however, (a little bit selfishly) wanted to help cook so that I could see how everything was made since I love to cook. I was in charge of cutting up the vegetables and (of course) stirring up some coconut water. As a result, rather than sitting at the table outside, the guides and I had a family dinner on the floor of the kitchen with the village host and one of his sons. I felt honored to be considered part of the family…at least for one night!
Day 3 – White Water Rafting with Pieces of Bamboo
The trekking route was set up so that all of the heavy hiking was done in the first two days and the third day was about an hour and a half bamboo raft ride down the river where we would be picked up by the driver. When I heard that we would be going through rapids and saw that this was our ride to do so, I was a bit skeptical.
It was amazing watching the captain maneuver the giant pieces of bamboo down the river, though. He definitely knew what he was doing and kept busy during the calm times by doing some light fishing.
Obviously, I was doing my part to make sure the boat ride went smoothly by snapping plenty of pictures of my surroundings as we passed several villages and an elephant camp.
Even though there were times the boat was close to being fully submerged, it prevailed against the waves. The rapids were not as crazy as I was thinking they would be, but I was still amazed at how some stalks of plant can float four people and camping gear down a river.
At lunch, we met members of the Akha tribe, another (very decorated) local tribe that spoke yet another language.
On our way back to Chiang Mai, we saw a lovely elephant sanctuary (or elephant retirement home as the guide called it) and also stopped at an orchid farm.
Before we left, the guide made me sit on the “princess bench” and do a “princess pose”…don't worry I am judging myself so feel free to as well. I would say we understood each other pretty well by the end of the journey. :)
