Hill Tribe Trekking in Northern Thailand
Trip Start
Jun 07, 2008
1
4
7
Trip End
Aug 12, 2008
Chiang Mai,
Thailand
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Bonno- our Thai trek leader, Chiang Mai
. We hiked through rice paddies, coffee plantations, orchards of papayas, jack fruit and dragon fruit. The bamboo forests were the most memorable for me though, because there was absolutely no one around and hiking up the steep trails affords the most astounding views of all the geometric shapes made by bamboo that has either fallen over or is growing in the most bizarre patterns. I got dizzy just staring out into the jungle it was so intricate. We stumbled upon a neat bat cave, and found a Hmong father and his daughter gathering bat dung to use as fertilizer on their farm. That night we slept in a bamboo hut, with simple mats on the floor and mosquito nets. Not the best night's sleep although it would prove to be better than the second night...
The second day of trekking was...wet! We hiked with the whole group to this waterfall oasis, and played in the water and jumped off the rocks for a while. A much appreciated reprieve from the sweaty and sticky condition we were all in. Then we started to head out but were caught in a huge tropical storm, the type you can only find in the bamboo jungles of northern Thailand. The crazy thing was that we could hear the rain coming before we could see it. Not thunder sounds, but the assaulting sound of ferocious water being pelted at the trees and ground.
Unfortunately, this forewarning did not allow us enough time to get our rain gear on, so all of our stuff got soaking wet. Thankfully we weren't that far from our second camp, so we all booked it- splashing in ankle deep muddy puddles to climb up to our second bamboo hut. This one was without electricity, but it did have a gorgeous bamboo porch overlooking the jungle- so what it lacked in technology it made up with in quaint beauty
Bamboo Hut w/ the Wild Dogs, Chiang Mai Thail
. The whole group spent the rest of that afternoon cuddled up like wet refugees in a puppy pile on the floor, playing cards, chatting, reading and napping. Seeing as how most of our packs were completely drenched we didn't have many options other than to just chill out and be damp. Dinner was great, we got a fire going and had yellow curry and pumpkin stir fry. There was this point in the evening when we were all out on the porch and there was English, French, Spanish, Thai and German all being thrown back and forth at one another- it was awesome! I didn't get a wink of sleep that night though, because the door of the hut didn't close properly, and there was also a hole somewhere on the far side, and for some reason we had wild dogs wandering through our hut all night. Chat, the other guide, would try and chase them out, but that just scared us even more, because at first we thought he was a crazy jungle killer. It also didn't help that I had just taken my malaria pills, and they often make me hallucinate. So I had to keep waking Angus up to see if what I was seeing was real or in my head. Most of it was real. To add insult to injury, the floor was so makeshift that whenever someone rolled over or farted, the sound reverberated throughout the entire hut and into your head (because our rock hard pillows were on the floor). So between the dogs, noises and the fact that my leg broke through the floor and made another large hole right next to my bed- no sleep was had.
The final day of trekking was the hardest, but well worth it. We got back to base camp just in time to seek shelter from the afternoon storm. I am now in Bangkok, took the overnight train here last night (another sleepless night), and tomorrow Tasha and I are off to Ko Samat because we already have ants in our pants from being in the city for a day- its just so busy here!
Comments
Made me laugh and cry!
It is amazing when sleep deprivation and being wet and muddy is a high, but Laura shows that anytihng is good when you're happy. Can you send over some of those malaria pills?
boomshakalaka
Sounds trying, but that had to be a great experience. Hallucinogens, wild dogs, and crazy jungle killers can't hold you! That's awesome that you and Tash are doing it up in Bangkok. Keep us posted! :)
-Kaleb