After finally leaving Chiang Mai I headed even further North to Chaing Rai with my Manchester friends Chris and Leeroy (amazing singer; great taste in vests). I wanted to do more trekking as soon as we arrived, but as fate would have it, the treks I booked kept getting cancelled so we all thought it would be an amazing idea to hire mopeds (although we had zero experience between us) and explore the Chiangrai countryside in search of the ‘Black Temple’.
We turned up at the hire shop, all slightly hungover from playing card drinking games until the early hours. I was getting more and more scared about the idea as my co-ordination leaves a lot to be desired. When I first got on, all my fears were realised and I lurched around the car-park area, narrowly missing walls, parked cars and animals, all to the hilarity of the owners of the hire shop and all the locals that had come to spectate. I was very close to admitting defeat and letting the boys carry on as the thought of going out into the madness of the Thai traffic was terrifying. However, I stayed with it and after a few laps around the block I was whizzing down the straight open road, wishing it would go faster than 100kph.
We had no real idea where we were going, all we had for guidance was a scrappy photocopied map from the hire shop, with our destination half printed. After riding in the same direction for over an hour we realised we couldn’t be on the right road and stopped off to ask at a small village. Wherever we went, people saw us and burst out laughing. At the time we couldn’t really understand it but that evening we were looking back at pictures and saw ourselves on our bright pink and orange scooters, wearing helmets (unheard of in Thailand) and all became clear. The woman in the village clearly didn’t know where we were trying to get to or what we were trying to say but was determined to help us anyway and spent a good 15 minutes turning the map around and around and gesticulating wildly. Eventually we managed to get away, none the wiser, but very much cheered at the amazing Thai hospitality we had experienced once again. After driving around in circles for a while, we came across a large sign directing us to a waterfall. Riding a moped in the blistering heat is draining and the idea of jumping into cool fresh water was irresistible so we followed our instincts, and the sign, down a small track, heading deeper and deeper into the jungle.
We rode on and on, and were all doubtful as to whether we would ever find the elusive waterfall. We got so desperate that we almost jumped in a stream, full of local children playing, convincing ourselves that ‘this must be it!’. However, we persisted and all our efforts were rewarded when we entered Namtok Khun Kon National Park, which is a beautiful expanse of mountainous rainforest, the main attraction being the 70 metre Khun Kon waterfall which is the highest in the North Thailand region. We climbed a steep path for about half an hour and suddenly turned a bend and were faced with the biggest waterfall I have ever seen, cascading down the moutainside. Un-deterred by the force of the wind and the spray, we scrambled down the cliff to the pools below. The rocks were so slippery and the wind so strong that it took all our efforts to actually get to where the waterfall met the rocks and the force of the water scared me, however there were several local children ageing from about 5 – 15 splashing around without a care in the world so I summed up the courage to get in and jump around (and fall over) with them. It was amazingly refreshing, and although I jumped in with all my clothes on, I knew I had the drying power of my moped (named Lola) to help me on the way back. Luckily although it had got dark before we arrived at our guest-house, the rains had held off, because as much as an expert moped driver as I am (!) I wouldn’t have fancied trying to get back when the roads turn into ice-rinks. Needless to say, we all got home safe and sound, ready for the next adventure…. Laos!
So we decided to get out of Thailand and get to our next destination, Laos! We headed to the border crossing of Chiang Kong and got a boat across the Mekong to Huay Xia which took a mere 5 minutes. As soon as we arrived at the other side we passed through immigration and got our visa’s processed. I was really hot, tired and disorientated, especially by the change in currency. 1 pound is equal to 13000 Laos kip so it was a lot to try and get my head around. I grudgingly changed my Thai baht that I’d got so used to and was given a great wad of notes, with the greatest value note (50,000) being worth about 4 pounds. Overall the border crossing was successful, I was slightly wary from hearing other travellers horror stories of being massively ripped off but although things seemed strange, everyone was really helpful and we got our visa’s without any hassle or extra costs.
From Huay Xia we got the slow boat to Luang Prabang, which takes two days along the Mekong with an overnight stop at a place called Pak Beng. We were all dreading two days on a tiny boat with not enough seating but it turned out to be an amazing experience and we met lots of really cool people who we ended up celebrating Jewish New Year with 2 nights later. We all bonded over card games and Lao Beer, and the magnificent views of the Mekong river. When we arrived at Luang we were almost disappointed to be leaving our little boat family behind.
In Luang Prabang I finally found my hardcore trek that I’d been looking for for the past week. It was 2days of intense hiking, followed by kayaking and visiting the semi-wild Mahout elephants. The trekking was really tough, up to 7 hours per day in intense heat in the mountainous jungle but the biggest challenge was still ahead of me.
At the start of day 2, my walking sandals broke under the strain of slipping around in the mud. No-one had any spare shoes so I was forced to carry on barefoot through the jungle. This was fine (my feet are pretty hard!) for the first hour or so, until we reached a boggy area and the guide suddenly stopped us to warn us of leeches. Just as he did so, a small black leach, no more than a centimetre long, landed on my hand. I knocked it away in disgust but it hung on, until our guide showed me how to remove it with a stick. We carried on walking, and I looked down to see my feet and ankles completely covered in leeches. Everyone else was experiencing the same thing, apart from they had the advantage of wearing walking boots. I stopped to try and get them off, but our guide shouted at me to run as as soon as we’d stopped, more and more kept appearing. I was so scared, and the leeches were really freaking me out. I can deal with insects and spiders but there’s something about the way they drain your blood and cling on until they are bloated that makes my skin crawl. I ran blindly through the bog for about twenty minutes, not caring that it was uphill and I was completely out of breath, not caring about the branches that tore at my clothes and the spider webs I ran through. The only thing on my mind was to get to the ‘leech-free zone’ as quickly as possible! As I was running, I turned a corner and a huge black snake blocked my path. I really lost it and screamed at the top of my voice and jumped up in the air. Everyone stopped, but we were urged onwards and upwards. Finally we reached the top of the mountain, panting and shaking. I started crying and Saminta (our guide) came to my rescue and removed all the leeches from my feet and legs which were by this point fat and bloated with my blood. I told him about the snake and he said he had seen it, and I was lucky I didn’t tread on it as it was deadly poisonous! At the time the experience was horrific, but now I’m really glad it happened as I get to show off and be really cool 🙂
On the last day we bathed some elephants which made everything better….
Until next time …….
(sorry, being stupid and cant work out how to turn photos round!)
