My journey has taken me North West via the blissful Nongkhai, nestled on the banks of the mighty Mekong river, and the ancient ruins of Sukhothai, to the backpackers Mecca of Chiang Mai. It was a shock to go back to ‘Touristy Thailand’ after the pureness of the North East region, but also very comforting and I can’t deny the convenience of having internet cafe’s on every corner and menu’s in English. Chiang Mai has a lovely laid-back hippy vibe to it, the complete anthithesis of the backpacker areas of Bangkok. Guest houses and coffee shops are hidden in leafy soi’s (streets) and although it is one of Thailand’s bigger cities, traffic noise and pollution are not evident, at least in the area I am staying in. The other massive advantage is that it looks out over the spectacular mountains to the North, covered in thick rainforest and shrouded in mist.
I have spent the last two days trekking through these mountains with my new found French family and Singha, our enigmatic Thai guide. We set off early on Thursday, all brimming with excitement at the itinerary we had planned. After a stop at a local market to pick up supplies we wound our way around the mountain paths in our open pick-up until the road petered out and rainforest took over. We were dropped off by the cheery driver and started to make our way through the forest paths, climbing steadily and faithfully following Singha. Within ten minutes we were all out of breath and sweating in the stifling heat, while Singha bounced around, providing a running commentary, not showing any signs of exertion whilst constantly smoking huge quantities of tobacco wrapped in potent banana skin.
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After a couple of hours we arrived at our lunchtime destination, smooth slabs of rock right next to a raging waterfall. We saw it and practically tore our clothes off and dived into the cool pools, it redefined refreshing! The current was so strong that it was a real effort to make it round to the waterfall itself but our efforts were rewarded with a natural jacuzzi whirlpool, far better than any fancy health spa I have ever visited and completely free. After basking on the stones and enjoying our delicious parcels of fried rice wrapped in palm leaves we continued on our journey.
Just as the heat was becoming unbearable again the heavens opened and the predictable afternoon thunderstorm raged above. Within minutes we were soaked through, and it was in this state that we arrived at our destination for the evening, a ‘Karen’ hill tribe village who had kindly agreed to accommodate us for the night. The majority of the Karen tribe live in Myanmar (Burma), yet they also form the largest of major tribes in Thailand. They are internationally recognised for the stacks of gold rings (or gold yarn) worn around the necks of the women and girls. We were given a warm welcome and ushered into the shelter of the basic wooden huts that form their living area. They are a farming community and pigs, chickens and adorable piglets ran around our feet searching for food. As in the African communities I’ve visited in the past the women appear to do all the work around the village. They were busy sifting rice to seperate it from its husks, tending to the animals and children and cooking while the men sat or lay around smoking their beloved tobacco filled banana skins. We arrived into the village late afternoon so the men may well have been busy for the rest of the day but this is just what I saw…
As the women prepared our dinner, we settled down to a game of Jenga in the waning light of the day. My travelling companions were a French mother, uncle and daugher from Versailles and a French/English girl living in Paris. Luckily for me, they all spoke great English but would fall into French from time to time and I wish I’d paid more attention in school!
I was struck by how simply these people live and how happy they all seemed. The children were obviously very highly regarded, and were running around in high spirits with constant attention from their older siblings and the adults. After dinner (the usual combination of searing chillies and ‘in your face’ flavours that I have become so accustomed to already) we were treating to a singing performance from the local children. Children suddenly appeared from everywhere and all ages took to the makeshift stage in un-harmonious but beautiful local song. Our group then carried on with our games, which had by now progressed to drinking games, the drink in question being the locally produced ‘rice whisky’ which is similar to Sake, lethally strong and (in my opinion) completely disgusting. I have never concentrated so much in drinking games before, so adamant was I not to have to down this drink.
We were all starting to flag quite early in the candlelight after the exertion of our day, so we settled down to sleep on the hard mattresses laid out for us in the wooden huts, under hanging mosquito nets, which gave the air of grand four poster beds. All around us were the sounds of the farm animals, and the rainforest beyond but I slept well regardless, with some bizarre dreams!
This morning we set off early again and made our way back through the forest. The landscape is truly remarkable and so alien to any mountains I have climbed before. The wildlife is also spectacular, butterflies and dragonflies of every colour and size imaginable, huge spiders spinning webs between the branches and hundereds of red ants under our feet, carving rivers out of the paths, intent on their secret missions. Our treat at the end of the day was rafting on the ‘Ping’ river. This was a crazily dangerous but fun experience, being launched down the heaving river on pieces of bamboo tied together with twine. Our river guides were intent on getting us all as wet as possible and delighted in rocking the rafts from one side to the other as we sped down the rapids and capsising us all as many times as they could. It was great fun though, trust me!
I’ve definitely got the trekking bug, and I’m planning to venture further North into the less visited jungle areas of Chiang Rai. Just as soon as my blisters have healed ……. 🙂
