Our trek started out in a Songtao with 8 other passengers, which means you are elbow to elbow and knee to knee with everyone else. Unfortunately, Mattie didn't feel very well that morning, and the cramped ride caused her to throw up out the window before we even got out of Chiang Mai. But, she soldiered through it and was even able to laugh at herself about it. I doubt the same can be said for the innocent pedestrians walking down the street that she pasted with vomit as they tried to enjoy their morning stroll.
Anyhow, the first stop was at a 'tribal' village where indigenous people from five separate tribes were living together so tourists like us would come and see them and buy some of their handicrafts. On the one hand it felt almost like a human zoo, but on the other it seemed as though the people were happy living there and that their quality of life was improved from the extra income they earned selling their goods. That was the justification, anyway. The 'prize' tribe that was being pimped out in this village were the Karen, of which there are about 500000 or so in Thailand. They are also known as the longneck tribe, the pictures will tell you why. The village was quite scenic, so we snapped some photos, made some small purchases, and moved on, still a bit unsure as to how we felt about this experience.
The next, and last, truck stop was an elephant camp, where the (in)famous cape made it's long-awaited first appearance! Julian got to sit on the head of an elephant while riding it, and his elephant cape seemed to give him special powers to control the animal. It was as if they had a spiritual bond.
After the elephant ride, the trek began in earnest. There were a total of eleven of us including our guide, Yo.
Our first day was a couple of hours hiking, which included a modeling break...
A balancing act...
Many river crossings...
A very refreshing 'water massage'...
Some great scenery...
And a tortuous uphill climb to reach this view...
But it was all worth it once we reached our luxurious sleeping quarters...
Once we reached the village that we would be staying in for the night, we had some dinner and rested up for the long journey ahead. We awoke to a beautiful(and hot) sunrise and began our hike again. Today there were stops at three different waterfalls and a couple of villages. Luckily, we had a photographer along to provide us with lots of action shots.
Our guide made Mattie a walking stick because she kept falling... Being off balance due to our backpack.
After taking a swim in the very cool ponds beneath the falls, we once again settled into our five star accommodations for the evening, where we had chicken and noodles wrapped in banana leaves followed by a dessert of bamboo sticky rice(which required 4 hours of intense preparation by a crazy jungle man - see photos).
The jungle gets pretty dark without any electricity, so we once again hit the hay pretty early.
The next morning we took it pretty easy and didn't start hiking for awhile. It gave us some time to enjoy the natural beauty of our surroundings.
Today we only had about an hour hike before an hour rafting trip to reach our final destination. The hiking portion today was pretty light, which we appreciated since all of us were beginning to get a bit sore. The rafting was great, and it once again gave us time to sit back and enjoy the scenery. Unfortunately, we didn't want to risk bringing the camera along on the raft for fear of it getting wet, so we have to rely on our fellow trekkers to get those to us in the future. But, it was a nice day and ended a great trip before we were sent back to Chiang Mai to pamper ourselves with a hot shower and comfy bed. All in all, we met some great people and had a really good experience on our trek, so we are looking forward to doing another one.
- Mattie and Julian
Location:Outside Chiang Mai, Thailand
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