Hills of Northern Thailand
Left Bangkok on the overnight bus north for Chiang Mai…deluxe reclining seats and air conditioning. At 5:30am acrid smoke fills the bus. People in the back are shouting “Fire”. Seems an electrical failure has ignited the wiring. They stop and pour water on to no avail. We are on the outskirts of Chiang Mai by that time, so they unload the bags and paddy-wagon type trucks appear from nowhere. How did they know? We climbed aboard one that was headed for a hotel…free ride if we went there. It turned out to be a flea bag joint near the center of town, but off the main drag. Our fifth floor walk-up penthouse “en suite” had fans and hot showers for $8/night. Hey, no bedbugs so who’s complaining? When we staggered down at about noon we met Mr. Whiskey Trek (motto: you never drunk alone) who sold us on his 3 day “non touristic” trek featuring elephant rides, river rafting, home stays with hill tribe people, and a waterfall side trip…all for $150/person including meals. Sounded good to us. So the next day we started off with 4 young French guys who left the second day, 1 Welsh guy starting an 18 month tour around the world, and a Dutch fellow. The elephant ride was too short, but they are wonderful beasts. After feeding them baskets of bananas and scrubbing them down in the river, our trekking began. Keeping up with the youngsters nearly killed me, but I’m still here to tell the tale.
Another 30 pounds ought to do it!
Elephant trek.
Young Asian elephant.
First night’s house.
House owner, Maria, anglicized name for tourists…
…and Papa Harry
Stopped along the way at a kindergarten. These children get way too much candy during these stops, but they are darling. The parents and teacher were very photogenic.
Kindergarten kids.
The teacher.
Mother with younger sibling.
Beasts of burden.
In the high country days are hot, but nights are quite chilly. Am sure glad I had my earplugs for sleeping with 7 men in a big open room with mosquito nets for privacy. We haven’t seen many mosquitoes so far.
Fields tended with water buffalo help.
Took a night hike to set some clever bamboo and string rat traps. These are field rats, not city ones. In the morning the guys collected the night’s catch…then peeled, roasted and ate them. I tried a bite: not bad. Seems the tribes no longer bother eating them, they just feed them to tourists.
He didn’t really eat it!
The next night, after a very long day following what seem to be rough game trails through the bush, we found the village that was to be our next home. In the evening we sang songs around a campfire with a piglet roasting over it. Only songs Craig and I could remember were, “Dinah”, “Girl from Ipanema” and “Love Potion #9”. Pathetic. But they didn’t care, they liked it all the same.
Second night’s lodging with evening fire pit in view.
The babysitter.
Village dish washing option.
Our guide “Jimmy”.
Jungle Joe, another guide.
Craig demos the stance for a bamboo raft trip.
Hiked out on a road to another village where we were picked up for our raft trip. I was thinking rubber, but they were thinking bamboo. Giant bamboo is very common and has many uses. Lashed together as a raft it is very portable. Craig demos the stance we all four took with a guide in front. At the end we took the raft apart and loaded the bits on a truck.
Scenic drive to waterfall.
Waterfall plunge pool.
The short-cut to the waterfall wandered through mountains on a rough dirt road. The plunge pool was refreshing to say the least.
Always a surprise in the tropics to find the water so cold.
Back in Chiang Mai we moved back into our swanky lodging. We explored the walled old city: the Wats, old and new, the night market, a Japanese festival, and a museum. Have we mentioned the food is tasty, inexpensive and abundant?
A favorite pastime.
Japanese puppeteer.
Ancient wat elephants.
Along the river.
Then we rented a car for our loop tour north of Chiang Mai. First stop was a wat overlooking the city, Doi Suthep.
View from the overlook. The smoke over Chiang Mai from the myriad farm fields being burned before replanting, makes the air quality horrid.
Doi Suthep wat.
More glitz at Doi Suthep.
Young worker helping to support her family.
Red-cheeked Bulbul
So now we have temporary freedom in our rental car; dodging traffic, dogs, and millions of motorbikes while driving on the left side, a leftover from the British colonial influence (though Thailand was never a full fledged colony). Thais regard lines on the road merely as suggestions, nothing to be taken seriously. No chance to daydream and bird watch for me. Assuming we survive this phase, the next post will be about the north country.