Chiang Mai Part II - The Trek

Time for the four New York kids to take off our sissy city gloves, get down with our nature adventure selves, and go Trekking! After moseying around cities for the past few days I was ready to frolic about in the forest.

We packed into the little safari transport van with seven other people:
Sweet natured doofy British guy, cheerful Canadian couple, Brazilian scientist girls, and hippie plant American couple.

We had to check in at a Thailand police security point before we left. The police officer, very pleasantly, said to us:

"You will be offered drugs up North... Do it up there, have your fun, don't bring it back down here."


After driving away we all said:

"Did that police officer just tell us to do drugs?"

 Yes, yes he did.

We stopped at a really cool large food market on the way. As always, it was so fun looking at all the weird food. We had no idea what many of the food items were, others we knew... but wished we didn't.

Plant guy: "Do you want to see why Thailand is the shit?"
Me and Steff: "Sure"
Plant guy: "Quail eggs and oyster mushrooms! This would be [some large amount of money] back in the states, but here it's [some small amount of money] !!!"
Me and Steff: "Ahh.. neat."

I guess Thailand has something for everyone. I was more impressed by the stunning beaches, but I'm glad plant guy found his happy place.

We all compared what we saw and bought back in the van. Although we had gathered a very unique collection of food, I think the bag of steamed crickets Bryan bought took the cake. He also had the option of grasshoppers or some other kind of slug grub thing - but crickets looked the best out of the bunch. Most of us agreed to try one, even me. Call me a picky eater (because I am) but I'll try anything once. Steff politely declined claiming it went against her vegetarian principles. I think it went against her "not eating really gross things" principles. It was best not to look at the perfectly intact cricket before popping it in your mouth. Despite a slight "bug" after taste and feeling a leg slide down my throat, it really wasn't bad at all. Little salty, slightly crispy.

The next stop was an elephant ride through a bamboo forest. None of us were super duper excited about the elephant ride. We didn't really care if we rode one or not, it just happened to be part of the tour. Plus we didn't know about how they were treated blah blah blah. However, we were there, the elephants seemed ok, so we went. Sadly, the landscape was scorched due to the dry season, and elephants are not the most comfortable to ride on after about 15 minutes. But hey, now we can say we rode elephants through a bamboo forest in Thailand. Cool.

To reach the hill tribe we would be staying at, we had to go on foot for about a 30 minute trek. Along the way, plant guy pointed out and explained to us AND the guide what every plant was. If it was edible he was sure to taste it and describe the flavor.

"Hmm this is good. You should all try this."

We, of course, ate the random wild plants, in the middle of no where, that this total stranger told us to eat, because he seemed to know what he was talking about. It was like he was hosting his own little nature show and we were his audience.

We arrived in the small hill tribe and the eleven of us got settled into our one room bamboo shelter. Each side of the room were lined with sleeping mats with pillows and blankets. Hill tribe trekker slumber party - nifty!

The rest of the villiages buildings were also small, simply made, bamboo houses that had about two rooms. We all explored a bit, watched the cute farm animals, played with some of the children, and watch as they prepared our green curry and vegetable dinner in a huge wok.

The rest of the evening was lovely. We all sat on the floor, and enjoyed a great dinner by candle light while a thunderstorm poured down outside. The women in the village dressed in traditional costumes and sang a few songs for us. While they were singing one of the little boys came over and laid back on Bryan's legs. I guess we were part of the family? After taking quite an interest, Bryan showed him how to use his camera. The boy really got he hang of it too! Color me impressed. Steff gave our camera the boy's friend to take pictures too. Every time this boy would take a picture, he would laugh with glee when the image showed up on the screen, and then give us a thumbs up. We had maaaaaany pictures of peoples feet and half of their heads.

After the performance, we discovered we were lucky enough to have three singer/guitar players in the group. Cheerful Canadian guy, blond haired Brazilian scientist girl, and Eric all took turns playing the guitar and singing some crowd pleasers. The Hey Jude sing along led by cheerful Canadian guy was probably my favorite, Brazilian scientist girl had a wonderful voice and performed a lovely version of Stand By Me, and Eric was our rock star playing some great more recent tunes and hilarious indie songs.

Another form of entertainment was simply listening to our host, who was quite a character. He had a kind of laid back, surfer, hippie dude, tone to how he talked. His catch phrase was "all the time" which he, at first, used in context to something, but then would say it when ever he wanted. Of course, We all stared saying "all the tiiiime" too - which didn't help. His other catch phrase "oh my Buddha!" was also a gem.

The next morning we were split up between the two day trek group (us and the Brazilian scientist girls) and the three day trek group. We were woken up first for breakfast - yay toast, boo scrambled eggs with onions.

After breakfast was our big two hour, up and down the hill sides trek! Our new guide was not quite what I would describe as bubbly and chatty. We learned he had been up all night, so amusing a group of tourists was not high on his list of priorities. We also discovered that this trek was more a means of transportation across the hills, than a leisurely stroll through the woods, as we went at a rather quick pace.

The first 20 minutes were pretty much entirely up hill. Then it was a lot of steep ups and downs. We were once again reminded that going down hill is quite challenging too. We stopped to take a swim by a waterfall which really helped cool us off, and prepare our legs for the second half of he trek.

The second half was mainly flat (easier!), but we had to keep zig zagging across a small stream by jumping on tiny rocks (harder...). After defeating this challenge we collapsed at the end point for lunch. Trekking makes a plate of noodles taste like the greatest meal... ever.

Now that I have described the basic outline of the trek, I would like to point out that I did not expand on anything with our opinions. This was probably the only time on the trip that Steff and I have had veeery different opinions on our experience, so I couldn't type in my usual "we thought this and that."

My opinion: I loved it!. I was happy to see that the scenery was more green and less scorthced. It was fun that the land changed very dramatically throughout the hike: steep up and down hills, flat, water, bamboo forests, great views high and low on the mountain, farm land, fields, green forest enclosures, and so on. The views and the scenery were so amazing. I felt like an adventurer crossing the shallow streams by hopping from one stone to the other. It was wonderful to be out hiking and getting a work out, with out getting overly tired since we had he nice waterfall cool down. The weather was perfect: Cool and sunny after the rain storm. We even saw some cows!

Steffs opinion: she hated it! Steff wanted more of a calm paced nature walk, where the guide actually talked, made sure the group was all together, pointed things out along the way, and helped make it a positive experience. Unfortunately, our guide didn't do any of those things. Our group kept getting split up, we had very few breaks, and there was really no time to stop and enjoy the scenery while making sure we weren't tripping over anything on the ground in order to keep up with he quick pace.

As for the boys, I didn't get their official thoughts, but I would say Bryan's opinion was good and Eric's was not so good.

So, I suppose you could take this 50/50 opinion split as this: depending on what you like this has the potential to be fun, but it had some issues to work out.

Our adventure was concluded with a nice, easy, relaxing activity: bamboo rafting. Simply made rectangle rafts made of bamboo. Long bamboo pole to steer down the river. No need to paddle, just use the pole to push off of the stream's floor or bank in the direction you want to go. Then wade down the river until you need another push. Steff, Eric, and Bryan were on a raft in front of me and the Brazilian scientist girls. Steff turned around and called over to me:

"I feel like Poaontas!"

Just Around the River Bend was stuck in my head for the rest of the afternoon. I should note she laughed at me when I said I felt like Ariel from The Little Mermaid while scuba diving. Ha! Looks like I'm not the only Disney nerd on the trip.

Once the Brazilian scientist girls and I got into a good rhythm, we had a bamboo raft dance party and bamboo pole weight lifting competition. I think we confused the guide.

That concluded the great northern adventure. Upon our return to Chiang Mai, we decided to spit up for the day so Eric and Steff could have some cute-couple-snuggley-"no I love YOU more"- time. It was actually strange splitting up after spending almost two months straight with Steff.

::confused uneasy voice:: "I guess I'll see you... tomorrow?

"Yeah...I guess I'll see you then."

"I think I'm having separation anxiety."


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