We were picked up at 8:30am on Monday the 17th for a three day trek through the jungle to visit some hill tribes. The first stop was a touristy visit to an orchid and butterfly farm. I don't know why they throw those things in unannounced besides the hope that someone will buy something. The orchids were beautiful, but the butterflies weren't anything special.
Next we drove to the outskirts of town in the back of a pickup to visit the Longneck tribe. They start putting the coils around a girl's neck when she turns 5 and they add a coil almost every year until she turns 45. They do it for two reasons. First, they idolize dragons and swans because of their long necks and want to look like them. Second, they used to live in the jungle with tigers and this way the tigers wouldn't be able to attack the women and carry them away by their necks. Hmmm...The men don't wear them, so does this mean that they aren't protected from the tigers? Don't know.
After some pad thai and fruit for lunch we started our hike straight up a hill. We were definitely ready for our first break when it finally came. Because we only have one day pack we loaded it to the max with our clothes, towels and toiletries. Evan is my muscle man and carried for 95% of the trip. It's the dry season so everything was brown and the sky was hazy from the fires in the jungle.
On the way to the first village we passed an interesting plant, check it out...
We eventually made it to the village of the Mong people. We all went into nap mode for at least 2 hours. Dinner was curry, rice and veggies. Despite the nap, we all went to bed early. We slept on mats in a big room that they had built for groups like ours. Bugs weren't a problem as we had mosquito nets, and the mats were surpisingly comfy! And, they had western toilets! That was my biggest fear...getting to the middle of nowhere and only having a hole in the ground. They had a shower which is just a hose hanging on the wall in the bathroom, but the water was freezing so I only rinsed off my legs which were so dirty from the dust.
The next morning we rode the village's elephants! Evan and I rode the oldest elephant and he was also the hungriest. He stopped every 15 feet to eat some bamboo or whatever green stuff he could find. I think our guide told us that they have to eat 250 kilos every day...hungry guys!
After cruising about 20 minutes the guide jumped down and I (Michelle) moved up to ride on the elephant's head! I had my legs tucked behind his ears and just held on as best as I could. I was sitting on his shoulder blades, so I could feel every step he made.
Any other elephant rides I have seen are just walking around on flat ground. We definitely were going up and down some steep hills which was pretty nerve racking but fun!
After the ride we had breakfast and set out on our hike. It was so hot...we were dripping sweat. After about 2 hours of hiking we came upon a waterfall and jumped in. The water was freezing but refreshing.
We hiked a little further to a village for lunch and took a nap in the shade. After a few more hours of hiking we finally made it to the Lahu village. We could hear some thunder in the distance and after awhile the skies opened up and it poured! In the dry season! After about 30 minutes it let up and the haze cleared and the view was great. Dinner was potato curry and fried rice and then the village children came and treated us to a performnce. They sang a variety of songs (some were Christian songs which was surprising). They were super cute and definitely the highlight of our interaction with the hill tribes.
I encountered my worst fear in the Lahu village...the first eastern toilet. Now, don't get me wrong...there were plenty of eastern toilets along our way. I just always kept searching until I could find a western toilet. This one was a hole in the ground in a shack. Not too pleasant. It was a bit traumatic, but I survived.
The roosters decided to start crowing around 2am and continued all through the night, so no one slept too well. After breakfast we started our hike home but first had a side trip of rafting. It would have been great in the rainy season, but we kept getting stuck and our guide would have to jump out and pull us off the rocks. After an hour of rafting, we hopped on a bamboo raft for a float down the river. The raft was about 18 feet long and Evan was nominated to be the captain in front. This job entailed pushing off and guiding the raft along the correct route along the river. He did a great job as we didn't hit any rocks! After lunch we jumped in a truck for our 2 hour ride back to Chiang Mai. Evan and another guy rode on top which was a little scary for both of us. He said their were great views, but he had white knuckles from holding on so tight. Crazy boys!
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