Back to the Future Thai Style

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After a brief but adventurous tour of Laos, we have returned to the future. Thailand. It is the year 2551 here in Thailand and we have just returned from a 3 day, 2 night stay in the jungle. It was or will be, depending on where and when you are, an experience.

Before we talk about the jungle we should share with you our experiences in Laos.

It was the year 2008, Giles and I had taken the express time machine train from Bangkok station to the Thai/Laos border town where we took a step back in time via customs. We then entered Vientienne where we shared a meal, of the most amazing crepes, with two Belgian women and a Swedish man whom we had met on the train. After, we found our hotels and rested. Who knew time machine trains could be so exhausting.

In Vientienne, we rented bicycles and toured around the city. We saw the "Arc de Triomphe" (aka vertical runway), some Wats and the Laos National Museum. The "Arc" was built using cement that was donated by China to build their runway, hence the expat provided nickname. We guess they had too much cement. The Wats were really pretty and old. They are best described by photos, which we are having difficulties uploading but will hopefully accomplish soon.

The Museum was really interesting. It taught us a lot about the history of Laos and their relations with other countries. The French influence was quite prevelant in their cooking, the crepes, and their architecture, the Arc de Triomphe. Anyway, after touring the museum we came upon the final exhibit that displayed illegal drugs that people had tried to smuggle into or out of Laos. Who knew that Heroin was lighter than Canabis per brick. Hmmm.. It was very informative. They looked just like on the movies. Both of us donated in hopes that they might be able to increase the security at the museum.

We didn't stay in Vientienne very long as there was not much to see. We took a quick bus to Vang Vieng, which is a small town nestled in a valley of mountains. Giles and I took a breath of freash mountainous air when we arrived. The town is quite small but very touristy. It has restaurant after restaurant showing Family Guy, Simpsons, and Friends. We spent an entire afternoon watching TV. This is not a luxury we have had since venturing out of Korea so it was nice. Vang Vieng also offers a tubing tour on a small river that runs through the mountains. Along the way, there are a varienty of little bars that pull tubers in using long sticks. Giles and I managed to make it to a couple of the bars and we met a variety of interesting people from all around the world. There were so many different nationalities it almost seemed surreal. We went on the tubbing tour twice. It was 'that' fun. We also searched out some caves but cut our search short due to the heat.

After Vang Vieng we went to Luang Prabang. It is a city in the Northern part of Laos. We had a wonderful time there, eating French inspired cuisine and shopping in their night market. Fortunately, we also were able to meet up with some of our tubbing friends and have some of our last beer Laos with them. After two very quick nights we were off to the future -- Northern Thailand.

We decided to take the time machine slow boat, which took 2 days, or 543 days, to get to the boarder town of Muay Xai. It was well worth it. The scenery was beautiful and there were very few passengers on the boat so we could really stretch out and relax. After, we took the local bus to Chang Rai and then another to Chiang Mai.

After a couple of well deserved showers we ventured out in Chiang Mai and feasted on some really good Mediteranian food. The next day we booked our trek into the jungle.

The trek we chose included an elephant ride, white water rafting, bamboo rafting, snake show, visits to two hill tribe communities and a lot of walking.
Day 1: First we went to the snake show we saw a "crazy" Thai man handling, throwing, teasing and even kissing various scary snakes. The Thai man was missing a finger and the cobra was looking pretty fat. We wondered. Next, after a short drive we started on our first 3.5 hour hike. It began to rain about five minutes into the trek and we soon discovered that the footwear we had chosen wasn't up to the slickness of the red clay. We were sliding all over the place. The path was fairly steep at some points and both of us were more than a little afraid off disappearing off the side of the mountain. Fortunately our guide was not only patient with we two footwear challenged fools, but more than able to get us safely to our first overnight location. We all settled in to a bamboo hut overlooking a beautifull valley. The building was supported by stilts and you could see the lights of Chiang Mai in the distance. After a great meal and a few beers we settled in for a rest.

Day 2: More walking, but there was no rain so our footing was solid. Our confidence in being able to complete the simple task of walking slowly returned. We were quite proud of ourselves even though we did tumble a few times. First we walked through a Lahu village. The guide pointed out a few things and discussed the future of the tribal communities. The tribe came from Tibet originally. To be completely honest it seemed as though the village had all the comforts of the city with the people simply dressed up so the foreigners would feel as though they were getting their moneys worth. However, the views in the surrounding area were fantastic and more that made up for the lack of authenticity. After another long walk, passing through the satellite riddled Karen tribe's village, we stopped at a beautiful waterfall and had time to take a dip before being fed lunch. A nice two hour rest prepared us for the long trek to our next over night stay. While hiking we were startled by yelps and screams, followed by "Mad cow coming through." To our surprise a young calf came mooing down the steep mountain on the narrow path in search of her/his mother. Fortunately, we were able to jump out of the way just in time. Who said all the wild life was disappearing out of the jungle? Again great food and great conversations had us ready for bed.

Day 3: A short walk and we were at the elephant camp. We were put on the back of a 24 year old male elephant and before we new it were making our way down a very steep narrow trail. Thankfully it was our Irish friends' elephant, not ours, that decided to disobey it's minders commands and chase chickens, on and off the trail. In that moment we thought of: "You know you've been travelling when you see an elephant chasing the chickens and think nothing of it." Our ride was scary enough as we were the first in line and the first to experience. We were the first to buy bananas to feed to our ride and soon found ourselves faced with the hairy and moist trunks of the four other elephants looping through our carriage. Thankfully, the other riders quickly got suckered into buying bananas. Even still, on the short ride back to the main elephant camp, we would occassionally get tapped on the knee or shoulder by an elephant checking if any tasty yellow morsels remained or wallets -- not quite sure. Our rides dropped us back at camp and we headed for the rafts. We were given a brief rafting lesson, told to remember a set of five commands and before we new it were paddling down the river. After a garbled series of "goes", "left backs", "right backs", "backs" and "stops", a lot of rocks, splashing water, quite a few screams and whole lot of laughter we made it safley to our next activity. Bamboo rafting. We floated down the river on a bamboo raft . That's about all there is to it. Now we know what it's like and have full confidence if ever stranded. Shortly into our bamboo rafting it again began to rain. Yay. Our final destination had showers and change rooms so we toweled off and sat down to another great meal. The one hour ride back to Chiang Mai saw all of us fighting to keep our eyes open. It was the end of three great days.

Now we come to the end of our stint in Asia. We have 10 more days and will cherish them. On the 13th of June we fly to England where we will meet with our friends Dave and James for James' wedding. We look forward to that leg and can officially now say: "We will be back on Canadian soil before you know it."

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