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Published: August 21st 2008
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First things first... I loaded a bunch of pictures on my previous 2 blogs (Thailand! and More Bangkok)! I don't think you'll get an email telling you that since I had already published the blogs. But if you go to them you will be able to see a bunch of pictures! And then there are some on this entry as well. Enjoy...
We're back in Bangkok after returning from our hill tribe trek after getting off the 12-hour train ride at 7 am. Nothing's open except for internet, so here we are! The train was pretty comfortable, nice and air-conditioned and the seats folded out into beds.
When we got to Chiang Mai early in the morning on the 16th we went to our hotel, Serenity Hotel, and then found breakfast. Brendon and I found noodle soup for 10 baht which was delicious and really cheap and waffles with dried fruit and corn in them. I'm not sure about corn in waffles, but it actually wasn't too bad.
Our day in Chiang Mai we went on a bicycle tour with Bridget and Phillip, 2 other people in our group. Intrepid gave us some options of tours we could do and then
Former Leper Colony
Now accident rehabilitation if we wanted to do one of them they set it up for us. So there were just the 4 of us on the tour with a local guide. The roads are tiny, just like in Nepal. We were biking down 2-lane roads that would be 1-lane roads in the States. Smaller cars and tuk-tuks are a necessity! We went to a couple temples and a former leper colony that is now a rehabilitation center for accident victims, usually motorcycle accidents since no one wears helmets. We also saw a crematorium, the old version and the new one. Traditionally they burn them outside, but that takes a lot of wood and is bad for the environment so they're trying to switch to gas/electric ones that are more like an oven chamber. But of course there's the whole issue of tradition. We saw a funeral procession as we were biking. They build a huge castle structure on top of the person as sort of their house in heaven. We were expecting it to be small, but they literally had poles that they were using to move the telephone wires out of the way! Most people wait 3 days to be cremated,
but it can be longer depending on the person's importance. Some monks or holy men are preserved for years so that people can visit their body. We then rode to Wat Pupia, part of the ancient city. It was the ruins of a temple and we were able to explore it. Then Wat Chediliem. Ladies couldn't enter the area around this temple. There are lots of restrictions on women. At the Summer Palace women couldn't even wear pants in one of the buildings, we had to wear skirts! Extremely annoying! I like equality and I'm used to having it! There are also times when people will be talking to us or giving us information and they'll talk to Brendon, not me, because he's male. Sometimes that's okay because then he gets to deal with them, but sometimes, especially if it's something specifically concerning me and not Brendon, I want them to talk directly to me! Different culture, different traditions I guess.
After our bike ride we had free time so we got another massage, $5, amazing! Then in the evening we explored the night bazaar and the Saturday market. Lots of souvenirs and also a bunch of cheap food!
The
next day we started our trek. My birthday! We first went to Mork-Fa, a big waterfall where we got to go swimming. Then we drove a while longer and then hiked for a couple hours to the village. It was a really easy hike, but nice. We got to swing on Tarzan vines too! There were some leeches, but nothing compared to the last days on the Nepal trek! When people got them on their legs here they wanted to burn them off, but that's overrated so I just pulled them off for them. I've been hardened from Nepal!
We tried cockroach. It was disgusting! Hard and salty and not good at all. But hey, we can say we ate cockroach! The rest of the food was much better!
For the first night we stayed in little bungalows at a Karen tribe village. They were small huts, but not too bad. It was kind of like camping except with even thinner mattresses. We had an amazing dinner! 3 different dishes: different curries and vegetables. And then our tour guide, Dodee, brought out a cake! It was tiny, but he had carried it in his backpack all the way! It was
really sweet of him! He then gave us a "black magic" show which was actually pretty good. We showered in the river. There was a pipe that the river flowed into and it was raised so it was actually kind of like a shower! Nice and cold and refreshing!
The hill tribe houses are mostly up on stilts, I guess maybe in case of flooding... A lot of the roofs are just made out of dried leaves so it seems like they would leak when it rains. The walls are bamboo usually and have spaces in between each piece. Each tribe has their own language and culture, just like native tribes anywhere. We didn't get to learn much about each tribe, but it's still neat to see their villages.
The first village was small, there wasn't even a school. The children go to school in a larger village nearby and only come home on weekends, so basically like boarding school. The second village was larger, but still not terribly big. Life is basic and simple and seems to be laid-back, a big change from hectic Bangkok!
The 18th we hiked all morning. It was pretty gentle hiking for the
most part with quite a bit of mud! While we were hiking we saw a pretty amazing plant. If you break the stem in a specific way you can blow bubbles! Yes that's right, bubbles! It was pretty amazing! After lunch we rode elephants for an hour. The seats were only for 2 people, not 4 like in Nepal. We walked through rivers and on trails through the jungle. It was fun, but an hour was about the right amount of time. At night the elephants are set free to roam around and then are collected in the morning. So they have a pretty good life, which was nice to know!
Our tour guide, Mr. Doedee, is basically hilarious! We were really lucky to get him! He has the craziest laugh, if he starts laughing you can't help but laugh along. And he sings all the time and tells jokes and is always positive and energetic. Just what a guide should be! We get a new guide when we continue south through Thailand and into Malaysia.
For an appetizer for dinner we had spring rolls and sweet chili sauce and they were the best spring rolls I have had in
my entire life. Maybe partially because we were hungry, but they were spectacular!
On the 19th we went bamboo rafting, my favorite part of the trip. There were 6 of us on each raft (so 2 rafts total) and basically they were just a bunch of pieces of bamboo tied together. We stood up for most of it but had to sit down on some of the rapids. We of course had some epic battles and almost sunk each others' rafts a couple times! By the end we were completely soaked, but it was tons of fun! We also saw a poisonous water snake which was pretty neat! Then back to Chiang Mai for a group dinner.
The 20th we slept in and relaxed and then took the train back to Bangkok.
Fruit in Thailand is amazing! I think I've already said this, but I love it! I have amazing pineapple every day and often other fruit too. Seriously one of the best parts! There's also really good fresh-squeezed orange juice. No sugar or anything, just the juice. The oranges are really small here and taste different, but they're still oranges and the juice is delicious!
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doug eby
non-member comment
wow
Wow - your adventures just continue to sound amazing. Soak it all in!! It is so great that you are sharing all this with us as you go along - and that you can capture all of this for yourself long term. Glad all is going well so far.