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Published: November 23rd 2009
Another day in Chiang Mai… I went on a trekking tour yesterday. Quite an adventure. The program for the day included visiting orchid/butterfly farm, going to a local/tribe village, walking through the jungle to a beautiful waterfall (swimming in it if you really, really wanted), visit to another local village, riding elephants, eating lunch, more tribal village experience and finally, the conclusion of the day: white water rafting and bamboo rafting. The whole deal was 1200baht, about 35-40$. What can I say about this experience…Let me start by saying that yesterday was really cold (Thai standard) and cloudy in Chiang Mai and surrounding areas (It is wintery here and temperatures were in low 20s….not too bad to walk around, but pretty terrible to swim , later about that part)
Butterfly/orchid farm…Butterfly part was …unimpressive. I enjoyed the Bronx Zoo butterfly conservatory a lot more…here it was very small and butterflies were rather small and dark (not the bright beautiful creatures with a wingspan of a few feet you might have imagined) The orchid part did make up for that however. The day was cloudy and gray, but even though it was an absolutely stunning sight. Those parasites are really amazing. The
variation in color is really unbelievable. I attempted to take a few pictures, but I am afraid that my poor photography skills cannot relate the real beauty of the flowers.
Tribal villages...Very poor…this is the first thing that comes to mind when you see them. It is rather depressing to see bamboo huts with dirt floors. It is even more depressing to see little kids playing around. We were allowed to walk around and even to see inside a few houses, take some pictures of women working…(the guess is, that those people are being paid for their inconvenience, the fraction of what we have paid for the experience of course) Exploitation of the poor at its best, real human zoo…I have rather mixed feelings about tribe visiting…On one side it is obvious that the income from tourists like me provides them with food…on the other…I wonder why this kind of tourism even exists…These people are not lost tribes of the Amazon that still live in the stone age…they don’t have any peculiar customs (having 5 wives does not count), nor do they dress in any wondrous way (yes, I know, the longneck tribe from Burma can qualify here, but…). Why
do we (westerners) like to see them? What is it about poverty that is so fascinating? Does it make us feel better about what we have? Makes us feel good about ourselves when we purchase a cheap, handmade bracelet from tribal woman, makes us feel, like we have actually contributed, improved someone’s life….(unlike buying any type of goods in own country, that is likely made by the some poor sole in a third world who probably makes less then that tribal woman) Ok, I feel like I am going a little political here, and this is not what the blog is about, so, moving on…
Elephant ride….scary. The creature is large and sitting on top of it is rather unsettling…Oh, you have to step on elephants head and neck when climbing onto your seat…very uncomfortable feeling….After settling into your seat it feels better, but the ride itself is bumpy….up and down, up and down….
White water rafting…interesting and would be refreshing if it was a typical Thailand day outside…without overbearing heat it was a bit cold, but bearable and fun (do have to work together to steer the raft in needed direction). We were provided with lifejackets and helmets…therefore no
pictures (helmet is not exactly my look)
Bamboo rafting…a lot more interesting than white water rafting…let me explain…All the pictures for current tour and some others that I have found on the internet shows a couple of Thai girls on a hot summer day sitting on the long, narrow bamboo raft laughing, while a guy stands behinds them and steers the raft….Well, the average Thai woman is under 5’ tall and well under 100lb, men are bigger but not by much. Now, it was six of us meant to ride on the raft. All six are Americans, which already tells you that we were much bigger than the average Thai…three guys out of the group were rather large…over 6’ and in higher 200 lb….yeah, the bamboo raft is expected to carry perhaps a few hundred pounds without totally sinking…So you can imagine the picture…gray cloudy day, a bit breezy on the shore, and you don’t really want to get in the water…and here we are, herded on to the raft…trying to stand, but it is dangerous, the raft (or you) can topple over at any moment (it is rather narrow and unstable), so we are told to sit on the
raft…well with all the laws of physics…the raft was about a foot under the surface and we with it being pushed by the native down the river….By the end of our ride (short, not more then 10-15 min) the girl in front of me turned blue and was shaking so hard, I thought she was having seizures (quite a sight, when even a slightest move tilts the raft to a dangerous angle)…Disembarking was unremarkable (standing knee deep in the murky water with unknown things lurking around does not count), however, none of us got “bring a change of clothe with you” memo…we did all the rafting mostly dressed (who wants a bamboo splinter in the bikini covered butt? ) so the end of the tour was marked by an hour ride back to prospective hotels in wet clothe in the back of tuk-tuk. Unforgettable experience….
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galina
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Olga, I can't wait for your next adventure!