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Days 12, 13 and 14
Yes! I am really unsure of the days now, but did figure it out that it is Thursday. The trekking in the bush would make you quite envious Robert. It took me a while to figure out why it all felt so surreal and gloriously familiar and today I realised it was because of the amazing times I had in my 20’s and 30’s tramping in the bush and staying out in the wops with few amenities and having to make do. Well that will give you an indication of how it felt for us except that there were some very definite differences.
The heat was our biggest enemy. It took your breath away and the perspiration just ran from my body. In fact I had a pee at 11am on the first morning and it was 4.00am the following day before I had another one. The perspiration dripped from my nose and head and got in my eyes and fogged up my glasses so most of the trek was done with them off. The clothes drenched. The bush was pretty much like our own except that it was hard to define the track
and the bamboo grew here in abundance and suffocated everything around it. At times the bamboo was so thick we had to get down on our hands and knees to go under it. My first death defying fall was with bamboo incidentally. We had stopped for a drink break and I was dying to sit down and just next to me was a fallen length of 15 centimetre diameter bamboo. I tested it first and then sat down only to have it break instantaneously, without a word of a lie, after I had been sitting on it for about 5 minutes. I fell backwards and was caste and so had to get some help to get up. But the scary bit was that a metre further back and it might have been no Lynnie as there was a fairly steep drop into a gully. So much for the clumsy old lady trying to prove herself to the group eh.
The two guides that travelled with us were great. One, Dolf, stayed with me either in front or behind me most of the time. He helped me with my pack when I couldn’t get low enough to get under the
bamboo and he helped me when even the stick I had did not stop me from being unable to negotiate some of the downhill track. The next time I needed more than his help was at the water. Actually, I tell a lie. I had decided, as you do, that I was going to do this trek on my own merits totally, with no helping hand needed, never, ever. Hmm! I certainly had to eat humble pie on more than one occasion, not that anyone else knew that. The heat got to me, and the lack of sugar got to me and the terrain was less friendly than one would have liked and consequently I no longer felt that steady on my feet.
We got to the river and I decided that I should accept the help when it was handed to me. So I stepped into the mud, but instead of it being solid it was squelchy and I went in up to my ankle. Consequently, I tipped and rolled and fell yet again at the feet of my fellow travellers. Yes! I laughed. What else was there to do and I was not hurt except maybe my
pride at being the ditz.
I had to say that this has been a truly rare group to travel with as I believe we have been very supportive of each other and certainly have felt the group very support of me. It that about my age or my personality? I will continue to reflect on that. LOL
The stay on the first night in the bush was with a hillside family at Akha. It was in a very basic bamboo hut 8 foot by 15foot raised off the ground, with a thatched roof and bamboo floor and all eight of us with our own mat, blanket and mossie net slept there. The lighting was our own or for some of the night a candle was lit. In the whole village only one house had electricity and it was not available to us.
Here we had a ball with the local children, but first we had the rain. The thunder and lightning warned us the rain was coming. The toilet and shower facilities were very basic in a 2 metre square concrete block cubicle that had an Asian toilet and a hose with no hot water, for the
shower. I decided that was not for me. I had been so hot I was collecting water from the river in a bottle and pouring it over myself to try to lower my temperature about an hour before. I decided to wait for the rain and I stood in the open and waited. Emma and Casper did too. We finally got our wish as the thunder and lightning got closer and the downpour began. The temperature dropped dramatically and the wind that had not been present a moment before, howled and whistled for about one minute and then it was gone. In the meantime we had managed to get ourselves as wet as sodden sponges. Hmm to my dismay though, the following day, I was wearing wet clothes as nothing dried overnight.
Casper and I played with the village children and Emma took photos. We taught them to do the limbo under an elastic they used for their playground game. We did handstands, well actually Casper did and I held his feet and then they did it with each other. We taught them to do tiger stands and another balance that is used for break dancing, and also bridges…more
gymnastics. Casper was an absolute hit with the children, boys and girls alike, but it was the boys that had the most fun with him. We walked around the village and the children held Casper and Emmas hands and I was left out until one of the three girls with Emma conceded that she would have to hold the old ladys’ hand. The rest of the evening was spend watching and playing with the children and teaching them and the village people more English and me more Thai.
A highlight of the trip to this village was the 2 month old baby girl. She had a name like Poname and she was cute as. I had three holds and during the first two holds she pooped on me. Blah. The baby did not have any nappies on just some long pants and lots of changes later, it happened again. Anyway, I loved the baby and her mum and when I left I gave them 100 baht hoping that it was not an insult. So before we headed off from this village the mother came over and put this hat on my head and asked for us to have a
photo taken together….see the photo.
The next day we had been going about an hour in the dense forest just like we were a party with David Livingstone all those years ago, when my cell phone went off. I had it going so I could take photos. So it was Fiona wanting to know if I was okay as I had had a bit of a chest infection, I think from the malaria pills. It just seems so at odds to be in this lovely land, thinking we were nowhere near civilisation and my phone goes. LOL. Reception must have been a real anomaly as the message finally went at the end of the trip today when we came out of the bush..
After our lovely lunch of noodles prepared and packed for us by our guides, we headed on up to the waterfall which was to be our last piece of excitement for the day. Sar had said we were going to the waterfall and it would take us 30 or 40 minutes from our lunch stop but he never said how steep and torturous the climb would be. The heat like yesterday had become oppressive and
it was hard to breath and the sweat just poured off of me. The waterfall almost felt elusive and we have a false start thinking we were there only to be confronted with yet another steep hill for 10 more minutes. It doesn’t sound like much until you take into account the extra parameters we were faced with. So at the top when Sar said we could swim, I could hardly wait. Oh togs? Not an option. I was too hot and bothered to care. I immediately stripped off to bra and nickers, yes in front of everyone, and made my way to the water. One of the guides helped me over the slippery log and large rock to the edge of the water and I was in. Refreshing? Actually, cold. Oh yes and now refreshing and cold. It was not too deep but just glorious after the stifling heat of the day and the trek and even better that it was only another 15 minutes to our accommodation for the night and it was not uphill.
So we stayed here for about an hour. Casper, Emma and Harold were the only others to go in. Stuart dipped his
feet it, Tracey watched and Kathleen and Thomas were taken by Sar to the village. The other guides waited for us. So to my next leettle mishap. As I tried to get out of the water onto the log and rocks, I slipped. If for some reason I had not been able to hold on, the log that I put my foot out to rescue me, slipped beneath the little bridge and disappeared downward with me to have surely followed it. Thanks to Casper and Emma for saving my life as they held on to me and helped to haul me to safely. At the time I was not thinking it was serious like the first fall, until I realised where the log I had had my foot on had disappeared to. Oh my gosh!!!! Or actually I think it might have been a little bit more blasphemous than that! LOL. Luckily I came out of that fiasco with just a small graze on my shin and a bit of a crick of the hip.
The accommodation at our next overnight was much better than the first but also much quieter with no one to entertain us.
The hut built of the same materials as the first and built onto the side of the hill, was larger with a patio area for us to enjoy the rainstorm that came through about an hour after our arrival in the village. This time we stayed dryish. Both nights the sleeps were very uncomfortable as there is nothing to cushion the hips from the bamboo floor. Tonight promises to be a fantastic sleep with a “real” bed to sleep in. Harold is very tall and he slept opposite me and so the width of the room could have been measured by his height and mine combined as often during the night we felt each other’s’ feet forcing us to shift position, but it was another night with us all in together.
Because we had time on our hands we each had a turn sharing what the highlight of the trip had been so far and of course what the least enjoyable part had been. In part I had initiated it as one of our group had not appeared to be that happy and I was curious to know why. As it turned out she had been looking forward to
the trek, but had thought it would take place on more open ground and instead we were lucky to see much beyond our next few steps for most of the trek until as it turned out, the last day.
For me the highlight had been the trek as it did feel like we were intrepid explorers and that it felt we were back in the times when lands and cultures were still to be discovered. I think I reflected on this at the beginning. Without the intervention of the Intrepid organisation, we would not have had this amazing opportunity to be off the beaten track. The fact that I had been challenged to my limits did not dissuade me from seeing the trek and the accommodation with the hilltribe people as a highlight.
I suppose I cannot finish off talking of this trip without mentioning the cock…the rooster. LOL. Yes! It was a very bossy cock and decided to start crowing at about 4 in the morning. After listening to it, whilst lying in the most uncomfortable of beds, for about half an hour with it crowing pretty much nonstop, I decided, as I had little else to
do, that I would count the number of crows. After about 140 I decided that that was enough counts and gave up. I reckon it must have crowed at the very least 200 times and not from a distance but close to the hut and even right below us. He was a very proud cock!!
The low part as you will already know but the group didn’t and I never went into much detail, was the day I went to the Bumrungrad Hospital and retraced by steps from the beginning of Ray’s illness there and the aloneness that came from doing the first few days of this trip solo with no one local to speak to.
All in all everyone was pretty positive about their experiences so far and it was great to hear that Stuart had actually really enjoyed the bike ride of which I had too, but the trek was special and a greater challenge.
The final activity of the night after tea was the massage. It was abysmal. The lady was old and I doubt that she know how to massage and Emma and Casper were also really disappointed in theirs. We certainly discussed this afterwards and realised between us how useless they were. But the main thing is we now know the worst from the best. Great eh!!
The biggest challenge for many of the group was coping with the mosquitoes that had been most virulent in the villages and on the trek. I have to say that the Vitamin B and Flaxoil and the Malaria tablets must have done something as I had very few bites and minimal reactions but others were very affected by the pesky creatures.
Okay so this is about three pages longer than I expected it to be. We are now in Chiang Rai and will be heading by bus back to Chiang Mai in the morning. I am not sure if you will get this tonight or tomorrow. All the photos are on Harold and Emmas’ cameras so will need to source their sd cards for the best. Tomorrow we have Emma and Casper leave us as they have their own plans after this. Hopefully, they might come to the timeshare when I am there as they will still be in the area. The only one still continuing with me is Harold. Tracey, my roommate, goes back to work on Monday in Singapore.
Please note: No blog of today as only a travel and wait day. Flooding on train track so now going by bus back to Bangkok. Watch this space in a few days!!
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Deb
non-member comment
exploration
Hi Lynnie certainly sounds like you are having a great time that will provide so many memories in the years to come. How cool is it that you are there and DOING it?! It certainly is an adventure and we are so envious. Its good to hear intrepid are a good organisation and are up to their reputation. One request, please take it a little easier - with the falls etc! enough now. Much love D and J