Advertisement
Published: November 20th 2008
Edit Blog Post
So..... back to the sophistication (and easy internet access) that is Chiang Mai.
I was going to complete an entry about our Chiang Mai Loy Krathong experience and the visit to the Elephant sanctuary, but after the last few days up on the Myanmar border it all seems a bit tame and uneventful....... even the footage of fireworks being let off among the crowds.
I'll try and post a YouTube video of the elephants on the IllegalCombatAnt channel though.
The intrepid eight set off to Mae Hong Son on a proper aircraft with propellors and everything. Just about enough time to get served a bit of sickly cake and a plastic of orange juice and we were there. The airport there is right in the middle of town. A town not really any bigger than Nailsworth. Perhaps the campaign for N.I.A. should be re-kindled😊 Even though we only travelled 250km, by road the journey would have taken the best part of a day. This is very hilly country and when the roads aren't going round staggering bends you're in low gear because of the gradient.
We were met off the plane by Babs, a really nice
german woman who runs
'Sang Tong Huts'. We weren't really sure what to expect given that the accommodation is called 'Huts', there's no television, no internet access and we had been advised that we would have to 'like dogs'. We needn't have worried, the 'Huts' were like something out of a Vogue Interiors magazine. Our bathroom alone was 3 times the size of many places we have stayed in the past. Babs must have some sort of radar for the guests she accepts, the few other guests there, although German 😉) were the sweetest people. They never once rushed down early to bag the sun-loungers round the pool. Oh, did I forget to mention there was a lovely swimming pool? The best place we've stayed so far.
First night there we just ate in at a long refectory table and were served a really nice meal, veggies catered for very well.................... only problem.... there was enough to feed the entire Thai border patrol. I expect the dogs did well out of it though.
Next day we went down to the river to grab a couple of long-tailed boats down to the Myanmar border and visit a couple of
hill-tribe villages, including one long-neck tribe.
I admit to a few misgivings about the tribe visits, there are arguments to be made for NOT going to what could be viewed as a 'tourist attraction' that prolongs what is undoubtedly an uncomfortable life for the women.
But life isn't black and white in SE Asia, you have to get used to things being various shades of grey. I came away very comfortable with our decision to go.
Many of the hill tribes people are refugees from Myanmar, denied Thai citizenship, despite having fled a regime that doesn't want them, and indeed persecutes them. The visits at least enable them to have a reasonable standard of living while waiting for the Thai government to deliberate about their status as citizens. Meanwhile the tourist baht has funded a school for the children and a health centre. As I said, many issues here are far from cut and dried.
By now I've lost track of what day it is, so next we went to visit a couple of other hill tribes.
First was a Lahu settlement, untouched by buddhist philosophy. These people are animists so there are spirits everywhere.
We were
served a refreshing, hot 'tea-like' drink and treated to a musical performance by an old man who obviously fulfilled some shamanic purpose in the village. The instruments cannot be played outside the hut.
At some point during the ceremony we
think Deloris may have become his fourteenth wife.
Whether 'twas the tea, the trancey music or Mr Shaman's movement, I can't be sure, but my consciousness was certainly different after the visit.
Opium entered the conversation several times during the visit, I was a little tempted to ask them to put up or shut up, but out of respect for something or other, I didn't.
I want to be able to come back.
Then we went to a Lisu village. Much more prosperous, much less interesting. Women rushing out to sell us things, powered machinery. A real contrast.
Off to Lod cave.
I now know how David Attenborough feels. The cave is enormous, stretching about 7kms through the hills ( I think). For a lot of that a river runs through it so we took to bamboo rafts to traverse one cathedral-sized cavern to the next. Stalactites and Stalagmites
everywhere.
We reached the exit
to the cave system at approaching sundown. We were greeted by the truly awesome (correct terminology) sight of hundreds of thousands of swifts returning to their night-time roosts
at exactly the same time as hundreds of thousands of bats leave their day-time ones. The only thing that could have topped it was seeing a Cave Racerer snake grabbing bats as they left. Predictably for this trip, that was exactly what we did see.
Fortuitously, Lod caves are a fair drive from anywhere so the Swift/Bat interchange was witnessed by just the eight of us. Mind you, we'd faffed about in the caves for so long that the Tilley lamps had run out of fuel by the time we had to trek back uphill for half an hour through the pitch black forest. Luckily one or two of us had worn white. Still, it made for an 'interesting' walk. I have some bruises to prove it.
I'm truly exhausted. I need a couple of days R & R in Chiang Mai before we hit the beaches down south.
As has become customary on these trips, we've already met a couple of kindred spirits. Welcome to the caravan Jessie
(sp?) and Cooper. Maybe Ipswich, Mass. will get added to the itinerary 😉))
Oh dear, I've just had word that the remnants of Tropical storm 'Noul' is depositing vast amounts of rain down there. Oh well, sometimes life isn't so sweet. We'll make the most of it though.
Lots of love,
Mr and Mrs I.C.A.
Well the caves were amazing managed to cover things that make me shiver boats, bats, being in a bloody caves oh joy! Just knew the lights weren't going to last but was so grateful they lasted whilst we were in the caves. How the guides find their way around I have no idea. But as the day had started with the guy with the gun wanting his picture taken with me and lots of women with stiff necks and tea in a hut with a shaman well I guess I'd just run out of things to sweat about.
Jessie and Cooper were fab just wonderful warm people they had done the mahout course, oh forgot to mention I walked through an elephant dung river........sure there is lot's I've forgotten which is of course just me being me, daydreaming and
believing......
Advertisement
Tot: 0.103s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 7; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0517s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Dee
non-member comment
Enjoy reading your adventures; like best the swift/bat exchange, and the long neck children. Safe travels!