Advertisement
Published: April 30th 2012
Edit Blog Post
Umphang
A refugee camp for over 15,000 Burmese people After all the ruins and temples we decided that a big dose of the great outdoors was just what the doctor ordered. Keen to avoid the crowds of tourists heading to Chiang Mai we decided to step off the well-trodden backpacker route, and head out to the village of Umphang, in the west of Thailand, very close to the Burmese border. The only obstacle was a long minibus journey, followed by4 hours in the back of a songthaew (a pickup truck with benches in the back) on the cliff hugging and travel sickness inducing “Sky Highway” – 164 km and 1,219 bends! We sat crammed in (Cel) and hanging off the back (Jonny) with a varied mix of people from different tribes and ethnicities – and no other tourists in sight. The majority were Burmese refugees, which we didn’t realise until they were dropped off at a large refugee camp about halfway through the journey.
We embarked on a 3 day trek, starting with a morning of rafting. Not much work for us, but our three guides paddled their socks off for most of the morning, other than for a quick stop for a cup of ginger tea from a
Umphang
The scenic Sky Highway natural and very abundant drinking vessel. Although most of the morning was very sedate, there was one moment that got our hearts racing. As we drifted down the river under an overhanging tree branch, whilst Cel was taking ANOTHER picture, we suddenly found ourselves literally face to face with a very large and very poisonous green snake that was hanging down from one of the branches. Everyone ducked and held their breath, but when we were clear of the danger, we all burst out laughing in relief!
After a picnic rice lunch, the rest of our day was a hard slog dragging ourselves up and down the river bank to reach our campsite for the night. For one person, the trek was made a fair bit harder by having to carry all of our things in one rucksack…and it wasn’t Cel. That evening we tucked into a well needed and enormous feast cooked by our two guides. The next morning we set off to explore the nearby Namtok Thi Lo Su 3 tiered waterfall and were fortunate enough to have it all to ourselves for a refreshing morning dip. The water was freezing cold and the current in the
pools was very strong, but it was an amazing feeling to swim so close to the powerful waterfall, and to be there completely on our own.
Our afternoon hike was a lot easier than the previous day, but no less hot, following the river to a local Karen village we were staying with for the night. Our accommodation for the evening was the village school’s only classroom. We had to wait for the children to finish for the day before we could go in, and be out again before the first class of the day at 8am. That evening our guides rustled up another delicious meal in the school’s kitchen, and we spent the evening drinking “happy water” (Thai rice whiskey), learning a few Thai words and phrases and challenging each other with puzzles. Time for more answers on a postcard, or in a blog comment. (See the picture of two triangles to start your challenge)
After an extremely chilly night surrounded by blackboards and school books, we had what we thought was going to be a fun and relaxing morning elephant ride back to the river. However, there was nothing fun or relaxing about the experience as
we spent over 3 hours in a wooden basket being bashed and bruised and constantly fearing that we would fall off. All the time we were clinging on, we wished we could have just walked with the guides instead.
Our lift back to the town dropped us off in time to be picked up for the return journey on the “Sky Highway” which was just as crammed as the first time, but with more snotty nosed kids from whom Cel picked up a nice cold. Tired from the trek, we spent the next 2 nights relaxing in Mae Sot, where we checked out some of its temples, amusing signs and tasty food, including some delicious Burmese curries and surprisingly good ravioli.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.089s; Tpl: 0.022s; cc: 12; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0461s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb