Trekking, Prostitutes and Paradise

Trekking

After the trauma of crossing the border from Laos to Thailand I couldn't handle doing much more planning so I booked us on a trek for three days. The trek was by far the easiest of all treks physically but the constant complaining of some Dutch and Irish women put a damper on it.

The trek began with squeezing 11 of us (the 2 of us, 2 Dutch women, 2 Irish girls, 2 boys from Essex, UK, a couple from Paris, and a lad from Manchester) into the back of a big rickshaw then driving two and a half hours to the north of Thailand near the Myanmar border. It was not the most comfortable but enjoyable nonetheless because of the beautiful scenery. The first thing we did was hop on our elephant Mochamae, a young male elephant. He was such a good elephant and halfway down I was able to climb on its neck and ride it the rest of the way. I felt very secure as his ears applied some serious pressure to keep my legs in place. The ride was much better for me than in Kanchanaburi. Next up was the cage of doom. We had to cross a river in a wrought iron cage that was attached to a zip line. Thankfully we made it safe across. After lunch the hike began. Moria and I of course were at the head of the class. We were also in the minority of being non-smokers and had to wait while the people with black lungs caught up to us. Our guide, Jungle Boy, had fun teasing us by throwing cow and elephant dung on us. We loved it. My favorite part of the trek was when a girl from Cork, Ireland said, "we've done 10 minutes how much more do you think is left." I thought Americans were supposed to be the lazy ones. Anyway, the trek was lovely. It involved hopping, skipping and jumping over rivers, logs and stones. The climb to the village was beautiful because we were able to see the jungle we walked out of and the mountains surrounding us. When we arrived at the village we were suprised to find a shower. This was a deluxe tour. There was a lovely vegetarian meal and after dinner the children of the village gave us a special performance. The best part of their song and dance was a little boy who couldn't have been more than three. He threw a fit because the other children wouldn't let him be in the show. Finally, the gave him his way and dressed him in the traditional garb of the village (I can't remember what tribe they were I want to say Karen). He stood in the front and as the others who had probably done this a million times before for other tourists did their coreographed dance he added his own flare: singing out of time, dancing out of sync and walking wherever he saw fit. It melted my heart. I love Southeast Asian babies.

We woke up the next morning had a huge breakfast and then headed off on the second leg of our trek. The first bit was an uphill stretch for about 30 minutes. No problem for us as we are strong women. The Dutch women said that if they had known about this they would have never signed up. One of the other girls from Cork either thought she was going to vomit or did vomit. I can't remember which. Then it was downhill all the way to two waterfalls. The first although lovely had nothing on the second. The second was about 25 meters high and had three different shoots for the water to fall. One of them even provided enough room for you to get behind and watch the water rush down. I loved it. So did Moria. Then it was back on the trail for some more hopping, skipping and jumping over logs, rivers and rocks. At one point Jungle Boy played a joke on some of our trekkers, Moria included, and took them over the much more difficult path that required more balance. Two Frenchman that I think fried their brains on drugs didn't find it amusing and threw rocks at Jungle Boy. I was pissed. So was Jungle Boy. He then rushed us to the next camp and ignored all of his trekkers. He was ok in a few hours because Moria, with her love for Asian men, healed his pain. Actually, she just took the cookies that he gave her and smiled. There was a boozy party that evening with our fellow trekkers and we learned all about their love lives and home lives and everything in between.

The next morning it was a brief trek to the white water rafting portion of our journey. We got sketchy directions from a Thai man I could barely understand than hopped on to the raft in the raging water. We barely paddled at all. It was kind of amusing how little effort was involved. We did get stuck on rocks a few times, but overall it was a breeze. Then we bamboo rafted to lunch and hopped back on the rickshaw to go to Chang Mai. The ride back was painless and was full of song provided by the Dutch women. They were fun. And good singers.

Prostitutes
On the second night of our trek the lads from Essex got to talking about their experiences with prostitutes. I think I was one of the people that was more shocked about this but I found the world of prostitution, primarily Thai, fascinating. Tom, the younger of the two, got the conversation going when he said something about a bar that is notorious in Chang Mai for getting prostitutes. He lost his virginity to one when he was 15 in Amsterdam and said that 90% of his partners were prostitutes. I found this sad for a number of reasons. Then he explained how he goes into a bar, figures out which girl he likes, sometimes he has to discuss it with the friend he is with in case they are interested in the same girl, and then decides a price (usually $25USD/24 hrs) and they head back to his hotel. He says there is barely any talk to the women except to tell her what he likes or what to do. She in turn does what he asks, falls all over him and pretends to love him as it is a business and when men think the women love them they are inclined to give them more cash. He claims to never fall for this trick, but one of his friends did and kept a woman for almost a month. Tom said that only once did a woman start to shed a tear and he paid her even though he wasn't serviced and let her go on her way. Then Nathan came into the conversation and he was far from as candid as Tom. He actually didn't want to share his conquests with prostitutes because I think he realized that would make the ladies less interested in him and he viewed himself as a ladies man. He did eventually open up and tell us about how he is just sowing his wild oats now so that when he does fall in love and settle down he will have gotten it out of his system. I do applaud them for being so honest and explaining to us how it works and the fact that in any relationship they are in they do tell their partners how many prostitutes they have slept with. I will say that I do support the legalization of prostitution but it still shocks me at how many men go to them. In their 10 days in Thailand had 5 or 6 prostitutes. I think that verges on the line of excessive.

Paradise
We then took two overnight buses to get to Ko Pha Ngan, an island off the east coast of Thailand. We thought we were booking a place that was for all the hip kids and whenever we told a fellow traveller we were going their they told us that it was just an overcrowded island with kids who like to do drugs. We were nervous as this is not our scene. Luckily we booked our bungalow on the generator side of the island and stayed in a beautiful bungalow with a wrap-around porch with the only noise the crashing of the waves. It was heavenly. After four days of lounging around doing nothing but sunbathing, swimming and reading, I think my body has lost all the benefits of getting sick and trekking. This was a bit more expensive than I thought it would be but it was so nice to have peace and quiet and relaxation. You should try it: Mai Pen Rai Bungalows. We are leaving tonight for a week in Malaysia. The 7 hour ferry ride should be interesting!

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