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Published: June 15th 2006
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It's been a busy few days since I have been on here. Right after I wrote last I went for my first traditional Thai massage, for about 4 dollars Canadian you can get a one hour massage. The massage was not quite what I expected, the Thai lady who was close to half my size pretty much put me in all these different WWF wrestling type moves then used her knees or elbows to press different spots on your body. The massage was an experience for sure, but I definitely would not call it relaxing by any means.
After the massage I went out to a Temple called Wat U Mong, this was a really cool Buddhist temple about 4 km outside of Chaing Mai. The temple had a cave system with the walls and ceiling of the filled with all different traditional paintings. The reason I went to the temple was because every sunday afternoon they have a Monk that will speak with foreigners about different world topics. I have seen many Buddhist temples and still do not know much about the Buddhism in generally so I was hoping he was going to talk about the Buddhist faith. The
talked ended up being more about meditation which was also very interesting. He explained to us that being able to stop the brain from thinking was one of the highest forms of enlightenment, which takes some people anywhere from 20 years to multiple lifetimes to achieve. He also explain that all of the worlds problems are caused because most people think to much. I am not sure if I agree with him but it was a interesting discuss to listen to.
The next day I signed up to go on a three day jungle trek through a few mountains in northern Thailand. There were lots of different Treks to choose from so after talking with different people I decided on a more remote non touristy trek. So 11 of us left at 9:30 on Monday morning and spent about 2.5 hours on the back of a pick up truck on our way to Thailand's Northern Jungle. After bumping around in the back of the truck for a good half hour off the highway, the truck finally stopped and our guide ToTo yells time for the jungle. I was expecting it to be rough but man oh man it was
intense. We got to the drop off area at around 12:30 ish and then hiked for about 2 hours through thick jungle to our first stop a waterfall. Our guide ToTo lead the way singing lots of different Thai hiking song. The hiking trail was honestly just wide enough for one person to fit through with our guide ToTo pulling out his machete quite often to clear enough room for us to pass through. So we cooled off in the waterfall then hiked another 3 hours up to our camp for the first night. The hiking was a lot harder then I thought it would be, it was like over 30 degree Celsius, and for the first two days it was all up steep steep hills.
Our camp the first night was absolutely beautiful, it was a small clearing off one of the trail close to the top of one of the mountain peaks. There was a small hut that was used as a kitchen, and then a larger hut which was our sleeping area. The view was amazing, and it was nice because as we got higher up in the hills it cooled down a little. ToTto our guide cooked up some really tasty Thai food for dinner, then after dinner we all sat around the campfire and got to know each other better. We played some funny name games, then ended up just telling lots of different travel stories.
The next day we go up early eat some breakfast then hit the trail again. We hiked about 3 hours with most of it being up hill until we reached the elephant camp. The elephants had little benches tied around their back but since we were an odd number I was the lucky one who had to ride bareback. I more or less sat with my knees behind her ears with my bum on the her neck, then grabbing the her big head squishy, hairy head for balance. Where I sat is normally where the trainer sat, so not only did I have to ride pretty much on it's head I had to learn a few thai words and act as the "driver". The elephant seems really happy and pretty much listened to everything that I said. It wasn't like we were riding in a circle around the camp we were actually riding down a path to another village. We followed a stream for most of the way , and every time we crossed over the water our elephant decided to suck up a big drink and gives us a good shower. We rode the elephants for about an hour and a half which was more then long enough for me as I did not have the most comfortable seat. Near the end I actually slide further forward and sat on the elephants head with my feet dangling in front of her noise, which was much more comfortable. I got some pretty good pictures that I will post on the other website when I am done writing this.
After the elephant ride we hiked another 2 hours, this time it was mostly down hill, to a village tribe where we were going to spend the night. Again ToTo our guide cooked us a great Thai dinner and we spent the rest of the day walking around the village, hanging out with all the little kids. When the sun went down the children from the school came out all dressed up and did some of the traditional tribal dances, then sang us a bunch of Thai songs. It was neat to sit back and watch it all but right when they finished singing they asked us to sing a song. So the 11 of us from all over (2 from Spain, 2 from Germany, 2 from Quebec, 2 from Holland, 1 from England and 1 from USA) tried to figure out what songs we all knew, after about 5 minutes of discussion we just sang a couple kids songs that everyone knew the words too. Apparently we weren't all that good because the tribe dancer had a good laugh at us.
Once the children went to bed the older crowd came over with a guitar and they sang us a few Thai songs, then me an another guy on the Trek took turns playing guitar and singing songs for the everyone. That was definitely one of my more favourite parts of the trips, it was fun to teach these teenagers some of our more popular songs while they taugh us some of their Thai songs.
The last day we got up and had to hike probably another 2.5 to 3 hours to a rafting camp. Here we ate a quick lunch and in groups of 3 or 4 hopped on rafts and had a relaxing two hour trip down a small little river with the beautiful mountain views in the background. The rafting was the last part of the trip then we hopped back into the back of the pick up truck and headed back to Chaing Mai.
Through out the trek we stopped for breaks or lunch at different hill tribes, in all I saw 4 different tribes. In a way it was really sad, most of these people left Burma many years ago and found land in the Mountains built huts and farmed vegetables and fruits on the land around. They are just now tribe by tribe finally getting official Thailand ID cards, which means they can finally attend Thai schools. So the kids that go to the Thai schools ended up getting educated and never come back to the tribe again. So then the older generations are left to slowly die away. In about 50- 60 years most of these tribes will no longer exist. The first tribe to get the ID cards ten years ago now almost looks like a ghost town.
After we got back from the trek most of the people were catching buses or train and were on to their next destination. I really like the guest house I am staying in so I decided to stay a few more days. Last night I went out to a really cool pub on the river with a few people who stayed in Chaing Mai after the trek. They had a band of about 12 Thai's who could pretty much played any song you requested. It was an extremely talented group, they constantly changed instruments, and I think each person in the band took a turn singing. I even enjoyed a few of the Thai songs they sang.
Well that's it for now here is the website for the picture I posted from the Trek and the temple:
http://josasia.myphotoalbum.com/
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Mom
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Amazing Adventure
Hi Jos What a great story and adventure!! Your writing is getting really excellent!! I am glad that you are having so much fun. Cory's grad is coming up on the 28th. It seems like yesterday that you were singing at yours. How time flies. It is wonderful that you are able to go on this adventure now when you are young and healthy with no commitments!! You are very wise to use the opportunity. On monday we when to T.O. for Chystal's grad and to meet her parents aunt and Nana. He was a really nice get together and Cystal was very happy. We missed you but these separations make our time together more appreciated. Thanks for keeping in touch so often, It really does put my mind at ease. Keep the e-mails coming. Love Mom