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Published: February 4th 2009
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Polly:
After our minivan ride from Pai to Chiang Mai, we jumped on the next bus to Chiang Rai. It was very cheap, but with five seats per row, was also very intimate, especially after four hours.
In the spa in Pai, Ross had cunningly acquired a copy of the 2007 edition of the Lonely Planet for Northern Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, & Vietnam. So, on arrival we had a look in our new book for some accommodation. We didn't plan to stay in Chiang Rai for long, but saw it as a pathway into Laos. Therefore, we decided to pick the guesthouse furthest away from the town, 'Akha's River Cottage' for some peace and quiet. It seemed that everyone else had had the same plan, because after a ten-minute tuk-tuk ride, we arrived to discover it was full. 'Lonely Planet Syndrome' strikes again! The owner recommended nearby 'Chian's Guesthouse', which turned out to be just perfect.
Chian's is located in a quiet little street about 20 minutes walk from Chiang Rai town centre. It's got an icy cold pool, and a fairly relaxed atmosphere. We paid 300 Baht for a spacious room with air-conditioning (which we mainly used
for heating). The guesthouse food was outstanding and really cheap, so we mostly ate there as well.
On Tuesday we wandered into town to get some administrative jobs done, stopping at a Scandinavian bakery for breakfast on the way. I got some mug-shots done for my Laos & Cambodia visa applications, we found the post office and exchanged some money to US dollars to cover the visa fees.
Throughout the morning we'd been inquiring about a day's trekking to some of the surrounding hill-tribes, something we'd put off whilst in Pai or Chiang Mai. We were a bit deterred by the prices that some of the agencies were asking us to pay to basically go for a walk, but also by some of the horror stories of large groups of 'farang' (foreign tourists) swamping the tiny tribal villages. One of the tours on offer was actually to a 'pretend' village, set up just for the tourists. Some unethical entrepreneur had shipped in a cross-section of tribes from neighbouring Burma and was paying them to do their tribal thing for the 'farang'!
In the end we had a chat to some dude in sunglasses who made no sense
whatsoever. He was very enthusiastic, and offered us the cheapest price so far, 800 Baht each for a day in the jungle. He promised lots of walking and an authentic experience, but that was about all we understood. Ross and I looked at each other quizzically, but we were both a bit confused. He couldn't show us any pictures, or show us on the map where we would be trekking, but just kept chuckling behind his shades. We managed to establish that we'd be doing plenty of walking and that our demands for 'no more elephant riding' had been understood, so we thought, 'What the heck!' I didn't think anyone else would be so stupid to book with this crazy fella, so I thought we might get quite an exclusive experience!
Feeling like we'd had a successful morning I rewarded myself with a Swensens double scoop of 'chocolate chunk brownie' and 'chocolate cheesecake & cookie dough' ice-cream with hot chocolate sauce, and Ross had a coffee. At the coffee house we picked up a leaflet on the area, and were intrigued by some 'secret' Buddha caves about 8km away. These were in fact so secret that we had a
Maekok River...
...View from the 'Buddha Cave' real struggle getting a ride there, as none of the taxi or sawngthaew drivers had heard of it!
We eventually found the cave, which consisted of a monastery and monks' quarters hidden within a towering limestone rock face, nearby the river. The monks seemed surprised to see 'farang' approaching, but greeted us pleasantly and let us have a look around the caves. They were full of Buddha statues in various positions, each representing different days of the week. It was a peaceful setting, but not much more to see than that. We weren't supposed to take any photos, but we managed to sneak a few!
Then it was back to Chian's for another tasty, cheap dinner before turning in early in preparation for our trek.
We were picked up in a sawngthaew with a driver and our guide, Marco (also known as John...), and given a lift to the riverside boat pier, the following morning. We took a one hour boat ride in a long-tail, with many other tourists, to a huge elephant camp, and were starting to feel that we'd been sucked into a tourist trap. They were selling drinks and trinkets at tourist prices and
charging 500 Baht for the pleasure of having a photo taken with one of their several giant pythons! Fortunately, just as Ross was starting to despair about another two hours on the back of an elephant, Marco took the two of us aside and ushered us into a private boat to go further up the river to the National Park, from where we started to hike. It was the beginning of another fantastic adventure...
Marco, originally from Burma, had fled to Thailand in 1995 and had spent most of his time here living in various Lahu and Akha hill-tribes. He spoke many of the languages and knew many of the villagers. His English was fairly good, but at times I think he forgot which language he was speaking in! He was charismatic, and kept us entertained all day, with tails of his journey from Burma, the opium trade in the Golden Triangle, and daily life in the villages.
After a one hour hike uphill, we reached the first Lahu village. It was very basic, but with a few government-funded solar panels providing power. There were puppies and chickens running around everywhere. The kids, who don't go to school,
were setting off bangers in anticipation of the Chinese New Year, while the elders were weaving or building. One of Marco's friends made us a lunch of noodles, which we ate on the deck of his bamboo hut, whilst absorbing the incredible views of the valley below us.
After lunch we walked an hour further through the jungle to an Akha village. It seemed a bit more developed, and more set up for the tourist, with a couple of trinket stalls and a bar. It begs the question of whether the money generated from tourism is good because it helps the villages progress, or whether it's destroying their authenticity and the customs of tribal life?
After a much needed iced tea we hiked up to Huikaew Waterfall, then out of the forest and through a tea plantation. At the base of the tea plantation, Marco saw an old friend from his village in Burma. She invited us in and offered us a cup of tea. After lighting a fire inside her home she boiled some water, then fried the green tea leaves in a pan, before preparing the brew. Outside, her husband was making a bamboo door for
their currently doorless home. We sat in the sun and enjoyed our tea, with children, chickens and more puppies running around.
We thanked the family before setting off, back up another hill towards another much smaller tribal village, then down hill, along a long mud track to a main road. Here we stopped at a large hot water pool (fed by another hot-spring), where we soaked our weary legs, and watched some of the locals boil eggs. The sawngthaew driver then reappeared and chauffeured us back to Chian's Guesthouse.
It was a fantastic day, and exceeded all our expectations. It totally humbles you, seeing and meeting these people who are living in such primitive conditions, but so happy, and so generous. Marco had explained that the people don't really care about money, as long as they can be self-sufficient.
On Thursday, our last day in Thailand, we walked to the main road, jumped on a sawngthaew to the bus station, and took the next bus to Chiang Khong, the border town. The bus cost 65 Baht and took only two hours. We then shared a tuk-tuk with a Dutch guy, and drove through the town and down
A lovely piggy...
...Sadly, I think this was to be the Chinese New Year sacrifice to the river. There we got our passports stamped, before bordering a long-tail for the short trip across the Mekong River to the town of Huay Xai, in Laos.
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