human zoos and fish in a hole

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This must be brief ... as we've mentioned before, TMITs have little tolerance for waiting.

Yesterday we, oh so bravely, rented a mini-motorbike and took to the hills.

Our itinerary included a fish cave, waterfalls and the nearby karen village. And so off we went into the misty morning (with our new friend Yaig yelling from behind his bar "Chok Dee Goose"), a little unsteadily, a little nippy, cameras in hand.

The fish cave (now I wish I had taken a picture) was, quite literally, a whole in a rock looking down into a wee stream in which fish swam -- under the rock.. but the grounds were pretty nonetheless.

The waterfall was a waterfall, but pretty and Thai.

The village ... well, to begin with we're following these signs with little hand-drawn cartoons of longneck villagers (you've all seen the National Geographic on these cats ... with the gold coils around their necks and legs) and we finally make it to where the concrete ends and this sandy rock "road" stretches out before us and we sit and think on it for a bit. To drive or walk? We have no idea how far it is, but it doesn't look motorbike-friendly by any means. Eventually we opt for the bike and TMIT daftly navigates the mile or so of what appears to be more of a dry riverbed than road. We're happy we've chosen door #2.

That is until we're approaching the entrance to the village (circumvented by concession stands and a string of Thais manning them with less expression on their faces than Malachai in Children of the Corn). Suddenly there's a strong down grade ... staying steadily steep for about 30ft. ... and we, dogged and stupidly American, carry on full-force and, of course, dump the bike before we're even half-way down. No majoy injuries. Just utter humiliation. No one flinched. No one laughed. Not even the slightest mockery or pitiful smile or nothin'. Deservedly. Stupid farang.

Anyway, it carried on downhill from there ... turns out, another thing the Lonely Planet forgot to mention, there is a 250B entry free -- which after the spill on the bike and everything else, how could we not pay -- followed by one of the most uncomfortable twenty minutes I've had in awhile. Just walking through these people's homes and tourists gawking (which reminds me of this sign I saw recently, walking through Pai, of a trek being offered that was guaranteed "Not Touristic") and there's a stream running through it filled with plastic and sewage and naked babies crying and it was just awful. National Geographic sure cleans things up.

The ride back, however, was pleasantly uneventful and filled with peaceful rice patties and distant mountains. A warm bowl of kao sawy, a chang with our buddy Yaig, and a stroll around the night market later, things are all oookay.

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Comments

[momscat]

what's chang?

[mongoose]

chang is thai beer.