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Right we have made it to Chiang Dao. This is pretty much as far north as we are planning to go.
The coutryside here is pretty amazing. Certainly I think it is the first time I have been to proper 'rain forest'. It is an interesting (???) fact that in the 50's 70% of Thailand was forest. By the turn of the century this had fallen to only 20% and currently the Thai government is making efforts to increase this back up to 40% over the next few decades. It is very noticeable that where we are staying there is an awful lot of new forest, as it is now illegal to fell trees which are less than 30 years old. That said even five year old vegetation is incredibly lush by western standards due to the climate being ideal for growing; the sun nearly always shines, apart from when it is raining and even then it is around 30 degrees.
We pre booked a three day trek with Chiang Dao Nest, who are a tourist company which includes a resort (maybe slightly stretching the definition, but they do have semi reliable hot running water and incredibly friendly and
helpful staff) where I am currently sat typing, with a nice cool beer! In addition to the resort and restaurants, the company organises treks which take in the fantastic scenery and also allow you to spend time in the local community. The intinerary of our three day trek was something like:
Day One
Chiang Dao market (incredibly like Sandbach market, but with slightly more unusual fruit and slightly more rudimentry DIY equipment, ie, machettes)
Elephant Riding - We were given a lift by a local mahoot and his trained elephant Soi. Apparently the locals no longer have use for elephants, so they are just involved in tourism now. He was an absolutely amazing creature, whose sole goal in life seems to be to eat as much as is possible. We were told a full grown elephant will eat 250 kg of vegetation in a single day!
River rafting on hand made bamboo rafts - If we had stayed on for 2 weeks rather than 2 hours we would have got to Bangkok!
Evening spent in a hut in a local village
Day Two
Woken by cockrels just before the first, vaguest hint of daybreak, at around 1am.
A
local guide took us to some caves, where we explored the caverns until we physically could not get any further. Health and safety would have had an absolute fit...that said they did give me a hard hat which was way too small and fell off at the hint of a strong breeze.
The trekking continued in the afternoon up to one of the local villages which was litterally on the side of a mountain. Our hut had very significant stilts keeping it level (3metres?). This was more like a hotel, we actually had an onsuite shower and toilet!! From our evening meal served on the veranda (again overselling it in estate agent style) we saw lightning strike and a rain storm start on the mountains across from us (the view bit is not oversold). When we arrived the view had been completely clear of the three mountain peaks opposite, but as the storm rolled in you could visibly see the clouds and the darkness fill the valley; yet at the same time the mountain peaks were above the storm. It was breathtaking and I am absolutely sure that my photos do not do it justice.
Day Three
I admitted
to the hostess that I had managed to break the sink in the onsuite bathroom / bamboo mosquito farm. It was after all held onto the wall by a screw which I think was made from something like papier mache. She very kindly said that it was no problem (maybe we over tipped???)
Our guide on our final days trek was an old fella (66) whom we had got chatting to when we stayed in (I think, although he may of just been visiting) his village at the end of day one. Not wanting to get over technical here, he was very keen to learn english, but only really learned nouns and as such could not conjugate any sentances, with made chatting to him a test of sign language as much as language. He was a really friendly chatty bloke. He picked us up from the hillside hotel where we stayed on night two, with a young guy who I think may of been his grandson. Amusingly the younger guy was on his mobile phone all day trying to talk to a local girl from one of the villages, whom we think he had a bit of a crush on.
I was amazed he got any signal at all as the whole area seems incredibly remote (apparently hollywood are very keen on the area as it is quite near Chiang Mai international airport, a lot of the link roads are asphalted and apparently it looks quite like vietnam - although as Jo pointed out if all Vietnam films are made here, maybe we just think Vietnam looks like Northern Thailand?) The old chap did give us a lot of banter (should of said earlier he was called Sam), he kept telling me that after two years Jo and I should be engaged. He kept motioning putting a ring on a ring finger to me; I assumed that was about weddings, unless that is some sort of rude gesture in Thai???
It was a proper hard slog trek on day three. It was slightly embarrasing that Sam, who would officially be claiming his pension in the UK, was carrying all of the luggage and Jo and I both got bamboo walking sticks. That said we really did need them as the previous evenings rain made the red soil like black ice, particularly on the downward slopes. It was all a bit
Indiana Jones esque, particularly as we visited another bat infested cave, which diappointingly contained no ancient gold statues, or giant rolling boulders. It did however contain an upward climb to an opening where a very old woman who spoke incredibly good English appeared to live??? We never really got to the bottom of why she lived there.
Today we have just been chilling out at the resort and doing some much needed washing. I am seriously considering posting some of the contents of my rucksack ahead to Auckland (Brendon, maybe expect a parcel!!). I originally took warm weather clothing on the understanding that it might be cold in the mountains. Now and again it has dipped under 20 degrees, but only just and then only at night when we have been well stocked with blankets. At least I did not specifically buy a 'micro' fleece like Jo. White elephant (or Chang in Thai) come to mind.
Tomorrow, after breakfast and a Thai massage, we are getting the public bus to Chiang Mai where we are having cooking lessons. Expect more later!!
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Jo Venus
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Your first few days sounds great! I can't wait to see some photos!! love Jo xxx