Hill Tribe Trekking, Chang Mai Province
In Northern Thailand, especially the Chang Mai Province, it’s a really popular activity for western tourists to hire a guide and trek through the mountainous regions to visit Hill Tribes. We booked our trek the day after we arrived in Chang Mai and then left a day after. Everyone and their brother offers hill tribe trekking, so we decided to talk with some locals and learn more first before forking over a few thousand Baht. We are glad we did.
We woke up nice and early, packed our bags, and waited for our tour guide to pick us up. When he did we met our fellow travellers: 3 French men who were relatively kind and totally strange, but they really brought something to the group. 2 Canadians who were a young cute couple, Marco and Laura. They were extremely kind and really enjoyed sharing stories of travel and their lives back home. They loved to talk, and we loved to listen. And then there was Alaster (I’m sure I’m spelling that wrong) and Nathan from Leeds, England. No offense to the rest of the group, but we fell in love with these two straight away. They were really down to Earth, didn’t take themselves too seriously (which can be a real problem with backpackers around here), and they were absolutely hysterical. We have had some rough run ins with a couple Englishmen already so it was refreshing to meet these guys.
We all piled in to the truck and set off on an hour and a half drive to mountains where we were met by a bunch of elephants who took us on a ride through the jungle. Unfortunately this was the one bad part about the trip. The trainers were just terrible to the elephants, really beating them up quite a bit. We were all really uncomfortable with it and couldn’t wait for the elephant ride to be over. All of us talked about how we try to be careful about where we put our money here and we were all disappointed that we were supporting the abuse. Not that an elephant ride through the Thai jungle isn’t wonderful, but not at the expense of the endangered animals. Fortunately, it only lasted 20 minutes or so and we began our hike.
The first day was one of the most intense hikes I think I have ever been on. The Thai jungle is HOT and we climbed thousands of meters out of the valley to get to the first village. Our guide was wonderful. He took care of us but also pushed us hard as it was important to reach the village before sun down – “NO CRY, FASTER, NO CRY!” The views when we got to the top, though, were a true reward, and the challenge of the climb gave our group a real opportunity to bond. Along the way, too, we were able to cool off under some waterfalls and swim a bit.
The location of the village was spectacular. It was built right on the side of this mountain overlooking the entire valley which we had just climbed out of. We all just sort of sat there and took it in, speechless. After a COLD shower (a pipe in a shack) we wandered in to the village. I would say a couple hundred people lived there, not much more. We weren’t disappointed, but at the same time there wasn’t a whole lot to see. Some people were in traditional dress but not many. We all felt like we were visiting a small village in the hills more than a ‘tribal’ village. According to our guide their lifestyle has really changed since the arrival of the backpackers. They aren’t so much a traditional agricultural economy anymore as they rely most heavily on the tourism. Still, we were greeted warmly and had a wonderful time drinking rice whisky with the men (and boy did they love that whisky).
After dark it was back to our hut for a couple kinds of curry and rice whipped up over a fire by our guide. Aloy (delicious)! We couldn’t believe something so amazing could be thrown together over a fire like that. He did an excellent job. We played cards under the moonlight for a bit, teaching each other different games, and then headed off to our bamboo mats under mosquito nets for some much needed rest.
The next day was a much more enjoyable hike. It mostly followed a river downhill through lush forests under bamboo canopies. We swam under every waterfall we could find and just ate it up. It was nice being in a group who appreciated nature as much as we do. We all took the time really stop here and there and appreciate our surroundings.
That night we came to our next hut perched on the side of the river just below another waterfall. This wasn’t a village really, just a couple huts, but I would say we enjoyed it even more. We met some more villagers along the way as well. We played a lot with the kids, and they taught us how to use sling shots for hunting (of course for us we were just using bottles as targets, of which we just couldn’t hit). Alaster took the cake as he hit the bottles half a dozen times. We were all jealous, but not too bad considering he was still terrible at cards.
We all sat next to the river that night drinking too many beers (we made our guide’s record for trekker/beer ratio), feeding the camp fire, and talking with each other through translation (tribal language to thai, thai to english, english to french, and all back again). Simply amazing. Another wonderful night.
The next morning we followed the river farther down to where it widened and rafts were waiting for us. Here the white water rafting began. Again, an incredible time. It was level two so it wasn’t too scary, but it definitely got your blood pumping a bit. Our guide was great at steering, and we put a lot of effort in to paddling. After that the river calmed down and we switched to bamboo rafts. Nathan steered us (I tried but we almost hit rocks and drowned) as it had evidently been some sort of life long dream of his to run a bamboo raft down a river. Congratualtions, Nathan, another dream checked off your little English list.
We wrapped up then, tired and happy, and our guide drove us back down the mountain in to Chang Mai. As I reread this I feel my words are so inadequate in describing what we experienced. But, I suppose sometimes we have to be satisfied with knowing some of our experiences just can’t be shared with words or even photos. How do I describe how it felt watching David share an oreo with tribal village boy (he was so nervous but grateful for that oreo)? How do we explain what it felt like to sit on a bamboo mat under the full moon, smelling the curries cooking over the fire, looking out over the valley and just drinking in the quiet? I just can’t, but hopefully as time goes on I’ll get closer and closer.
Enjoy the photos, we certainly enjoyed taking them.
hay david t want to have something for my car to hang rearview mirror please and can you take more pictures of you and more scenery so i can have in my compture and i miss you verey much i hope you are having lost of fun i would like to have more pictures of you so i can show my friends let me know when you are comming home i love you verey much and lots of kisss and huges mom ps email soon mom
Hi David and Kevin!
Peter sent me your blog and photostream links. Have enjoyed them much. Many reminders of my own trips to those parts.
A good time to travel, I gather, since there must be bargains to be had. Especially this time of year; man, it must be HOT! Chiang Mai or any other place north/elevated is the place to be (if you’re not at the beach). You wouldn’t catch me in SE Asia anytime before New Year’s or after Easter.
Anyway, enjoy the rest of your trip. And watch out for those crazy “I-only-take-a-bath-once-a-week” French people! But, then, I guess you already learned that lesson . . . .
Ted