Motorbike Sir?

I felt like Charlie Sheen in the beginning of Platoon as we started off into the hills; sweating profusely while carrying my gear on my back. Various animal and insect noises provided a nice soundtrack. Realizing how much noise we were making, I tried to walk without making a sound. I experimented with different walking patterns and attempted to avoid leaves and twigs that I knew would give our position away. I could just imagine a bunch of VCs ambushing our unit as we crossed over some rice patties…

Whenever I go hiking, strange thoughts start going through my head. The heat and humidity, coupled with my thumping heartbeat (my ears have not yet cleared from diving, amplifying internal noises while drowning out sounds from around me) must have added some more spice to my thoughts. I just got back from a three day trek into the hills around Chaing Mai. Trekking is a main tourist draw here – the surrounding countryside and national parks are ideally suited for the individual who wants to try out jungle life, but without leaving the comforts of home too far behind. From reading guidebooks and talking to some people, it sounded like the treks followed a very similar pattern: walk to hill tribe villages, ride elephants, and go bamboo rafting. I was a bit apprehensive about doing a trek, it all sounded a bit too touristy for me. But, upon urging from the Danes, I decided that it would at least be an experience, so I signed up.

Our group consisted of a Scot, a Welsh girl, a guy from England, four Dutch girls, and myself. We were led by our guide, Map, who spoke decent English and knew the jungle. Whenever we came across something of interest he would point it out. Often times he would find something edible for us to try, such as Starfruit, apples, and Bamboo.

The first day was a bit strenuous; heading uphill and being out of shape did not help matters. We were treated to a waterfall, which provided a refreshing shower. Our accomadation for the first evening was Map’s “guesthouse”, complete with excellent food and cold beer. Breakfast on the second day was a welcome treat: hard boiled eggs and toast with jam. After a 3 hour hike, we came to a settlement where we got on some intense off-road vehicles.

Instead of being on patrol for VC I now pictured myself as Alexander the Great, marching my vast armies across Asia. Elephants are the only way to travel through the jungle – they do all the work for you as well as give you a nice, high perspective. Our elephant was a bit of a rogue, at one point deciding to walk through a bamboo fence and over some small trees in order to join the other elephants. At every stream, the gentle beasts took every opportunity to splash themselves (and the passengers) with cool water. At the end of the elephant riding, we arrived at a Pelong (sp?) village where we stayed the night (at Map’s 5-star hotel).

The Pelong people originated from Burma, but have since settled in Thailand. At night, the children treated us to some traditional dances and songs. They then wanted us to sing something. It was hard to think of some songs that we all knew, and finnaly settled on a poor rendition of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”. The food was excellent: potato curry, steamed green beans, sweet and sour vegetables, and some local fried fish. Before dinner, I played a game of soccer at the local football pitch with the village children. I thought I did pretty well, considering the state of the field (more like a dust bowl) and that the children were fairly young.

The last day of the trek was pretty easy – a short walk then heading down a river on bamboo rafts. Our groups three rafts soon got into a water fight, which soon degenerated into raft sabatoge. Our vessel did not fare too well – by the end of the journey we had to hold it together by hand otherwise it would have disintegrated.

Overall the trip vastly exceeded my expectations. My fellow trekkers were a great bunch, and I think we all had a good time. It was nice getting away from city life as well as seeing how people survive in remote villages. I didn’t get to see too many exotic animals (aside from the elephants) – though at one point we heard a clan of monkees, but never caught sight of them.

Enjoying the culinary delights of Chaing Mai. The city is very managable, and the people seem very friendly and much less pushy than down in Bangkok. I’ll be chillin here for a while – i’m going to take a cooking class and see some Muai Thai boxing.

Neil

Tags: Thailand

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 22nd, 2004 at 7:04 am and is filed under Thailand. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.