Chaing Mai trek - Day one

This morning we headed off for a two day trek into the hill tribes of Chaing Mai. Were picked up by a ute with a couple of bench seats and a roof over the tray; what they commonly call a truck, in Chaing Mai.

We pilled in the back and set off. An Irish couple were the first ones to join us, followed by two English blokes, an Israeli lady, and a Russian immigrant to America, who is currently living and working in India.

It was quite a group, and were were nicely packed into the back of this truck, when we stopped to pick up another person. I mentioned to the driver that I really didnt think we could fit another body in, and he assured me we could, just as 4 extras victims rounded the corner, intent on joining our cosy group.

We all laughed nervously and consoled each other that it was all part of the experience as we squished a little bit further down the bench seats. Our new comers were quickly introduced and every one was soon swapping travel stories.

Our guide, was also enjoying the ride in the back with us and keeping us all entertained with his quick wit about tourists. He was quite an extraordinary man. He not only spoke English and Thai but also Hebrew - and chatted quite happily with our jewish component (3 of our clan were jewish).

After a 1/2 hour drive we arrived at a elephant camp and squeezed our swetty selves apart from each other and unloaded to wait for our elephants to arrive.

The elephant ride was a hoot. Luke got to ride on the elephants neck like a Mahout (young boy who is given an young elephant to care for and taught how to tame it. He will spend his entire life in this role).

As we rode around there were these raised platforms that the mahout stopped at so we could buy banana's and sugar cane for the elephants. I couldnt resist. Everytime the elephant would hear the plastic bag crinkle he would stick his trunk up for a snack, taking whole hands of banana's at a time with his sticky nose.

Once we had taken our photos and said goodbye to the elephants we headed off to the base of the mountains to start our trek. After a quick lunch our guide lead us off into the jungle. I had to laugh when i saw the track we were to take!!! It was a small muddy path through such dense forest - little more than a goat track. A little way into the trek Luke found himself a large walking stick - It was noted by a few of the other team members as being a "mighty impressive stick", and so Luke took up the challenge of precurring a walking stick for each of the team members.

This became a running theme in conversation throughout our time... and many times there were comments on what a "great kid" Luke was. (Jordan was pretending to be invisible - as he does - and Im not sure anyone even noticed him - just jokes!)

We walked for about half an hour before we came to a stream. There was a log spanning the divide and we were instucted to sling our legs over each side and using our hands, pull ourselves along, in order to cross! It sounded easy enough but i found it close to impossible. Combining the need to hand on as hard as i could with my thighs so i wouldnt go off balance with my pack on, and the need to lift myself off the log with my arms so i could shuffle my bum just a few inches forward each time was quite a strain.... by the end my arms had given up the ghost, and I wasnt sure i was going to make it the last couple of feet.

Well obviously I did make it, and we set off again up the mountain. After 2 hours of some serious climbing, where i was really beginning to wonder what was suppose to be fun about this little adventure, we arrived at the top. We stopped at a small village and the boys practiced sling shot with the others, and we shared around the very culturally oriented pack of potato chips that we had brought along - much to the surprise and delight of the nationals.

Once we were on our way again it was much easier going. There were a few more hills but it was mostly flat walking for another 2 hours before we reached our goal for the night - a Karen village - where we were greated by a few giggling children who ran ahead of us to tell the rest of the tribe of our arrival.

The village was made up of a few raised, bamboo houses, cropping land, small structures that they use for cooking, and some out houses. We quickly met the local dogs, pigs and chickens who all free ranged around the property.

For dinner we had some of the best food we have had so far.... tofu and bean shoots, chicken and potato curry, veges and rice - mmmm. There was lots of banter while we ate. One topic of conversation was the pig that had joined us (under the table) for dinner. Luke decided that we should name the pig and the discussion turned to the choice of name. In the end it was decided that whatever name the pig responded to would be its new name. Lots of suggestions were offered to the pig but in the end the name Simon was the one that elicited a response, and so it was named.

After dinner the children came down to sing for us. It was quite a funny site. It wasnt structured at all. The parents just sort of hung back around the edges the kids gathered in the middle of some seats we were sitting on, and instead of facing us they all just sort of stood there chatting away to each other in Karen. Then someone would start singing and everyone would join in. Some of the older girls faced the front but a lot of them were still singing away to each other. At the end of the song, there wasnt a definitive end... they just sort of trailed away and then stopped, and then resumed chatting or giggling until someone started up another song.

After the show we handed out the pencils that had been donated by the country homeschool group. There were seven packets and we assumed they would be given to the school or just offered to the children to use as a group. Instead the children all formed a line and each child recieved 3 pencils. It was quite a production. Once everyone had recieved their pencils they excitedly huddled together to compare their treasures and trade their favourite colours.

It was getting late and the children were starting to yawn, so they headed off to bed, and we decided that bed sounded like a good next stop, for us also.

We found a spot on the bamboo matting that had been laid out for us on the bamboo floor and snuggled down for the night.