Deep in the Thailand Jungle

We returned from a 3-day jungle trek a few days ago which is quite possibly one of the best adventures we've had so far! Picked up at our guesthouse early in the morning, eight of us loaded into the back of a covered red pickup truck on bench seats. Poor Andy couldn't sit up straight for 3 hours, but thankfully we stopped a couple of times for a nice stretch and a fried banana snack as well as the bizarre tourist police station.

Bat (pronounced Baaht), our trusty guide, led us along the dense jungle track in Khao Yai National Park near the Myanmar border to his village of the Karen indigenous hill tribes people. (See photo album.) The 5km track we hiked into the village was the path he and 17 other children walked twice daily to and from primary school. The village is a bunch of huts made of bamboo in a valley surrounded by green mountains on all sides. As we walked down the dirt footpath, chickens ran freely as we exchanged the greeting "amuchopeur" with the locals. Each family of the 270 villagers owns a pig and a chicken. Since there is no electricity or refrigeration, when a pig or cow is ready to eat the whole village feasts and shares among one another. They are completely self sufficient by growing their own vegetables, rice and tobacco as well.

We feasted hungrily on green curry chicken, bean sprouts, tofu and green beans for dinner by candle light which was cooked in a wok over an open fire. We laughed the night away playing games around the campfire and drinking warm beer. Our accommodation consisted of a large open room for all 14 of us to sleep including a mat, blanket, pillow and an obsolete mosquito net covered in holes. The group of us from California, England, Finland, Ireland, the Czech Republic and Australia fell asleep to a chorus of jungle frogs.

The next morning we awoke early to - you guessed it - the sound of roosters. Seems like our daily wake up call in SE Asia. After breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast, we headed out in the heat towards the next village 7 km away. We stopped at the village rice paddy and helped the villagers plant rice for a while which was an incredibly humbling experience - planting rice is backbreaking work!

The hike was uphill from there when suddenly, when I thought I could go no further, a glimpse of an elephant came into view from a river down below. The elephant camp! It was a beautiful sight: six elephants basking in the afternoon sun along the rocky river's edge with a few bamboo huts dotting the leafy shoreline. Noodle soup and pineapple was served for lunch as the elephant trainers doused the pachyderms with cool water to ready them for the jungle walk. We hopped on and cruised along the river Indiana Jones style with our friend Issac sitting bareback on its neck! My knuckes were white with fear, gripping the metal seat as we went downhill but over time I relaxed like getting used to hot water. Large orange tip and turquoise/black butterflies flitted about as we hobbled along the jungle with the sounds of cicadas and crickets in the air. Finally, we reached the village and we all ran straight for the swimming hole! The group of us from all over the world frolicked and bathed in the cool water before relaxing or playing a game of football ( soccer) against the locals during the afternoon. Another delicious dinner by candlelight with more stories and laughter.

Our last day was spent on homemade bamboo rafts floating down the wide river that runs all the way from Burma through Bangkok to the south of Thailand into the sea. We used giant bamboo sticks to steer off the back of the raft as we cruised through Level I & II rapids. I felt like I was on the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland as we passed river cows and elephants along the way.

Unfortunately, on that last day Andy wasn't feeling so good and had run a pretty high fever by the time we returned to our guesthouse in Chiang Mai. The doc says it's some sort of Asian flu. So lots of rest for him while I have been exploring the city and checked out a crazy Muay Thai boxing match with some friends we met on the trek. As soon as he gets better we'll take a Thai massage class then hit the road to Laos.