welcome to the jungle

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Our recent adventure was one of the top 5 coolest things I have ever done. We did a 3 day 2 night treking adventure into the jungle to visit the Karen and Mon (also known as the Hmong) tribes. It was way cool and very well organized. If you come to Chiang Mai, I would highly recommend this. We went with Buddy tours and had an awesome guide named Noi. Noi kept us entertained the entire time. As we walked through the jungle, he would stop to point out birds, spiders (they are huge!), interesting vegetation, and kept trying to trick us with cobra sightings. We never saw any but I think he was entertained by our fear! He also sang Bob Marley and other songs to us along the way!

On the way to the village, we stopped for a swim by this waterfall. It felt so good. The prior village had packed some lunches for us. Noodles wrapped in tea leaves. So we ate those by the river. I will never forget looking at one of the girls in our group as she stared at the scenery. She said 'I need to soak it all in my memory so I have this moment to reflect back on when I am having a bad day.' That was a great idea. So I did the same thing. Another thing I will never forget--- after our waterfall break we put our packs back on and started up the hill. 'Right or left on the path, Noi?' Marty said. 'UP,UP' We all stood there staring at him. UP!......and that is what we did. We went strait up! We were practically scaling the side of this mountain. When we got to the top we were all out of breath and complaining. Noi-- who had a pack heavier than everyone (because he carried all the food) and was hiking in flip flops-- was just smiling. This is just another day for him.

At one point we were walking along the edge of a rice paddy and he said to us 'be careful not to step on the harvested crop' So we all stepped on what looked like piles of hay on the edges trying carefully to not damage the rice. He looked back at us like we were idiots 'your stepping right on it' --who knew! We were a bunch of Western tourist who had never seen rice outside of a bag. Later in the village he showed us how they dried and pounded the rice. He said pounding the rice by hand is better than by machine because it keeps the vitamin B.

I have the funniest picture of these water buffalo staring at us with these huge bells around their neck. It looks like something out of a National Geographic magazine.

At night the village prepared awesome dinners for us. Rice, veggies, chicken and pork. Everything that was grown right there in the village! It was pretty cool eating food that was just harvested (or killed)-- a dinner without packaging or preservatives. This is living.

But you have not really lived until you squat over a ceramic bowl to take a dump then ladel it down with water dipped from the bucket sitting next to you. That was hard to get used to -- to actually let it go in that postion! But after 3 days, it just happens and then you realize. You could go anywhere.

In the evening the kids were showing us the jewelry they made and trying to sell it to us. I bought a few necklaces. 20 baht each (about 50 cents). It was like the lemonade stand in the jungle. Trekkers are a great way for the kids to make money. At night the men in the villages entertained us with songs. It was so much fun. Marty did his Elvis immitations and kept the whole group laughing.

We had a great group, very international. One Thai (our guide Noi), 4 French, 1 Scottish, 1 Irish, 1 Belgium, 1 Luxembourg and us (2 Americans). Two of the girls in the group were doing great at interpreting English to French and back. They kept the conversation going. But we had the best time singing songs we knew of each others language and listening to everyone's travels.

After the end of the three days we took a ride down the river on bamboo rafts. Marty tried fishing but we were moving too fast. At one point we hit a rock and overturned our raft. It was a refreshing swim.

We ended our trip with an elephant ride through the jungle. This sounds much cooler to say it than to do it. But it looks neat to watch people.

I really enjoyed this trip. In a way I envy the people in the village. Life is very real. Life is not complicated by technology. The scenery is not cluttered with buildings and the air is clean. Life is safe. You know everyone in the village and you raise your kids together. No guns, no crime. But life is hard too. When your tired you can't just run down to KFC and buy the 6 piece meal with cole slaw and mashed potatoes, you have to catch the chicken yourself! I guess there is always a trade off.

Now to Chiang Mai.....

This is a great town. I highly recommend this place. Don't come with a tour group or you will get carted around to the expensive tourist places and miss the real life. It is so easy as an English speaker to get around in this town. And life here is very affordable for a Westerner. The baht is 42 to the dollar right now! This is a great town to take a tuk tuk in. One dollar will take you anywhere! For 50 cents to 5 dollars, you can pay anyone to do anything for you. Every place in town has private guides, Thai massage, foot massage, internet, laundry. Just name it and there is someone who offers their services. Night market is a great place to find clothing bargains. Marty went shopping for some Teva shoes. We had a hard time finding size 12. He tried on this pair of shoes and said 'too small' the salesman kept saying 'too small good for you' I laughed really hard! Every time I want to tease Marty I say that to him. We actually found a pair after a long search,200 baht!

One day for 3 dollars, we hired a tuk tuk driver to take us around to all the temples. At night we ate a dinner from a street vendor. A HUGE meal for 70 baht! And really good food too -- but Thai food is spicy!