Week 2: Hilltribes and Motor Bikes

This past week has been a lot of fun! We went on a three day trek through the jungle and we went to Pai. I can't decide if time is going by quickly or slowly. on one hand, every day seems to fly by in a whirlwind of places to go and things to do. At the same time it's hard to believe that I've only been gone for two weeks. It feels like I've been here for ever. I am already getting used to the thai customs and pace of life. The thai people are so sweet. very friendly and helpful. even though there is a lot of poverty here, the thai people are very dignified. I have not been asked for money once.

Jungle Trek

We went on a three day trek through the jungles of northern thailand, about an hour north of chaing mai. We did the trek with three friends from france. They only spoke a little english but we all got along pretty well. The trek was definitely one of the highlights of the trip so far.

we started out the trek (after the hour long car ride in the back of a pickup truck. ) by going on an elephant ride. It was really fun to ride the elephants but slightly uncomfortable. we couldn't help but feel a little bit bad for the elephants though. The elephants would pause every few minutes to eat a bush or a tree.

After the elephant ride we hiked for about 4 hours up a mountain. For some reason I was expecting the hikes to be pretty easy, but they were actually fairly challenging. there really wasn't much of a path. it was more like beating our way through the jungle (and up a mountain) every now and then we'd get to a stream that we'd have to wade through. sometimes our "guide" would get lost and we'd have to back track or cut through another section of jungle. our guide didn't really teach us much, and he didn't really wait for us either. he just kind of walked through the jungle and if we were lucky enough to keep up with him, that was cool. this actually made it more fun though because it didn't feel like a tour it just felt like a trip through the jungle.

We spent the first night in a hut at a hilltribe village. The hilltribe were the karen people. THe Karen are known for there weaving and wear long woven "panchos". the next morning we hiked about 3 hours to a waterfall where we spent the night in a hut. it was fun sleep next the waterfall it was very loud. the final day we only hiked about an hour and then went whitewater rafting on bamboo rafts.

Pai

The day after our hike we caught a bus to Pai. Pai is a smalll mountain village about 4 hours north of Chiang Mai. It's hard to explain Pai. Pai is one part Thai Village, one part mountain village (think boulder), one part hippy commune (with a ton of crazy expats...think Berkley) and one part backbacker hangout.

We stayed about 10 minutes outside of Pai at an organic permaculture farm owned by a crazy expat which we found on helpx.net. the farm had no electricity or running water. It grew mostly coffee beans. My favorite part about staying on the farm was our breakfasts. every morning we would make a fire and then have fresh ginger tea made from freshly picked tea leaves and ginger, and have freshly picked passion fruit and bananas.

we rented motor bikes in pai and spent everyday riding to different waterfalls, hotsprings, and canyons. The waterfalls were our showers every morning.I can't explain to you how much fun it is to ride your motor bike across the Pai country side. It is SO beautiful there and we explored every corner of it. I'm actually considering buying a moped when I get home.

And now to answer the question that I'm sure is on everyone's mind: no Marissa's feet could not reach the ground from the motorbike. the bikes are quite heavy and she had some trouble going up steep hills (or more specifically stopping while going up steep hills.) The first day we were there we were going up a little dirt path when I heard her yell. Assuming she had fallen I turned around to assess the damages. I turned just in time see her run straight in to me and fall over while yelling go faster. From then Marissa rode ahead of me and while i slowly made my through the ruts and puddles of the dirt paths marissa just gunned it up and waited for me at the top.

Almost Done

wow this post is much longer than I expected. I probably will not be so thorough from now on. Any way we are back in Chaing Mai now and will stay here until the festival.

Also I finally thought of a more clever name for my blog. If you can think of an even more clever one post it. Hope everyone is doing well.