Eric & Laura's Dog, Scuba, & Travel Website
THAILAND & CAMBODIA
Hiking in Norhtern Thailand 2/7 - 2/10, 2000
This Looks WAY too long, just show me pictures!
We left on 2/5 from Los Angeles to go to Bangkok, where we were to meet up with our friends Jeff & Susan before heading to the Northern Thailand town of Mae Hong Son to start our hike. We arrived in Bagkok (after switching planes in Seoul) on 2/7, met our friends, and left the next morning on a flight to Mae Hong Son (via Chiang Mai). We didn't get to Mae Hong Son until the afternoon of 2/7. If this sounds like a long trip....it was! We wanted to go to Mae Hong Son for several reasons, mainly because we heard that it was a lot less touristy than Chiang Mai and that both the hiking and the villages were better in this area. The hike turned out to be perfect--nice scenery, not TOO strenuous, beautiful waterfalls, nice people at the Karen village, and a fantastic guide! Read on! (BTW - Remember to click on the thumbnails to see the larger pictures with explanatory text).
We spent our first afternoon walking around Mae Hong Son, a small town of 6900 with a scenic pond and a picturesque little temple nearby. We picked a nice little guesthouse called Joe's Guesthouse from the Lonely Planet's Thailand travel book. Joe's was located right by the lake, next to the pretty Wat Chong Klang, and cost only about $7 a night for a double room with a bathroom. Despite the place's Anglo name, the owner spoke next to no English (and we of course spoke no Thai). The Thai language is extrememly challenging, since the same word can mean a score of different things depending on the inflection. Nevertheless, the people we met throughout our trip were all extremely friendly, and appreciated attempts made to communicate in their language! We walked to the nearby Sunflower Cafe to book a trek for the next day. The next thing we know an extremely friendly man speaking excellent English (and dressed like a hilltribesman) introduced himself. Meeting Nui (see picture to the right) was probably our biggest stroke of luck for our entire trip to Thailand! We flipped though a book of iteneraries, which a trip with an elephant ride, a float on a bamboo raft, and a hike to a nearby village. He gently recommended against this idea and instead suggested a trip to a less frequently visited village, which would involve a 3 day trek through a scenic river valley. We agreed on a price and what kind of food we'd like, and agreed to meet him in the morning. We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping and going to the Thai Airways office to buy our return tickets to Chiang Mai. (We waited to buy tickets until we knew how long we'd be hiking.) The flight only costs about $20, but they quickly fill up, and frequently you are forced to buy business class tickets (which only cost about $15 more!)
We sped out of Mae Hong Son early the next morning, heading south in the back of a pickup truck. We stopped after about 45 minutes of winding roads through mountainous vistas. The hike started out as a steady, somewhat steep hike up the side of a hill through the trees. The weather was warm and hazy. Apparently the views become quite obscured in April when local farmers begin burning their fields in preparation for the rainy season. Nui was a very entertaining guide, telling us stories of the surroundings, the people, and his background (he used to be a microbiologist but now has been leading treks in this area for 16 years). We stopped for lunch, which was wrapped up in a plate of banana leaves. The food was amazing (not that unusual in Thailand!). It turns out that Nui is quite the cook (as became readily apparent later that evening at the village). We passed some beautiful views as we climbed higher and higher through forests of bamboo and pines. We could even see Burma a mere 20 kilometers away. We arrived at the village 6 hours after starting our hike, a bit tired but excited to have reached out destination.
We walked into a White Karen village of about 11 straw roofed huts raised on stilts. The village was perched on a nice ledge on the hillside. The men in the village were away hunting, but lots of little children came out to see us arrive. They stared curiously at us, and it made me feel a little weird at first, but this quickly faded as the children approached interestedly. By the time we left the next day we almost couldn't separate ourselves from the children. They kept on wanting to be picked up and spun around.
Anyway, we were led to one of the huts. We removed our shoes and climbed up the stairs (the custom is not to wear any shoes in the home). We sat down on the bamboo floor while Nui made us tea and gave us our bedrolls and sleeping bags. The children were on the opposite wall with some of the women, checking us out. Jeff got out his balloons and started to make balloon animals, much to the delight of everyone present. They were definitely a big hit. The women spoke to Nui in Karen. Nui was not a native Karen but had been around them for a long time. He was so integrated into this community that they had accepted them as one of their own. One day he would be the chief of the village, he hoped. They definitely liked him and his cooking. He cooked a delicious meal of green chicken curry, ginger chicken, and sweet and sour vegetables. It was delectable and he cooked for the entire village. We went to bed, fat and happy!
Some of us slept terribly. We were sleeping next to the family and they were quite boisterous for a while. Then it started getting very cold. It did not help that we had no ground insulation (since the house was on stilts). Susan got extremely cold and went to the family (holding a sleeping bag) making shivering noises and saying "Nui" hoping one of the people would go to our guide and ask him for more blankets. The woman took the sleeping bag and left the hut returning without it. It turns out that she thought Susan was worried about our guide being cold and wanted to offer him a blanket! When she returned empty handed, Susan somehow made herself clear, and the woman dug up some extra blankets and even tucked Susan in. At about 4 a.m. the roosters began to crow right underneath our hut followed by the grunts of pigs who were also feasting under our abode. We finally got up and walked to the fire that Nui had built. We had company as a little boy and his furry friends were also taking advantage of a good thing.
Nui fixed us a very tasty breakfast of toast and pineapple. We sat around and watched the villagers making cups and spoons out of bamboo for us to use later that afternoon and that evening. We sat next to an American couple named Lise & Peter who were young doctors who had also hiked in the day before with another guide. When word of the doctors' presence got around, mothers brought their children who were suffering from various ailments. Lack of medical care was obviously one downside of being so far from civilization. Another is that Thai law requires children to go to school from 5-13 years old. This forced the village to, in essence, send their children away to school, explaining why we didn't see any older children. Lise & Peter did their best, using a few of their own supplies and antibiotics and other things that we gladly donated from our First Aid kit. The mothers seemed extremely thankful. We said our goodbyes, reciprocating the children's exhuberant "Goodbyes!" and walked down the hill towards the Hmong Village.
We walked for about 4 hours down to the stream valley, then back up the other side of the hill. The village dogs came along with us for several hours, curiously exploring the surrounding countryside. I have a soft spot for dogs and these reminded me of my littlest one back home. The other side of the hill was cultivated and I caught a glint of color in one of the fields. They turned out to be opium poppies. The big fields were gone thanks to the Thai government-U.S. backed efforts. They came, they burned the fields, but did not provide a good solution to replace the strong alure of being able to sell something for $1000/kg (average monthly salary for Thais is about $200/month). A good bulb can yield as much as 1 gram. Here and there, though, there were patches of poppy fields...some in full bloom of striking blue, red, white, and yellow. Others bore the telltale marks of carefully cut bulbs. We continued to walk up to the Hmong village, which was not nearly as nice as the White Karen Village. There was a dirt road that ran through the village and every hut seemed to have a Toyota pickup truck parked in the shade. The huts, though, did not show the same status of wealth. They had dirt floors, dour women working on stitching clothing, and men lying around smoking cigarettes and who knows what else. The people were mostly indifferent to our presence. Nui did know a local who let us have a look into his house for a few packets of tobacco. Needless to say, we didn't stay long and pressed on. I don't want to give the impression that I hated it...far from it... it was very interesting. It just wasn't near as nice as the Karen village. The other side of the village had a few more scattered poppy fields which gave way to fields of very tall reeds. We continued to walk until we were on a ridge jutting out into the valley. The surrounding views were amazing....a good place for lunch!
The next part of the trip was about 2 1/2 long hours STRAIGHT down. It was incredibly steep and we had to be very careful not to slide all the way down the hill. We had two Karen porters with us (to carry the sleeping bags & such--really they weren't absolutely necessary, but Nui liked his Karen friends to benefit from our tourism as well ). I saw a beautiful 1 foot diameter turtle off to the side of the path. I pointed him out to one of the porters who promptly picked him up and continued to walk. I made eating motions with my hand, asking if he was going to eat it. He gave me a huge grin (with many teeth missing) and nodded up and down enthusiastically. He carried the turtle under his arm for a good hour until he put it down. Nui told us that he didn't want to carry it anymore and would come back for it the next day when they hiked back. Lucky turtle! We slid down on our butts for the remaining portion of our hike to the river valley. We were covered with dirt by the time we got down. Nui asked us if we wanted to go see a waterfall. I asked him what the name was...he replied that it didn't have one. I left my cameras thinking that it wouldn't be a big deal (we had been to Dominica earlier that year and had seen lots of waterfalls), put on my river sandals and followed him up the river. We came to a 10 ft cascade with a wooden ladder next to it. He motioned us to the ladder and we climbed. As I got up to the top I was stupefied. We were in an area surrounded by cliffs with dripping moss making natural showers. Right in front of us was a crystal clear pool fed by a GORGEOUS 50 foot waterfall. The water just seem to glide along the rock face. I was kicking myself for not taking the camera!! How could you not name such a beautiful waterfall?!
We climbed down and continued for about 45 minutes until we reached our campsite, which consisted of a bamboo bottomed lean-to shelter beside the river. We were wondering how Nui was going to cook since he brought no pots or pans. He began to make a series of hot water boilers, rice cookers, meat cookers, etc. out of bamboo (see picture). It was amazing and the food was SO good. We eagerly lapped it up with our bamboo spoons and cups. The food was served in bamboo trenchers....the light was provided by bamboo candleholders....the tablecloth was made out banana leaves....the serving spoons were made from bamboo. I've never seen anything like this! We went to bed to a chilly night. Nui and the porters moved the fire closer to our lean-to and stoked it really well until it was just roaring.
We woke up the next morning to the sound of the river and birds chirping. We had our usual breakfast of toast and pineapple and began to pack up for the last day of our hike. Before we left, though, Nui wanted us to see a demonstration of the scaffold building (& climbing) skill of the Karens. During honey season, the Karen build these quite simple scaffold ladders to climb VERY high up into the tree to get to the honey. This was a LOT harder than it looks and my trial climb didn't go past 12 feet. We said goodbye to our porters and continued along the river valley. It was really pretty with birds singing and the morning light coming through the lush treetops. We crisscrossed the shallow river several times (bring river shoes such as Tevas!). This continued on for about 4 hours until we came to a dam and a nearby river. This was the end of a wonderful hike. We piled into the pickup truck and headed back to Mae Hong Son. We stopped along the way at this "spa" that had hot sulfur spring baths. We languidly layed in the baths, had lunch, and went to Nui's backpacker lodge where we packed up and walked to the airport after saying our goodbyes to Nui (yes, the airport is very close).
In summary, I'm glad that we didn't take one of those elepant-rafting-hike to a nearby village and opted to do this instead. It was a nice, peaceful, interesting trek. Nui is exceptional and you should really try to ask for him by name at the Sunflower Cafe.