Elephants and Hill Tribes

[Sorry for the really long absence.  I've been in Nepal and internet connections are really slow.  An awesome 11 day trek to the Annapurna Himilayas also slowed me down.  I'll try to catch up from Turkey, where I arrived yesterday morning.]

After an amazing weekend, the new week began in a subdued mood.  Before I arrived in Chiang Mai, at the suggestion of several colleagues, I had intended to visit an elephant camp.  I booked an outing for Tuesday which left Monday as a recovery day.  Besides touring the old city on my bicycle, I also went for a ride up the Ping River on a rice boat.  

On the boat was a nice couple from the UK so we enjoyed the slow ride together discussing what I sadly always discuss with Brits, their accents and the Royal wedding.  At the far point of the ride we stopped at a local farm/restaurant for a snack.  We learned from our guide that a scene in Rambo IV was filmed at this location.  Sadly, now I feel compelled to see the show.  (Sorry Richard.)  I’m always surprised and pleased with how easy it is to form brief friendships with people when you are budget traveling.  

Everyone seems eager to interact with the people around them, regardless of their stage in life, background or homeland.  It makes for easy entertainment.

With some anticipation, Tuesday arrived along with my scheduled trip to the elephant camp.  We started with a tour of a butterfly/orchid farm.  After 30 minutes of wandering the site looking for the occasional butterfly, my enthusiasm began to suffer a little.

After the orchid farm, our group of one American, three French Canadians, and a French famıly visited one of the local "long-necked villages" where we saw the women who appear to extend their necks by wearing increasingly longer metal necklaces.  I understand the process in reality collapses the shoulders (which would seem obvıous after you feel how heavy the rings actually are.)  Because the setting is staged for visiters, it feels a little like you are visiting a human zoo.  On the other hand, the visits do provide some revenues for the villages so it's hard to know how to feel about them. 

Our group soon joined similar tour groups from around the city where we got to pet some elephants, get lifted up on their trunks, and watch them perform in a show which included a game of soccer.  Of everything I saw that day, watching an elephant paint a picture with its trunk with almost no assistance was the most impressive.

I couldn't draw something like this on a good day.

 However, besides this display of training and memory, the day felt like a touristy mess.   In addition to the above activities, our tour included an 30 minute elephant ride along an alternately paved and dirt road, a bumpy (and by bumpy, I mean knock-your-wig-off bumpy) oxcart ride back to the camp, a lunch served buffet style to the masses, and a (slow) ride down the river on a bamboo raft.  

Note the enthusiasm of the girls in front.

Unfortunately, by the end of the day I felt like I had spent a fair bit of money to be placed in the cramped seat of a day-long, small-town carnıval rıde called Wild Adventure Safari.  I was glad to get off.

On Wednesday, I hadn’t yet decided whether I would go south to the beaches of Thailand, west to the hilly region around Pai or northeast into Laos.  That evening as I sat in a restaurant having delicious pad thai for the second time that day, I decided to ask two guys at the table next to mine what they thought about my options.  Frequently, backpackers are either going to or coming from some place you might be considering.  As it turned out Gavin (from New Zealand) and Manuel (from Spain) were happy to share their thoughts and after a few hours of discussion and laughter, we decided to sign up for a three day, two night trek in the mountains. Later that evening, we convinced a fun and very cool couple from Quebec, Emma and Cedrik, to join us for the hike.  What started as a question to some chaps in a restaurant soon turned into a super adventure with our excellent crew. 

Wednesday afternoon, I signed up for a Muey Thai (boxing) class.  It was really tough and I felt like a klutz but it was a great workout with a very patient teacher whose nick-name is Ping.   After the work out I got to hang around while about 12 guys from the gym did some serious mixed martial arts training in anticipation of a competition they would be attending in Bangkok later this month.  This was way better than paying to watch a stadium match.   

We couldn’t book the trek until Friday so that left Thursday for me again to wander around the city.

Friday arrived and on day one of our trek we met up with another small group (three British guys, two French girls and a couple from South Korea).  

As we approached the very same butterfly/orchid farm, I tried not to spoil the surprise about what was coming for everyone.  After our mandatory 30 minutes, the only thing we all concluded was that this farm must belong to a relative of the guy who runs all of the Chiang Mai tours, so for better or worse, all of the tourists get funneled though the "farm" and accompanying gift shop.  No worries.  Our stop was brief and we were soon on our way.     


We arrived at our drop off point in the early afternoon and hiked about four hours to our evening camp.  The hike took us over hills, past small villages and through fields.  

The landscape was beautiful and our guide, Abba, made it interesting.  If only all guides could be as enthusiastic as he was.  Scanning constantly in every direction as he quickly marched ahead he made hats out of leaves, pointed out spiders and other insects and made us try edible fruits and leaves (a lot of leaves) along the way, many of which could both be eaten for food and used as a cure for most maladies, but especially for diarrhea which according to Abba can always be cured in only 20 minutes with one of these treatments.  And how can you not love a guide who has a pet squirrel (named Noi) on a little leash who rides on his shoulder except when he's scuttling in and out of his shirt.  

We continued to learn tidbits about Abba on our trip, including that he had been a sniper earlier in his life.  He was also a guide while Mel Gibson was in Thailand filming Air America.  (Anyone up for two dodgy movies?) 


The hill tribes we visited are Burmese refugees who were allowed by Thailand to settle under special arrangements in certain areas of the country.  The families seem to be okay with the supplemental income that trekkers provide and the trekkers are happy for the chance to step outside of their comfort zone.  

That night we slept in a bamboo hut on grass mats.  A big thanks to the pharmaceutical industry for a relatively tolerable night.


Day two had less hiking and .... elephant bathing!  I will confess since we were actually in the river with the elephants, it was a lot of fun, especially messing with the baby elephant.  Next was an elephant ride, this time in the jungle, which also seemed like a big step up from my first experience.  That afternoon we walked to another small village where we were met with several villagers, including a very friendly little boy and his sister.  

He was excited about shooting us with his homemade bamboo gun and she was anxious to apply and promptly wash off any lotion that happened to be lying around.  The boy knew a few English words to which we added "awesome", along with the thumbs up signal.  He quickly improved on our word by adding "monkeys" at the end of it, thus "awesome" was always "awesome! monkeys".  It probably seemed like a reasonable improvement given his dealings with western tourists.   


The evening was spent talking as a group and being entertained by an elderly man playing a nifty homemade bamboo instrument and two younger guys who played (quite well) their homemade guitar. 

 I've decide that I need to learn to play one or two guitar songs just for these occasions.  (Put me on your calendar Scott.)  Things got a little crazy that night, but as they say in these parts, "What happens in Burmese refugee villages in Thailand, stays in Burmese refugee villages in Thailand".  After another night in a bamboo hut, we were on our way out.


Day three brought a nice hike over the hills along with more interesting commentary from our guide (including how to extract water from certin vines as Gavin demonstrates) ...

and a float trıp down the river on bamboo rafts.  Maybe it was simply the fact that I liked our company, but I enjoyed it a lot more this time.  We then made our way to a gorgeous waterfall where we soaked and had lunch.  

We finished the day with a some white water rafting before driving back to Chiang Mai.  That evening our group spent the evening together, saying our formal goodbyes.  Thank you Gavin, Manuel, Emma and Cedrik for an unforgettable three days.  You're awesome! monkeys.