Chiang Dao is scarcely mentioned in the Thai travel books. It is just the sort of off-the-beaten-path location that we really love.
Last night, the air off the mountains got wonderfully cool, a real welcome after the steaminess of Bangkok. With windows open all night, we slept beautifully snuggled in under warm comforters. Not at all what I was expecting in Thailand in March!
We're finally seated at breakfast in the Nest restaurant. Linda and I ordered an iced coffee and a lime juice - I'm ditching the coffee since my migraine 2 days ago. For breakfast, we enjoyed eggs, bacon rashers, and bread, and Linda especially liked a big bowl of oatmeal.
While we ate, Put asked about our plans for the day, and I asked to schedule a massage for poor old me, since only the girls have been having that sort of fun so far. She asks me, "Just 1, then?" Linda hesitates about 0.01 seconds, "You better make that 2." As if in harmony, Janel chimes in,
"Well, I'm thinking three might be good." Man!
We readied ourselves for our half day adventure today. We then met 3 fellow trekkers - Martin and Thomas from Switzerland and Rose from the U.K., as well as our guide. All jumped into the back of a pickup truck, and, after a provionsal stop in town, we soon started climbing and climbing up rutted mountain roads.
The air was really quite smoky. It is well into the dry season here. Our guide surprisingly explained that the tinder dry leaves are actually ignited by dry bamboo sticks that rub together in the winds, causing friction fires (I looked it up later - it's really true.)
Chiang Dao (like Chiang Rai up the road) is a region known for elephants! We finally exit the truck in a clearing, climb a few steps, and are greeted by the sight of three BIG ones with their guides waiting for us. Months ago, when presented with this prospect, I had commented that riding an elephant as a tourist held no interest for me. After all, when I ride horses as a tourist, strange bad things tend to happen, like spontaneous uncontrolled galloping, or chomped feet. An elephant is going to be better?
Linda and Janel at the loading dockThe guides really left no choice, practically ordering each of us up onto a platform and then onto our seat mounts. Janel and Linda were first, and were soon lumbering off and out of sight into the forest. Rose and I were last - and it felt considerably weird to stand directly on the back of the elephant's head in order to get seated. It was pretty cool, though - our elephant even had 2 big tusks.
These elephants are trained, of course, but it seems like an uneasy balance of who's in charge. The elephants respond to the guides' commands of stop, go, left, right. They even will move a branch out of the path or even out of the riders' way on command. Still, they stop at will to rip huge swatches of plants away from the path, and they ate almost the entire time we rode.
Do I look comfortable?At one bend in the path, our elephant decided to go straight, and made a beeline for a very small banana tree. Our guide started yelling him off, then tugging on his ear. The elephant continued, however, and the guide finally used a small metal "persuasion" tool, something to apply some sharp pressure. This pissed our elephant off, and he swayed his shoulders widely back and forth and started loudly and repeatedly trumpeting his disapproval, stomping the ground. At this point, both Rose and I were frantically looking down, trying to find a clear spot on the ground to land in just before we got tossed off.
The guides gained control, however, but there was definitely some nervous laughter among them. We continued the walk and even managed to transfer the camera from me to Janel midway through the journey. Our guide eventually motioned for either me or Rose to get up on the elephant's neck. Rose strongly refused, so I went ahead and did it. I noticed that our guide had his bare feet located just behind the elephant's ears, with his knees sort of folded upward. There was no damned way my long legs were going to do that, however. The only place for them was straight down, inside the elephant's ears, past his cheeks, and right next to its mouth. Did I mention the large tusks?
Eat all you want, Big FellaThe guide even pushed my butt way forward so I'm looking right down the trunk, just behind the elephant's forehead. When we started moving, it was time to hang on for dear life. It was really difficult, at first, to balance with all the elephant's muscles shifting beneath you. Among other unsettled emotions, I was also incredulous about the strength of these animals. Carrying at least 400 pounds, pushing straight up inclines or stream banks. Amazingly strong.
Rose finally took a turn at the "helm" and managed it quite well. As she dismounted, we snapped a few pictures of her with her own camera.
Following our elephant safari, we took a walking tour of one of several mountain tribe villages. The 1st village was characterized by scrap wood shanties with corrugated metal roofs. About 30 families live here. Seems like each family likes to keep at least 1 pig, which is tethered to their house. The village is Catholic, and a priest from Chiang Dao comes up periodically for mass in a church they've buit. We also saw solar panels and C-band dishes. These are gifts from the Thai government to provide TV, along with remote educational classes for the village's children.
The (now dry) rice fields around the 1st tribal villageWe got shy smiles from some of the children and pretty much no reaction from the tribal adults. It was hot here at midday and everyone seemed to be in a siesta mood. Still, we also wondered what they must think of tourists walking through their village staring about. Gratefully, I saw that everyone in our group was exceedingly respectful with their voices and cameras.
We took a short drive to a different village and stopped for a box lunch prepared by the Nest. While enjoying salad and chicken pieces beneath a wooden roof, a big black bee patrolled noisily right above our heads throughout lunch. The tribe sold water, cokes and beer there, too. A nice long stop, and we conversed with our trek-mates at length.
Thomas, Martin, Linda, Janel, and RoseA few tables were out in the village with handmade goods for sale, and Linda soon selected a dandy looking cap. I'm not really sure what one can do with it, but it is definitely dandy. As she shopped, I captured a candid pic of one of the tribe's little boys nibbling on a snack at a nearby table.
One dandy hat
This kid is NOT sharing any of that snackWe learned that this tribe is Buddhist, and viewed their nearly completed temple further through town. We found it interesting that these mountain tribes live so close to each other, yet practice totally different religions. Our guide told us that some are quite unfriendly to others.
The group then took a long hike through the mountainous countryside, probably 2 or 3 miles. It was quite hot but not too humid. I was especially struck by how dry and brown the ground was, however. This is not what I expected of the Thailand forests at all, but I learned that this is very typical of the dry season.
A surprisingly dry ThailandWe emerged onto another village tribe, this one a Protestant group. We converged on the tiny store there and everyone got a much-needed water. So far, the vendors in these villages were very meek, but here, about 6 came out of the woodwork and aggressively started pushing their wares into our faces. "You buy, you buy," they said.
I did my best to ward them off, and finally our guide and I told them they'll have to see "mama" (who was in getting water) because "papa" doesn't shop. They laughed, apparently understanding those two words, and giggled even more when Linda emerged and they saw that such a tall papa has such a short mama.
Linda was through with her shopping, however, and she firmly let them know before strolling off. Most of them dispersed at this point, but one very short older lady persisted for a while. The whole group was walking out of town, and she alone continued with us, hounding and tugging on various sleeves. "you buy, you buy?" No one responded and yet she continued.
She finally fixated on me. For the life of me I don't know why. The soft touch, the benevolent soul, the man with the wallet, shit I don't know. She stayed at my shoulder, rapidly speaking her tribal dialect, then "you buy, you buy." I tell her no, no, no thank you, no. Thank you very much, no. Mai, mai, mai. "Talk to mama, papa no buy." This kept up for another 3 minutes. She'd been on my case for 500 yards - by now we were almost out of the village.
I even considered giving her a few bhat just to get her off my back, but decide that would just be rude. Finally stooping down in the shade of a telephone pole, I took a look at her handmade wares and picked out an item (any item). The conversation went something like this:
Lady: "You buy hunred bhat."
Me: "One hundred bhat?"
L: "Hunred bhat, hunred bhat."
Me: "No way. One hundred bhat is too much. Too much."
L: "Hunred bhat, hunred bhat."
Me: "Too much. Fifty bhat." (I decided that 50 bhat ($1.50) was worth it just to get rid of her.)
L: "No fitty bhat. Hunred bhat, hunred bhat."
Me: "No, no. How about sixty bhat?" (I was getting desperate by then.)
L: "Hunred bhat, hunred bhat."
At this point I'd had it, and stood tall again, beginning to stroll off.
L: "Fitty bhat OK." (She apparently didn't know the word sixty.)
The whole group was laughing by this time. I told the lady that she is cute and certainly persistent, and she giggled and finally took off. Whew. Free at last.
Not buying, lady. Go talk to mama.
Beginning to crack
Oh alright! Show me what you got.
"You buy hunred bhat"We jumped back into the truck and travelled to an area close to the Ping River. Ditching our shoes in the truck, we hobbled slowly over rocks and dirt on bare feet to the river's edge, where there were about eight bamboo rafts tied up. Linda and I teamed up with a guide on the first raft and got seated. We were then handed Thai "coolie" hats to wear. Travelling down the river on bamboo rafts in the hot sun is such a traditional Thai activity that the hats actually seemed like a good touch.
Janel and Rose conversing onthe Ping
CooliosA quick ride back to the Nest, then a good shower by all. Our clothes were drenched in dust and probably elephant sweat. Up next: a 2 hour massage.
The girls were already massage veterans, but a Thai massage was new for me. But there's really no way to describe a 2 hour massage - it was a long drawn out mixture of pleasure and pain and more pleasure for me. The last half hour - application of a hot herbal lemongrass compresses from head to toe, was a slice of heaven. Sa bai dee mak mak.
For the next hour, we discussed our massages while sitting around the fire with wine and beer. Another beautiful evening in paradise. We considered eating Thai, but in the end decided that one more Western meal wouldn't hurt at all. Linda's white sea bass was the hit of the table, and Janel's devil's food cake with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream went over big as well.
Great end to a great day
OMG that was absolutely laugh out loud funny! I made the mistake of reading this at my desk at work and I'm sure people were wondering what was wrong with me!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the next installment.