Day 6: River Rafting

Our day started out with once again with me being served an overly large breakfast. Who eats half a pineapple, 4 eggs and six pieces of toast for breakfast? And really who would think by looking at me that I could eat that much? Oh well there was lots of left overs and my guide once again looked frustrated. 

I meet up with the others and we went down to the rafts. My guide did not look happy about taking on two others but we went on our way. As it turns out between when I left the group last night and when I reappeared the French/British couple had gotten into a fight, which just lead to a very long and awkward raft ride. 

My guide kept on insisting that the British guy pole in the rear, the problem was he wasn't very good, and he admittedly knew that. Having never done anything boating related this was a first for him, and perhaps rapids, with a guide who doesn't speak english and girl who angry with you wasn't the best environment to learn. So we kept steering into rocks, and then he would hand the pole off to me and I would then resume make sure we stayed on the correct course, then my guide would look back, happy that we were doing alright and then notice it was me holding the pole, his brow would furrow and would then say "No, man." and point to the british guy.  I would then try to tell him it was okay, but he would remain upset and sometimes stop the raft until the pole was returned to in his mind the rightful owner. We would exchange looks and hope for the best as I sat on the raft and try to point to the direction he should be pushing. Eventually he would give up and hand it back to me and we would start the fun ordeal all over again. 

As we got further down the river it was clear that we had left behind the others in the group. Good luck to us trying to tell my guide that we should stop and wait for them. He was determined to get us there as fast as possible it seemed, where ever there was.  The day was hot but the water offered some nice relief when needed. The scenery was beautiful, with jungle stretching out over the stream, on the banks we would see water buffalo and hear the calls of various birds. In the shallows there were cranes and colourful dragon flies danced above the surface of the water. The serenity would then be interrupted with fast paced rapids, where a keen eye and quick direction changes kept us from hitting the rocks. I enjoyed my time poling along the river. The company wasn't exactly what I had hoped for. But it made sense that the end of this journey would be the same as it started, in silence. 

By two o'clock we came to a several huts on the side of the river, my guide pulled over and told us to get off, in his awkward non-eglish speaking way. But what it turned out he was saying was for the British/French couple to get off. He unhooked their bags from the tripod and put them on the banks. And then he told me to come back on the raft. We were to leave them. There was no arguing with him. The other rafts were behind us somewhere. There was a very rushed conversation of "Where are you going?" "I don't know." "Are you going to be ok." "Yeah. Are you guys ok." "I guess" and then we were down the river as we were still shouting our goodbyes. 

Five minutes later we arrive at a different hut/restaurant where we get off and he takes me inside where I drop off my stuff on a bench and make my way to the washroom with a change of clothes. I was upset with my guide. I understand that each person want to support their friends business, but at the same time I was hopeful of meeting up with the others group and possibly making plans to see things together the next day in Chiang Mai. And now they were gone. I went back to the table where there was a large plate of Pad Thai waiting for me. It was inferior compared to what I had at the market several nights ago. But the drinks came from a fridge and were cold. My guide sat with a table of locals as they laughed and joke and share what I assume was rice whiskey. Our driver came and we took a long quite car ride back to Chiang Mai. Songkran had started and many of the roads in Chiang Mai where shut down for the nation wide water fight that was taking place. When we got back to my hotel I was exhausted and could not wait for a hot shower. I said my goodbyes to my guide which were quick and hurried once again because of my disappointment and our language barrier. 

I the front desk gave me my room key and my large bag, after showering I dropped off my clothes that needed to go to laundry (hey it was only $1.50) and then headed to the pool. I found the only english book in the take one, leave one pile, which happened to be about a brothel in early twentieth century rural China. It wasn't good, but it was something to read. I watched as people trailed in soaked head to toe from the water festival. It was getting dark and I was hungry and could use a massage after my river rafting, elephant riding, mountain hiking past could of days. I quickly got changed grabbed some money and headed out of the hotel. As soon as I got past the gate I was doused with a bucket of water followed by a "Happy New Year" shout by two small kids. There was no avoiding it, everywhere you looked down the street there were still people with hoses, buckets and water guns. I was going to get wet. I walked into a restaurant sat at the bar as a puddle formed below me. I looked at the menu and there were plenty of good Thai options, but what caught my eye was the bacon cheese burger that boasted Australian beef.  Its been a while since I had a good burger so I ordered one. I was joined shortly by a retired Australian engineer who was traveling Thailand as a retirement gift to himself. The thing is he got to Chiang Mai and just hasn't seem to have left for the past month. I tried not to make my usual older man in south east asia judgements. He proved to be good company as we talked about our travels and experiences. I paid my bill and headed back to my hotel. I gave up on the massage as I didn't feel like heading into the heart of the city and water fight to find a spa that looked respectable. I feel asleep fast, with little idea of what I was going to do tomorrow only knowing I had to check out at noon. 

Day 5: Hiking, Elephants and Rafting

We had a quick breakfast of enough food to feed 3 other people. My guide still didn't seem to get that I eat the same amount as a child. But we continued on out way along rice terraces, up mountains, down mountains on small foot paths. 

The tree line would change depending on the elevation, as we climbed up eventually we would be surrounded by pines. There was a familiar smell to air, the the squeaking crunch of needles as you step on the fallen layers. As we headed down the trees would become slowly more tropical until we were surrounded by bamboo thickets. My guide stopped at one point to cut down some bamboo, he went to work on it with his machete until he handed me a small cup made from the bamboo. Same as what we drank the tea out of the pervious night. 

 

Eventually we started back up another mountain. It was hot and was covered in a layer of sweat. I felt exhausted and we were maybe only half way through our hike. At the top we stopped to rest for a bit. I pulled at one my one camera, and the indicated that the elevation was just over 900m above sea level, which was about 400m higher than the valley we were just in. So based on my research I have discovered that there is no one classification system of what is a mountain. for example in the UK they just need to be 300m above sea level. The UN classification of mountains takes both into consideration height and slop. The formula is as follows: 

• Elevation of at least 2,500 m (8,200 ft);
• Elevation of at least 1,500 m (4,900 ft), with a slope greater than 2 degrees;
• Elevation of at least 1,000 m (3,300 ft), with a slope greater than 5 degrees;
• Elevation of at least 300 m (980 ft), with a 300 m (980 ft) elevation range within 7 km (4.3 mi)

So I'm no expert, and I didn't think to calculate the slope while I was out there trying not to die of a heart attack. But I'm going to go ahead and call these mountains and not hills. Granted it was no Everest (8,850m) and I can't blame altitude on my struggles because apparently that doesn't kick in until another 900m. But this was hard, and in this day I climbed three mountains.

We got to a village around 2:30 where my guide gave me to an older lady who took me through a cow field to get to a seating area overlooking a river. She opened a cooler filled with various drinks, I was so excited for something cold. I laughed as I pulled out the iced tea and water, they were the same temperature as everything else- hot. The coolers here, just like in the last place we stayed was just a place to hold things, as there was no ice up here in these remote hill tribes there never a hope for something to be cold. The drinks were refreshing though. The lady left me alone, as I sat and wondered if this is where I would be staying for the night. My guides lack of english left a lot to the imagination. I just blindly trusted that he get me where I needed to go in one piece. He returned with a steaming pot of noodle soup. It tasted good. A small kid came by and inspected what was going on. I had finished all I was going to eat and there was still over half the pot there. I grabbed a bowl and dished him up some. He was happy, my guide gave me a questioning look. I shrugged my shoulders and smiled, there was no point on the food going to waste. 

After our late lunch the guide signalled for me not follow him, I picked up my back pack which he then shook his head, "no" he said he took my bag and put it down, then mimed for camera, so picked up my camera bag and left behind back pack containing my clothes. He took me to a motor bike got on and then wave his hand and pointed to the rest of the seat behind him. "You come." What else was I to do. I climbed on the back of the motor bike. My entire time living in south east asia I have avoided motorbikes, they look like a death trap. But here in the mountains, with a guide who doesn't really speak english, and my blind trust that he won't let me die, I had no other choice. He started up the bike and we went down small paths through along the mountain, where there was pretty much a cliff on one side and steep slope on the other, and bamboo everywhere sicking out menacingly. I held on tight. At this point what pops into my head is a scene from the tv show Lost, where one character describes how he trained and used to use bamboo shards as a torture device back when he worked for the army or national guard of some scary middle eastern country (I didn't watch Lost a lot).  So as we speed down these paths all I can think is don't fall off because I do not want to be impaled by bamboo.  

We get to a spot with several huts. He stops the bike, and I get off, glad to no longer be on that thing. We wait for a couple of minutes and then I see an elephant emerge.  There is also the Mahout, the elephant trainer who is a young man an looks to be about my age. As my guide and him talk the elephant wanders through the small camp. The Mahout says something and him and the elephant head down a path to the left, my guide then tells me to come, and I follow them. We get to a platform where the two man unneedly help me climb the ladder. The elephant puts her head to the platform where the two men signal for me to get on. This admittedly is where I could have used some help. But eventual I get on and settled and the elephant takes of slowly. There I am riding an elephant bareback in this mountain jungle. I've ridden a couple different types of animals, the elephant is the most difficult by far. There's nothing to hold on to. You're there straddling their shoulders meet there neck and I was just hoping to god that I had enough thigh strength left after climbing these mountains to hold on and not fall off. 

Me and my elephant

The Mahout

So elephant took me back to the village along a path I would have not guessed would have been big enough to fit an elephant. She quickly became distracted by any fresh bamboo leaves in site, and had no problem reaching over a cliff if needed to get it. We ended up back at the edge of the village where I got off, and my guide drove us back to the the place we were before. Where we gathered our things and and walked down the steep bank to the river. There a bamboo raft was waiting for us. I changed into my water shoes. We strapped our packs to the tripod in the centre he handed me pole. We pushed off the bank of the river and started rafting down the river. 

It wasn't long before I got the handle of how to pole and navigate us along the river. My guide in the front, me in the back. My experience from canoeing and kayaking came in handy when trying to navigate the small rapid that filled the river. About a half hour into our journey two fisherman called out to my guide who responded to them, and before I knew it they had joined us on our raft. The one man came to the back and took my pole, while the other stayed at the front as he cast his net out and would real it back in with hopes of fish. Along the bottom of his net where stings of pop can tabs used to weight down the net. They stayed for us for about forty-five minutes until the jumped off the raft, handed my guide some fish, and when their own way. I was at the back once again, poling, until after a bend in the river we emerged at a place where several building stood. And in the river there were white people, off to the side of the river I see a couple riding an elephant. I was excited. Friends! Some of the guys in the river shouted out to me "WHERE ARE YOU FROM!" I was shocked and replied "Canada" but voice was hoarse from not speaking in two days that later that night as we sat at the table the told me that they had thought I said Holland, which is why they shouted back something I didn't understand, obviously because it was dutch. 

Our raft

A woman cleans a slaughter pig by the river for dinner. 

There was no shower that this place, but I went and washed up in the river, where I met two of the people who were staying there. One was a man who looked to be near his 60s from Israel, the other a guy in his twenties from France, the invited me to join there group in the evening for some card games and drinks in the evening, they were staying in the next house over. After dinner of fish, chicken curry, rice and stir fried vegetables topped off with deep fried bananas I headed over to make to meet the other travellers. I explained this to my guide, I'm not sure if he full understood, but he looked disappointed in my decision. It was nice to be surrounded by other people I could talk to. They were on a similar tour to me, they had been hiking for two days and had just hiked into the village about half an hour before I arrived by raft. They're guide spoke english, their group made up of Israelis, French, Dutch, and British. It's what I had hoped for. They told me about their adventures, and we talked about our lives back home. We played cards, which was Uno, and games the could make up using Uno cards, because that was the only deck that someone had brought. Their guide, Sunshine, asked me if it would be ok if two of the group joined me on my raft tomorrow as we were all headed to the same place, and they had odd number of people for the rafts. I said said sure, and told me that the one of the French girls and the British guy would be joining me. It was a fun night and then got late and I headed back to my own guest house. I went into my room, where fourteen empty mattress were laid out on the floor,  with fourteen mosquito nets,  I choose one and went to bed with the sound of the river below me. 

Day 4: Hiking the Thailand Hills

Every time I book a trip with hiking hills and mountains I think "this is going to be fun" and then I do it and its not fun. Its painful. The entire time my legs hurt, my knees and hip joints feel like their going to break. Its awful. I love trees, I love nature, but it is clear that my body is not made for hiking mountains. So the next time I tell you that "I've book a wonderful 3 day hiking trip through mountains" you can slap me. And then redirect me to this blog post.

That being said here's my hiking adventure. I'm picked up by my guide who doesn't speak english. We get into a truck with a driver that doesn't speak english, and mother and her 5 year old child who barely speak english. We drive an hour out of town, stop at a market to get some supplies, the food for tonight. Then we drive another hour to this area where me, my guide and the mother and child (whose name is Lemon) hike to a waterfall.

This entire vacation I had been trying to be culturally respectful. Women are not supposed to intact much with monks, you're not supposed to touch them, or stand to close to them, its encouraged not to look them in the eye, and most of all keep covered. Well we get to this waterfall and there are monks everywhere, mostly younger boys and teens, and they're hanging out on the rock, they're swimming, and pretty much all of them are naked, including some of the older monks. I had no idea how to be culturally respectful in this situation. Lemon wanted to swim, but it was clear her mother wasn't sure about this, and wasn't going to go in. Then she looked to me, at this point Lemon was now my best friend. My arms has freckles and my hair was curly and it was super interesting. So her mother turns to me and says "You, Lemon" and then point to the water, and smiles. So I went swimming with Lemon which then officially made me the coolest person ever, of course she was unable to communicate that, do to everyones lack of english. So we went swimming with a bunch of naked monks, Lemon in her underwear, me in bathing suit.

Me and Lemon at the waterfall 

Lemon and her mother

Today was the first day of Thai New Year and it is celebrated with a giant water fight that last for 5 days 

Lemon

We continued on with our hike, eventually Lemon and her mom were able to catch a motorbike on one of the wider trails and head off on their own. 

My guide cuts me a walking stick 

Mountain views

I was so sweaty and hot at this point

View of the village

Once at the small village I was able to drop off my stuff and take a quick cold shower. The shower was a hose that was lashed to a pole in a small dark corrugated metal shed. The water was more of a trickle that an actual stream, and therefore there was no hope in being able to wash my hair properly. But it was refreshing. 

After that my guide had me follow him around the village while he talked to many of the inhabitants, I smiling clueless beside him. 

The village is small, consisting of 32 families and 228 people

We ran into Lemon and her mom in the village visiting her family

A woman feeding her pig

I slept in the room above the cows

We had a meal of chicken, curry, rice, fruit and fried veggies. It was way too much food for me, but my guide kept pushing me to eat more and I didn't want to be disrespectful but it was far too much food.

I read my book by candle light, with the lack of conversation or entertainment and managed to finish the whole thing off, with still another night to go. I went to bed at 9 and was woken up frequently every time the cows mooed or there was a dog barking, the roosters started just before five and sleeping after that was pointless. I laid in my mosquito net, on a small mattress on the floor and watch the sun creep into the bamboo hatching.