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)
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.
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| Me and my elephant |
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| 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.
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| Our raft |
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| 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.
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