Thai jungle

Hiking across a field of marigolds

Hiking in the jungle was ... different than I had imagined. I had no idea it would be so hot and unbelievably humid. I was dripping with sweat all the way. Now I understand why all the hiking tours end with water sports: after sweating for two days and sleeping in a hill tribe village without water and electricity, there is nothing that could keep a group of tourists away from jumping into the river at first opportunity.

A makeshift Seven Eleven shop

As we hiked up the mountain towards the hill tribe village where we would spend the night, we didn’t have to bother carrying lots of water to replace all the sweat. The local people set up makeshift Seven Eleven shops with hiking necessities along the way. Beer, Coke, water, and snacks were available whenever we wanted them. I downed a cold Chang beer when we reached our destination. I so deserved it, not from the hiking itself, which wasn’t too strenuous, but from suffering in the stifling humidity.

Hill tribe village

We were told that there is no electricity in the hill tribe villages and we had to use headlamps to find our way after dark. We did notice, however, that the local people all have mobile phones and wondered how they recharge them. A short stroll through the village gave us the answer: they do have a few solar panels. Life in the village is pretty basic. Small children, chickens and cats run around freely. In the evening, the women of the village convened in a clearing where they smoked and gossiped. And laughed at us tourists, who knows what they were saying about us. Unfortunately they didn’t speak any English so we couldn’t communicate.

Crossing rivers

After our night in the village we descended a different way than where we came up. It was very steep and slippery due to frequent rains. Almost each one of us in our group slipped and fell down into the mud at least once along the way. The path ended at a waterfall where our guide invited us to take a shower. Yes! Cold water after two days in the hot jungle! We all jumped right in.

Waterfall to cool off

The vegetation in the jungle is made up of many plants that are grown as houseplants or annuals back home. I recognized bamboo, bananas, hibiscus, and for some reason that I haven’t yet figured out they seem to cultivate marigolds (tagetes) in fields. Some interesting wild animals that we encountered included termites, huge spiders, beautiful butterflies, and this fellow, about 20 centimeters long (I'm not exaggerating!):

Unknown animal

The guide told us that it may bite and it is poisonous. If anyone knows what it is, let me know.

On the tourist trail

Riding an elephant

We all have the same Lonely Planet guides. We all visit the same places, take the same tours, stay at the same hotels, and eat at the same restaurants. So it's no wonder that it's all touristy wherever I go. Even the Lonely Planet guide warns that the hill tribe villages specialize in Coca Cola and souvenirs. Still I underestimated the tourist factor when I booked my hiking tour.

I only wanted to go hiking. I can’t go alone into the jungle in a remote place so I had to book a tour. There were dozens of tour options to choose from, none of them just for hiking. When I asked the agent for a tour with “no elephants, no rafting”, she dug through the many leaflets and all she could offer was a visit to the orchid farm. While I’m not generally opposed to orchid farms, it’s not the kind of hiking I had in mind. In the end I had to choose one of the tours that included elephants and rafting in addition to hiking.

I’m not much of an animal lover so I decided just riding an elephant was enough, rather than also feeding, training, and bathing the beast as some tours included. I’m not much of a water sport fan so I wanted to avoid rafting. But all the hikes go up the mountain to a hill tribe village and descend by way of water one way or another. Rather than whitewater rafting I chose bamboo rafting which seemed calmer. It’s just a raft made of bamboo poles tied together and it floats on the final leg of the river where it’s very flat and shallow.

Long neck woman

The tour included a side trip to what they call the “long neck” village near Mae Raem. The village is populated by the Kayan people of Burmese origin, whose women wear rings on their necks. According to the Wikipedia, the village makes a living self-sufficiently on tourist revenue. I have to say they do their jobs well. The entire village reminds me of a Hollywood movie set, all prettied up and ready for filming. The people in the village, including children, are dressed in what I believe to be costumes. Whenever a tourist points a camera, they immediately snap into a smiling pose. Each house sells souvenirs such as hand woven shawls or jewelry and they also demonstrate how it is made. There is a school in the village where children sing happy songs (a performance for the tourists rather than a music lesson was my impression).

Children in the long neck village

I don’t know what to think about the situation in this village. In a way, I find it fortunate that the people take advantage of a source of income that allows them to make a living, even if it means being on display for tourists. On the other hand, is this really an authentic village, where everything is staged to look pretty and happy?

***

There was one more tourist related incident on this trip. Our group stopped for lunch in a restaurant before we started hiking. Another group of tourists came along and they were making a scene. We could tell they were English guys, totally plastered and it was only lunchtime. To ensure they wouldn’t run out of fuel, they each carried a plastic bag with extra cans of beer.

Raining again (yes, an elephant is passing by)

As luck would have it, it started raining during lunch. Both of our groups had to get going because we were on a schedule, so we bought raincoats from a vendor outside the restaurant and got going. One of the guys in the drunken party decided he didn’t want a raincoat and just stripped naked, displaying a large Arsenal tattoo on his back (he also displayed his entire front obviously, but I thought it best not to take photos of that side, I don’t want my blog to be flagged as a site with inappropriate content). 

Drunk Arsenal fan

We laughed at first, but we were hiking through a village area where local people could observe the wonderful tourist behavior which was far from funny. The guide frantically tried to get the guy to put on pants, to no avail. Someone from the village must have called the police, because eventually a policeman on a motorcycle caught up with us. Our group continued our hike while the drunken guys had to deal with the police. I don’t know how it ended, I can only say that once again I am disappointed at the impression tourists leave when they visit foreign countries.

Trains and monsoon rains

All bundled up on the night train

Choosing transportation from Bangkok to Chiang Mai was easy. After three years of work-related frequent night train commuting between Ljubljana and Belgrade, it felt natural to take the night train to Chiang Mai instead of the bus or flying. The Thai train was much nicer compared to the Serbian trains I used to ride to Belgrade. It was spacious and clean, an orderly came to make our beds, and porters served food and drinks in the evening and in the morning. My only complaint would be the air conditioning which was set too cold for my comfort. I had to dig up my warm fleece jacket which I had packed at the very bottom of my backpack in Bangkok, believing I wouldn’t need it in the foreseeable future.

I made it to my hotel in Chiang Mai just in time before it started raining, again. October is the last month of the monsoon season so it doesn’t rain every day any more, but there are still occasional downpours. This is my first experience with monsoon rains and I can confirm that a monsoon rain is as if someone suddenly turned on the water faucet on full and then just as suddenly turned it off. It’s hot and humid before and after the rain, and it just slightly cools down while it is actually pouring. I encountered one such downpour in Bangkok a few days ago, but not to worry, there are plenty of roofed bus stations and roof overhangs where one can take cover in such situations. An umbrella isn’t helpful because the rain comes from all directions and I was wet even while standing in the shelter adjacent to this one:

Monsoon rain

There are several temples in Chiang Mai and I took a quick stroll to look around. I noticed a group of school age teenagers near the temples, taking photos of each other. The school kids around here are easily recognizable due to their uniforms. Their favorite activity seems to be taking photos of each other and of themselves. I witnessed such photographing sessions on several occasions in Bangkok as well as on the night train. I shared a compartment with a teenage girl who was traveling alone and she appeared to be constantly taking photos of herself on her mobile phone. I then asked her to take my photo with my camera (the one above) and she happily obliged.

Temples and teenagers in Chiang Mai

So far, all the Thai people I came in contact with were kind and friendly. Even if they don’t speak English they know how to smile and I can usually communicate what I want by pointing and gestures. Sadly, I can’t say the same for other tourists. Many of them prefer to mind their own business. True, I didn’t come all the way to Thailand to socialize with other European tourists especially since I’m not much of a talker myself. But some of them don't even say “Good morning” when we share a table for breakfast.