Our hiking through the forest was hot and humid. Let's just say I think people could smell us a mile away. The forest itself was lush, and we were occasionally rewarded with views of the hills around us, and high termite and ant hills along the path. Our Thai guides were quite funny, telling us stories, singing in Thai as we hiked, and admirably being very persistent in their English. We arrived at the end of the afternoon at the first hill tribe (Hmong) village - about 11 buildings all made of wood, and with dirt paths connecting them. Children and animals (mostly hen, roosters and dogs) roamed freely around.
The kids were adorable! They seem to be able to entertain themselves so well with simple things - water, climbing trees (the girls were doing this!), and some game that involved running across the path between houses screaming. I joined them in playing with the water. The task appeared to entail digging a hole and damming it up on the other side to create a pool from the flowing water. (Being Dutch of course this is a familiar concept). All items were put to use.. the mud from the hole, pebble sized rocks, pieces of wood (mostly bamboo), grass clumps (deforestation not being of concern for a 4 year old), and occasional trash (soda cans.. which I was disappointed to see). One boy was quite intent on this process and accepted the rocks and clumps of mud I handed his way with a seriousness that was impressive. He had one only a t-shirt (originally probably white, but judging from its current shades of brown mud was a common ingredient in his daily games) I had to smile that apparently accessorizing, appeared more important than pants. And there was much speculation amongst us as to what was contained in his small purse hanging across his body. Another boy seeing me helping, began offering items as well. With a mischievous twinkle he would hand over a grass clump to the other boy, and simultaneously with his foot, scratch away a corner of the barrier in front of me. Seeing this of course I put up loud protest and made gestures to tickle him or poke him in the belly. He found this wonderfully amusing and he would retreat with giggles.. only to repeat the process again a few seconds later. Hmm what is that about positive reinforcement of negative behavior?
That night we had a good meal prepared by our guides and spent the rest of the evening by a fire. For a while a few adults of the village joined us, and a few kids sleepily draped on their legs before being ushered off to bed. We heard that the there is no school in the village, and when the kids are about 12 or so they board at a school several hours away. Occasionally a teacher comes to a nearby village to teach, and the younger children go there. The adults work the fields in the hills around the village - they have cabbage, banana trees, fruit trees, and a few other vegetables. Unfortunately their village was to high to grow rice. They bring their wares to Chiang Mai to be sold at the market, which is about 4 hours away by car. They have one car in the village which with great difficulty navigates the dirt path leaving the village.
We slept on raised wooden platforms in a wooden house with no windows. None of the houses/buildings had windows, only one or two doors. We were given wool blankets and a 3 inch high square pillow. The other members of the group complained of roosters waking them up at 5 o'clock in the a.m., but I had put in my earplugs so slept through (the guides had warned us it was noisy in the morning).
The second day we hiked through alternating rice fields, on hill ridges, and dirt roads used by the tribes. It was less hot, and we had stunning views. We passed by another family who was harvesting their rice crop, and living in the shelter by their fields. Everyone was there, from grandma, to little one. The mothers wear the little ones slung in a cloth wrapped around their body.
After lunch we stopped at a small elephant camp in the forest. They took us for an hour elephant ride in the hills by the camp. Peter and I sat on a small bench on the back of our elephant. She was 30 years old, wrinkles everywhere, however, unlike humans this is probably not age related. She had a penchant for scratching herself. This was fascinating to see. It either entailed picking up a stick for the hard to reach spots like the belly and inner legs, or twigs for her ears and ankles. She sometimes also broke off small sections of branches with leaves and all and swat her head and ears (this came in quite close proximity to us.. well our feet. She also strategically picked trees to rub against, and one time a log to sit and rub scratch her rear. During this time Peter and I would be rocked to and fro holding tightly to the rails trying not to fall off the elephant. Our travel companions who were ridding ahead of us were much amused by this. Their elephant did not engage in random rubbing and scratching - only frequent stops. At which time our elephant almost ran into her. Our elephant also appeared to enjoy spraying dirt onto her head, so at strategic points we would suddenly see the trunk appear in front of us by her forehead, and be showered with dirt and a little bit of elephant spittle. Needless to say there was lots of protests and laughing on our trip. I am smiling just thinking of it again.
Our second night we stayed at the Karen hill tribe's village. They had wooden houses on stilts, under which they cooked and keep their animals. They had more traditional wear, more pigs and no car. Unlike the other village they had windows in their houses, and the main crop was rice. However, their children had access to a school an hour walk away. Again the children were very cute. I had brought pencils with me to give them (we heard they could use them in school) and sat down sharpening them. They slowly approached to watch, squatting around me. When I finished a pencil and gave it to one of them, they smiled briefly and "wai"ed me (hands in prayer position under chin) and then retreat few inches. I also squatted and did a little bit of doodling/drawing, which they also sat and watched. One of the mom's with her baby came over too. The other adults were returning from the fields or preparing meals.
I had been a bit nervous about entering the tribes villages -fearing a tourist show atmosphere, or and impingement on their life. However, we typically arrived at the end of the day when the adults were returning from the fields. The children would watch us and giggle, and then continue with their games. The adults seemed to continue with their schedule occaisionlly looking at us, more to check on their kids I think than to stare at us. In the morning we would rise, have breakfast, pack our bags and hit the trail. Again the village had already begun it's daily schedule.
The last day we hiked through the rice fields and along the river feeding the irrigation of the fields, which was stunning! We were picked up by the truck and taken to a nearby village. There we hoped on a hand made bamboo raft and poled our way down the river. Very different than any other river experience, because you stand on the raft with a long bamboo stick in your hand pushing off the bottom. Peter had an even more exciting trip because he was on the back of the raft. At turns, we would sometimes have to duck under branches of trees and the back of the raft would just slide by. Peter had a nice forehead scar to show as a battle wound - nothing serious, but he was proud of it :) [verry funny!, ph].
We ended our day with a tour of two modern stupas errected for the king and queen on top of a high peak. Interesting for their acoustics (echo) and modern style compared to the other temples we have seen. Unfortunately the view was fogged in. We stopped at a large beautiful waterfall on the way back. By this point we were quite tired, and on the ride home it poured with rain. We had to pull down the flaps on the sides of the truck cover, some of which worked others we had to hold down so we would not get soaked. Luckily we had not had any rain during the day, and at this point did not care since we were almost home.
Okay... that was long... Can you tell I did not write in the journal yet? I hope it is not too lengthy and boring. Overall the trip was fantastic, we enjoyed being outside of the city and seeing nature.