Trekking Around Chiang Mai

One of the reasons for heading up North was to do a three-day trek out of Chiang Mai. Our guest house (Libra House) set up our trek. We could choose from a 1-day, 2-day, or 3-day trek. The 1-day didn't seem long enough and the 2-day seemed ok, but we decided to embark on the 3-day trek. This included 3-days of trekking, bamboo rafting, elephant trekking and 2 nights of sleeping in hill tribe villages (one night with the Laohu and one night with the Lizu tribes - spelling is probably not correct).

There were 6 of us who went on the trek - Keith and me, an Aussie named Jodie, Jenny and Kristen from San Diego, and our guide Toto. The group seemed fun enough so we all climbed into the back of the pick up truck with our bags (day bags so we didn't have to carry too much stuff) and got ready for our 4 hour truck ride up into the mountains. We were heading really far into Northern Thailand and when we got out to start our hiking we were only about 8 kilometers south of the Burma border. I don't think I was the only one up for an interesting hike to the north, but we decided to head south instead.

The first day was about an 8-10km hike, but we gained a lot of elevation and it was pretty hot out. Luckily, it was also somewhat overcast and the sun was not directly shining on us. Since this was Keith's third day in the climate he was not very well adjusted. He ended up getting heat stroke on the way to the village, but finished the hike like a trooper. Once to the village he was able to take a cold "shower" (think big bucket of cold water with a smaller bucket used to dump upon ones self) and cool off a bit.

The rest of us were fairing better, but were a little tired. We all took our "showers" eventually and then hung out with the Laohu tribe and took a look around their village. (When I say hung out it pretty much means that we did our thing and they just watched us - there was not a lot of interaction between the two groups). It was interesting to see their village and we ended up sleeping on mats in an elevated bamboo hut (thank goodness there were mosquito nets). Keith slept and let his body recover while the rest of us ate dinner and then hung out playing cards for a while more. Then it was off to bed to get ready for the next day.

Day two started with more trekking. We ended up doing about 10km to the lunch village. This did included crossing (on foot) a couple of rivers (nothing like walking through thigh high rushing water to wake you up in the morning) and a couple of mountains (I think we crossed three the second day). The hiking was still a little strenuous (especially in the heat), but it was easier than the day before and the heat stroke was not repeated.

After a great lunch we got a bit of fun. Instead of hiking the next 12km to the Lizu village (this is where our guide grew up) we got to take a bamboo raft (think a bunch of bamboo logs tied together and that is the raft). It was a little wet at times since there was nothing to keep the water from coming through the logs, but it was really fun. We went over rapids on our raft (it was about 4-5 meters long and had a stand to put our backpacks on to keep the dry) and had to duck under some branches and a couple of fallen trees, but it was an amazing ride. To finish it off we got to go over a small waterfall (kind of a dam/waterfall). It really looked scarier than it was, but Jodie and I were sitting in the front of the raft so we got soaked - I am always up for fun times like that.

The second night was much like the first with some eating, card playing and sleeping under mosquito nets in a bamboo hut. Even the "showers" were the same, but this time Kristen got sick right as we got to camp. I don't know what was plaguing her, but after dinner Jenny started feeling a bit ill and then a bit later so did Jodie. By the end of the night Keith and I were the only ones who were actually sleeping (the other girls were taking turns running to the bathroom to be sick). I don't know what it was, but I am kind of glad I did not get it.

Although the three other girls were still feeling a bit punkish the next day they, impressively, decided to continue with the planned itinerary. We headed off on a truck for a half hour ride to where our next trek began. Then we trekked for about a half hour before reaching our destination (a huge cave). This cave was amazing and really fun to go through. We had headlamps since it was so dark and long. We went down some pretty sketchy ladders into the depths of the cave, did a tiny bit of rock climbing to get back up to a path, saw a bunch of bats along the way, took some pictures and enjoyed our time in the cave (who wouldn't). Unfortunately, most of the other people with me were feeling pretty gross so the time in the cave was not enough. We didn't really get the chance to look around as much as I would like to, but we also had other fun things to get to.

Enter the elephants. Yup, we did the great tourist activity of riding elephants. After the cave we ate a quick lunch, jumped in the truck and headed for the elephant trekking. Unfortunately, when we got there Jodie was feeling pretty bad so she did not go. Instead she stayed in the truck while the other 4 of us hopped on two different elephants (Keith and I shared while Kristen and Jenny shared) and took off into the jungle (more like following a well used road, but you get the idea). We started out riding on the elephants back on one of the flat benches that you see on elephant rides (of course there are so many in the US you definitely know what I am talking about. After about a half and hour, however, I got to sit "bare back" on the elephants neck. Talk about the craziest ride I have been on!

Whenever the elephant would move I would get jostled a bit and I thought I was going to fall off the high animal a couple of times. (Keith just sat in the "saddle" with our guide and laughed.) The other kind of weird part was the elephant would eat vegetation along the way so it would dip its head (with me on its neck) and get plants and bamboo (it would break bamboo trees off near the ground and just crunch away - the bamboo was probably about 4cm in diameter so it was not little). Needless to say it was an interesting ride trying to balance on the neck while the elephant did pretty much whatever it wanted.

One of the coolest things was that you could feed the elephant bananas while riding it. We had a couple of bananas and if you tapped on the elephants head it would curl its trunk up and grab a banana from your hands. It was amazing and the trunk was pretty accurate.

The trip lasted about an hour and I think we all had a great time (maybe not the elephants, but the rest of us did). One thing I liked about this trek was the fact that the elephants were turned loose in the jungle after the ride. It was not like the other elephant rides I had seen where the elephants were then chained up in the area for tourists to gawk at (instead we just gawked at them while they were unsaddled and turned out into the wild).

After the elephants the trek was over. We headed back to Chiang Mai to take a hot shower, do some laundry and simply relax. It was a great trip and I would do it again in a heartbeat. If you would like to do a fun trek that takes you away from the tourists I would recommend the one from Libra House. The trekking is not as easy as other companies, but I am crazy enough to like that kind of thing.