Thailand - Day 3

Day 3
Woohoo! This is the first day of our trek in Chiang Mai! After having a lovely Thai/International breakfast in our hotel, we met our trek guide. His name is Kai. He's the coolest guy. So laid back and mellow. We later concluded that he was high the whole time. Hahaha. Our group jumped into the back of a sawngthaew, a small truck with two rows of seats in its bed.


After picking up a few more trekkers, we were finally on our way! After a simple lunch, we started with an elephant ride. It felt a little odd contributing to the enslavement of elephants, but that's just the way things are done here, I guess. And it's been this way for a looong time. Sucked it up and hoisted myself onto the elephant.

The ride itself was very interesting. He constantly stopped to forage for food. We threw him bananas and bamboo which he happily received. Though the ride was short, the scenery wasn't lacking in any way. The most exciting part of the ride was when our elephant decided to flirt with the downward slope. VERY downward. We were all afraid we would tumble down the tiny hill he was so intrigued with. Fortunately for us, our guide managed to get him back on the main road. Whew!


After taking some photos with the posed elephants, we started our trek. This has got to be my favorite hike. The difficulty level was perfect. Not too easy and not too hard. Incline was great. There were numerous stream crossings with little waterfalls sprinkled throughout. The foliage was lovely. Lush and green. There were patches of bamboo and banana trees. It was absolutely beautiful. The view we came upon as we inched closer to the village was gorgeous. We were amazed with the rice paddies surrounding us and the sleepy hills lying in the distance. The village belonging to the Lahu tribe was perched on top of one hills to the right.

Oh yeah, another interesting thing I saw was a bunch of funnel-like cobwebs. Very cool!


This village we stayed in was very rustic. It sort of reminded me of the small town my grandma lives in. Wooden huts standing on stilts. Dogs, cats, roosters, and hens roaming around. The outhouse brought back familiar smells of sewage and dirt. Aaaaah... Fond memories. JK! Kai told us the Lahu village originated from Burma. This particular village started their lives here on this specific hilltop about forty years ago.


We unpacked and waited for dinner to be served. We waited. And waited. In the meantime, we were rummaging through our sacks looking for candy and dried foods. We finally thought they had forgotten about us. But alas! Dinner was finally served! All twelve of the trekkers gathered in the common area right outside of our sleeping quarters. Large helpings of curry, sauteed vegies, fried chicken, and rice were set for us on the rattan mats. As we were eating, Kai strummed the guitar and sang well-known songs like "Hey Jude." Eating by candlelight and being surrounded by friends and music made this meal very memorable.


We retreated back into our little sleeping area thinking we were to receive massages by the Lahu women. They kneaded our tired bodies, but I wouldn't necessarily call them "massages." I was glad I wore long pants and socks, because I swear she sloughed off a layer of skin from my arms when she "massaged" those with her callused hands.


Shortly after all the "masseuses" left, we were nvited outside again for some Korean barbecue. Four members of our group had purchased some fatty pork and whiskey to share with the entire group. That was very nice of them! We all gathered around the fire and helping them in anyway with our headlamps. We asked if our friend, Eric, could play a few songs on the guitar, and he humbly said that he can play just a little. Turns out he can play more than just a little. We sang along to Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, and a bunch of other songs that night. After Eric retired the guitar, we flipped through a song book Kai had left behind and started singing verses here and there. It was really fun and relaxing. During this whole barbecue and singing session, a wonderful black dog, by the name of Tony, joined us. His owner shooed him away more than once, but he kept creeping back. At one point, he stared into my friend's eyes, lifted his paw, and put it in her hand. That was so cute. =) We stayed up pretty late that night, later than all of the other villagers, I bet.

I believe it was already past one by the time the last group wiggled into their beds, well, mattresses. All candles have been blown out. All headlamps turned off. There is, of course, no electricity here in this remote village. As the night grew older, the air became colder. I had already layered on all of my clothes, but was still shivering. The mattress didn't offer much support and I could feel the hardness of the wooden floors against my back. I was cold, uncomfortable, and was drifting in and out of sleep for the entire night. Roosters were already crowing hours before dawn. Ear plugs couldn't eliminate all of the sounds. A long night was ahead of me. As I was drifting out at one point, I heard footsteps walking along the middle aisle of our sleeping quarters. I opened my eyes, but it was pitch black in there. Eric was sleeping to the right of me, and he was the last person in our lineup. I just assumed he had gotten up to use the outhouse and turned off his light when he got inside. I heard these footsteps two or three times that night. I was starting to get annoyed with these people who keep walking back and forth. Do they have no consideration for the people who are trying to sleep?

The next morning, I asked Eric if he had used the restroom in the middle of the night. Although he barely slept that night due to my same discomforts, he did not get up to use the restroom. Hmm... how odd. He suggested maybe a dog had walked through. I bought this idea since it was highly unlikely that anyone in our quarters would walk around in the heart of darkness.

Days later, this somehow came up again. Another friend, Giselle, had heard the same footsteps! We were convinced they were human footsteps. They had the weight of one, and they were definitely two-legged. Well, we've jumped to the conclusion that we have spent the night in a haunted remote village. I know that there are many skeptics out there, but I guess none of us will ever know for sure...