Slept remarkably well last night. We both awoke at 7:30am and spent the morning having breakfast and packing for our tour with Chok Chai tours.
We were picked up at 10:30am and joined a group of six girls in the back of a truck with open sides. It was lovely and hot, so the open sides of the truck were a real bonus.
Our first stop was the nearby orchid and butterfly farm. The orchids were stunning and the way they grow them all in long rows hanging on wires is fascinating. I couldn't believe the colour and size of the flowers. Mum would have been in her element, as a self-confessed orchid fanatic.
Clearly Amber wasn't going to join me in the butterfly flight area, what with being terrified of them, but to be honest she didn't miss much. They had a few recently emerged Atlas moths - bigger than my hand - but all the other species were brown or white and deeply uninspiring.
After the farm we visited a long-neck tribe. The village was just off the main road leading out of Chiang Mai and as far as I could tell appeared to have been constructed purely so tourists could gawp at the women with all the rings around their necks and take photos. It felt really wrong to be taking any photos because the villagers seemed to be on show like animals at a zoo. I still took photos, because some of them had really long necks and it was a privilege to meet them, but the whole thing left the taste of exploitation in my mouth.
Next on the agenda was buying provisions and then driving to the starting point for our trek. Here we had a delicious fried rice lunch.
The first part of the trek was largely downhill through bamboo forest. We stopped at a cave containing a handful of bats and then walked on to the Lahu village, where we stopped for what turned out to be the first of far too many rests today. The village was great. Lovely bamboo houses up on stilts, dusty dogs, proud chickens and really sweet kids running amok. Plus I got some great shots of tree dragons of various species.
At this point I should discuss Anna. No, not the famous pop group, but our guide for these two days. Firstly, he has a young tree squirrel on a cord, which he fastens to his shirt collar with a carabena. This in itself is fine. The squirrel is adorable. However he spends most of his time talking to the squirrel instead of telling the group about the forest and wildlife!
To give him his due, he does know what he's talking about whenever he does get around to spotting something of interest. His knowledge of fruit trees has been excellent and he did show us a pod from a dried out vine that turned out to be a loofah!
No, the only real problem with today has been the pace. Some of our fellow travellers don't seem very cut out for trekking and it has been seriously slow going. Fine earlier in the day when I could entertain myself with lizard photography, but not so great when we were really close to the Pradong village and we kept having to stop when all I wanted to do was get to the village and soak in the stream. Amber found it fairly frustrating too. I guess were used to having to work harder on treks in Costa Rica.
Anyway, we got to the village in the end and it has been great fun. The young girl in the family befriended me and we had a good laugh chucking water around whilst soaking in their man made bathing pool. This was simply a dammed up section of the stream and just what I needed after a day in such hot weather.
After washing in the stream we had a delicious meal of chicken curry with rice and salad and then braved the hideous squat toilets before retiring to our communal raised bamboo dorm. Currently the entire group is sleeping on straw mats on the raised floor of a bamboo hut. All I can hear is the sound if cicadas and Amber breathing in my ear. The forest sounds so busy, but all the droning is making me feel calm and sleepy.
Looking forward to tomorrow and the next stage of our adventure.
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Monday, 11 April 2011
Getting to Chiang Mai and our first evening
What a fantastic end to a long day of travelling.
Amber's mum dropped us of at Heathrow around 6pm and after the usual making sure we had at least one aisle seat we headed straight through to the departure lounge in Terminal 3. I bought myself a much needed new pair of Oakleys in anticipation of several days of glorious sunshine ahead and we grabbed a bite at a well known coffee chain to tide us over until food on the plane.
Once on the plane we were horrified to find out that our Thai airways flight didn't have personal in-seat entertainment. Luckily for us they compensated with plenty of leg room, fabulous food and complimentary alcohol. Result!
As luck would have it, we ended up sat next to a nice chap called Andy who had been to Thailand twelve times and was full of stories and recommendations. This time he was flying out to meet his Thai girlfriend in the North East, as she is expecting and he is hoping to move out to Thailand permanently, so needed to research his options. I had to bite my tongue when he started spouting animal 'facts' he'd learned from a tour guide on a previous trip. But not his fault the guy had fed him a load of BS.
The flight was as smooth as silk and despite initial concerns over the lack of personal screens, the time flew by. It only took us 10 hours and 45 minutes to get to Bangkok.
Our connecting flight up to Chiang Mai was equally straightforward and before we knew it we were getting out of a cab outside Nichar's house after paying only a mildly extortionate 180 baht fare. To give some background, Nichar is the girlfriend of Pete, one of my friends from uni. Nichar kindly offered us the guest room in her parents' house in Chiang Mai, despite the fact we've never met her before. So grateful.
As expected, Nichar is lovely and has already outdone herself by taking us to dinner at The Riverside for an exquisite Thai meal with live music overlooking the river. Couple this with an ice cold Chang beer and you've got my recipe for an awesome chilled out introduction to our next adventure.
We even managed to fit in our first rides on a song tao and a tuc tuc! Amazing.
Plus Nichar showed us our first ever Tokay gecko in the flesh. I've seen hundreds in reptile shops in the UK, but to see a wild adult is a real treat.
Amber was just saying how great it is to meet someone for the first time and feel instantly at ease, like you've known them for ages. She's dead right.
Amber's mum dropped us of at Heathrow around 6pm and after the usual making sure we had at least one aisle seat we headed straight through to the departure lounge in Terminal 3. I bought myself a much needed new pair of Oakleys in anticipation of several days of glorious sunshine ahead and we grabbed a bite at a well known coffee chain to tide us over until food on the plane.
Once on the plane we were horrified to find out that our Thai airways flight didn't have personal in-seat entertainment. Luckily for us they compensated with plenty of leg room, fabulous food and complimentary alcohol. Result!
As luck would have it, we ended up sat next to a nice chap called Andy who had been to Thailand twelve times and was full of stories and recommendations. This time he was flying out to meet his Thai girlfriend in the North East, as she is expecting and he is hoping to move out to Thailand permanently, so needed to research his options. I had to bite my tongue when he started spouting animal 'facts' he'd learned from a tour guide on a previous trip. But not his fault the guy had fed him a load of BS.
The flight was as smooth as silk and despite initial concerns over the lack of personal screens, the time flew by. It only took us 10 hours and 45 minutes to get to Bangkok.
Our connecting flight up to Chiang Mai was equally straightforward and before we knew it we were getting out of a cab outside Nichar's house after paying only a mildly extortionate 180 baht fare. To give some background, Nichar is the girlfriend of Pete, one of my friends from uni. Nichar kindly offered us the guest room in her parents' house in Chiang Mai, despite the fact we've never met her before. So grateful.
As expected, Nichar is lovely and has already outdone herself by taking us to dinner at The Riverside for an exquisite Thai meal with live music overlooking the river. Couple this with an ice cold Chang beer and you've got my recipe for an awesome chilled out introduction to our next adventure.
We even managed to fit in our first rides on a song tao and a tuc tuc! Amazing.
Plus Nichar showed us our first ever Tokay gecko in the flesh. I've seen hundreds in reptile shops in the UK, but to see a wild adult is a real treat.
Amber was just saying how great it is to meet someone for the first time and feel instantly at ease, like you've known them for ages. She's dead right.
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