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| Lunchtime: A baby elephant feeds on vegetation in northern Thailand |
The sound of a bell in the middle of the northern Thailand jungle stopped me in my tracks. Above me on a hill to my left, a cherub-faced Asian elephant stood grazing on overgrown vegetation. Its probably the closest I'll come to seeing an elephant in the wild - this one that we've seen at the start of our two-day trek belongs to an elephant camp nearby. Elephant trainers, or mahouts, teach them commands which years ago would have been used to put the elephants to work in the jungle (possibly still the case) though more likely now for trekking with travellers.
The trek takes us 12 kilometres, mostly uphill, through jungle, over streams and through sticky rice fields (not that the rice fields themselves are sticky - its the kind of rice they grow) to Lahu Village where we spend the night on a mountain by candle light and mosquito net. It was different to my Sa Pa experience in northern Vietnam. Firstly, it rained almost all of the first day leaving the 12 of us and our guide Eddy soaked right through. Even my change of clothes which were in my backpack is slightly wet. The jungle setting also means mosquitoes. Lots of mosquitoes.
I'm growing quite fond of trekking. Something about getting away from the city, seeing and feeling more of the countryside, a better appreciation of the simple dinner at the end and feeling like you've earned it.
The start of the trek (a package deal), however, was a case of having to endure before getting to the good stuff. I don't think we hit the track until after midday (we were picked up about 9.30). The first stop was an Orchid farm - nice enough, but flowers don't tend to get me too excited. The next two, a snake farm/ show and a long neck village, seem depressing and exploitative. The snake trainers knew what they were doing, but seemed to show little respect for the reptiles. One put the head of a snake in his mouth and the other trainers seeming flippant and were unnecessarily aggravating the snakes. It was not a place I would have gone to of my own free will.
The village seemed like it was set up for tourists with the women, who lengthen their necks and legs using gold bangles, selling woven knick-knacks like a sideshow attraction. I felt bad even having my camera out. It may have been better if, as travellers, we had one of the women explain why they do what they do instead of being dropped off and being told we had 20 minutes to walk around.
Woah, this is getting negative. And long. Let's move on.
One of the better experiences in Chiang Mai was ziplining through the jungle with Gibbons. Surprisingly, or maybe not so, the company (Flight of the Gibbons) was set up by a Kiwi company. And it kind of showed - the whole trip from pick-up to drop off seemed like a pretty slick operation. Our guides, Mr Cash and Mr Good, were a pair of jokers trying to mess with our group at each platform - holding us back when we were ready to fly through the jungle canopy, pretending they'd forgotten something - but there was still an inherent level of trust in them. Mr Cash had been with the company since a few months after it opened about five years ago. Before that he'd worked at a hotel and applied for the job when he saw a listing in the paper.
After a good 2 and a half hours of flying through the trees (which also included a sighting of a Gibbon family - mum, dad and son) we were dropped off at a nearby waterfall and then a hearty lunch before being taken back to our respective hostels. The trip also came with a free ticket to the zoo and a bandana. Score.
The Chiang Mai zoo itself was big - big enough to warrant a monorail and an open-sided tour bus - I won't go into much detail because you've been to a zoo before. But I didn't imagine the first time I'd see a koala would be in Thailand.
Right, this is getting too long and uninteresting for my liking so I'm calling it quits on this post.
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