Doi Inthanon National Park, Chiang Mai Province - Trek day one

March 7, we left on a 3-day trek into the jungle of Doi Inthanon National Park. Actually into and out of several times as we skirted around it in places to do some tourist stuff that was added to the trek to make it "sell" as a package. Elephant rides are part of it. So we rode. and bought the photo.

There are a lot of photos so bear with me on this and they are in chronological order. It was a most exciting and challenging and thrilling wonderful full day.

Patt fed her bananas (we met/fed her baby bananas later). I was holding on.

My foot, elephant ear and trunk as we walk along in a stream for a bit.

The actual trek starts fast, here Patt scampers across one of the more sturdy of the bridges we would cross.  This was the starting point and last time we saw people for day one until we got to the village where we were staying.  Well almost last time, we did meet one couple and guide on the trail coming the opposite direction.  The trails are quite remote and some not very heavily traveled.

And it does look somewhat like jungle at times. It was the dry season so it was hot and very dry. Yes this is how this part looked in the dry season, I reckon in the wet season it is, I don't know, more green?

And as it was dry there was/is a lot of burning going on. Some intentional, some I guess accidental, none seemed to alarm anyone. The intentional is to clear rice fields and to clear the forest of underbrush to enable new underbrush to grow for cattle to eat (seems dubious to me).

Also there is burning just to clear the forest. None of it is legal, though according to articles and letters in the newspapers (English language - well what did you think we were reading) there is no enforcement of environmental laws— and if burning is illegal then it appears as if there is indeed no effective enforcement.

We did a lot of mountain climbing, some of which was quite rigorous, and some along rather steep cliffs.  Patt is getting more bold about where she goes of late or else is getting used to walking with her eyes closed most of the time. Charles, Kate I think Patt is ready for Moon Gate trail. Notice how big our guide is.

Up and down we went though mostly up as we were going up stream. A river accompanied us for a good bit of the afternoon.

And it was Hot with a capital H. Goodness it was hot. The sun did beat down.

We passed numerous waterfalls, some close by where we stopped only briefly, some that we could just hear, others seen only in the distance.  That is Mario, (not his real name) our guide. And he was a most delightful young man too. A member of the Karen Hill-tribe, one of the indigenous groups that live in the Thai, Lao, Chinese, Burmese border areas.

And we walked through more than one actively burning area too. More flames on both right and left side of the trail. Yes it was not good breathing and we did walk fast through those stretches, breathing as little as possible. This was the worst spot.

And other parts of the trail were bright blue sky and — but there is a bit of smoke to the left in one of the valleys.

We did finally get to the Karen Hilltribe village where we were going to stay which was Mario's home village.  This is main street.  The little building with the truck parked next door is called the 7-11 by everyone in town. It was closed. They opened it when we got there - we were thirsty.

More of the town.  Zoning limits housing units per acre and lot size I think.

Mario's grandparent's house. That is where we stayed the first night of our trek. (Mario his nick name from the computer game Super Mario Brothers.)

And that little building to the left at the end of the little path is the outhouse. In a town with no electricity you did not expect indoor plumbing I hope.

There is Patt waiting in the side yard as Mario and I return from a walk around the neighborhood.

This is the reverse view of the above photo and yes those are two pigs in the background, only one of which was staked out with a rope, the others, of which there were several, had free range of the place as did a dozen or more chickens of which some may be in photo, several cats, a couple of dogs, 6-8 water buffalo, no partridge in a pear tree, but lots of other garden vegetables.

That basket hanging there would make a great find for a museum in North Carolina as would several other items in the house - heck the whole house would.

Our bedroom, actually it was the separate room upstairs that also was the grain storage room.  The elder Marios are in the trek hosting business. I do not know how often — it appeared not too often.  That is our pile of clothes there on the foot of the bed. Actually we ended up using two of those wool blankets during the night and slept very very well — and long — until the rooster started.  Went to sleep hearing the pig and frogs.  

Oh and the moon and the stars — how can the stars be described? Have not seem them like that before.  Perhaps when I was a child.  I want to see them again. They are awesome — and should be seen. Absolutely beautiful. Could not capture in a photo.

Mario cooking dinner by headlamp — that is a fire pit in the middle of the house-  a brick pad right there surrounded by boards in a wooden house - blackened pots all around.  A few candles and a flash camera lights up the room for the photo. Like I said, no electricity. During the cooking, I was enjoying a sticky rice moonshine whiskey that had quite a bit.

Our dinner. Rice as the basic dish with eggplant and chicken yellow curry, a hard piece of bbq pork, stir fry vegetables, and a Karen chicken dish.

Next morning this is me and great grandma on her bed in the kitchen, living room, bedroom, dining room. I am drinking coffee, she has been taking slugs out of various bottles, adding powders from various bags to various bottles and taking another slug. That is sunlight streaming through the bamboo wall. Not so airtight, lets in a bit of a breeze on those hot summer nights, and on those cool- make that cold winter nights.

Early the next morning Old Great Grandpa was up and working on a drum, as he was when we arrived. He is 87, same age as the King of Thailand, and sits in this squat position and hammers a machete with a steel rod to make grooves in the tree trunk then sands them. He appeared to be about 3'6" and might have weighed 60 pounds.

Old Great Grandma lighting her pipe - she reached into the fire pit, grabbed a coal with her bare fingers and stuck it on the end of the pipe.  She and her husband are pretty tough old birds. We saw her again the next day, Sunday, several miles away - she walked - at a daughter's home in a village where she had attended a Catholic Church service. The old grandparents were converted by missionaries some 60 plus years ago - the entire family is Christian.

Working around the fire pit fixing more food the next morning - it is slow starting.

And thus starts the second day — we got to leave, places to go, things to do, stuff to see, adventures to have.