Hilltribe trek: Lahu

The first attraction of the day was a secluded place we reached after a couple of hours hiking. Everybody got their swimming gear out and jumped into the water. This waterfall wasn't as spectacular as the Kuang Si falls in Laos but it was still very nice to freshen up after a very sweaty hike.

On our walk we were entertained by the guides. They had all these tricks such as making a loud plopping noise by folding a leaf between thumb and index finger and hitting it with the other hand. Our favorite was a guy we called the "Ayatollah" (if you've seen the movie Heartbreak Ridge, think Mario van Peebles). He could shoot the stem of a bananaplant in half from a great distance with a catapult. Here you can see us crawling through a pitchblack cave. The only light we had was from a little candle. The flashlight from my camera makes everything visible.

Late in the afternoon we arrived at a village belonging to the Lahu-tribe. The first thing we did was play with the kids in the river and mess around with a bamboo raft the villagers use as a ferry. We actually put a motorcycle across the river.

We worked up an appetite. Fortunately our cook prepaired a nice meal for us. After that we mingled with the locals.

Two days into this kind of trip you tend to get exhausted. So after two lukewarm beers things get very strange. Before you know it you start wearing funny hats. Especially when you start drinking from the homebrew whiskey. That night in the bamboo shack there was a highschool atmosphere. People lay giggling in their sleepingbags, saying the strangest things to one another ("Oh my God, you're so warm and big" for instance which was the cue for someone to pack his stuff and move to the other side of the shack).

Again this night was devoid of any good sleep. Boy, you think it would be quiet if you head out for the jungle, but the noise of nature can be deafening. It was time to head home. We "sailed" down the river on bamboo rafts. This was the ultimate jungle experience. Sometimes you had to duck to avoid gigantic spiderwebs hanging over the river. We saw snakes swimming in the water. And everything was big (and warm and moist)!

To top things of we rode an elephant for a while. Never knew that this was so boring. To get back to Chiang Mai we drove down the mountain in a 4WD truck. Because of the rain the roads were completely gone so it took three hours just to get to the highway. A truck in front of us crashed and overturned.