We got picked up in Chiang Mai by Son Chai, our guide to go on a big trekking adventure in the Mae Taeng area, north of Chiang Mai!
It’s the low tourist season at the moment, so we were the only people travelling in this group, which we thought would be disappointing (as what we heard was that much of the enjoyment of the treks in Thailand was dependent on the company of fellow travellers you shared the experience with). However, having Son Chai exclusively to ourselves on the trek meant that we learned SO much from him. He was good fun, and patient with all the questions we had for him……asking the name of this, trying to understand that, or getting a deeper understanding of the other. Once he learned that Daniel had farmed in New Zealand, he was generous in his explanations of the farming and crop systems, in as much as our mutual understanding allows, and with a language barrier. His parents came from Burma thirty years ago, and were allowed to clear bush and start farming in the hills, hence effectively taking ownership of land – a practice which is not allowed now, nor granted to migrants/refugees from Burma/Myanmar.
We had a perfunctory stop at an orchid and butterfly farm – orchids were amazing in that they all grew while hanging down and not in the soil….butterflies were beautiful, but we spied plenty more in the open, while trekking.
Before setting off on our trek, we had a fried rice lunch in the shelter below, bought in the market we had stopped at to get water for the trek.
Ilona, as ever meticulous to detail, entered her own little world while inspecting this or that. She likes to compare the size of ants in different countries!
Tadhg as soccer mad as ever wanted to play football with a pomelo (large citrus fruit – similar in taste to a grapefruit, but less tart – delicious!). It was my first time seeing or tasting them.
What made the trek special for me was Son Chai’s foraging! He shared many fruits along the way, scaling trees and knowing exactly what is ripe now. Also delicious was a type of strawberry (but not a strawberry as we know it….as you eat the fleshy fruit inside), which grows at the base of a tree. There were plenty of rambutan fruiting (hairier version of lychee). We also saw coffee trees – below – (some beans ripening red or brown now), lots of maize, banana trees, guava and mountain rice (which needs less water).
Before we set off on the trek after lunch, we had to wait for the driver who disappeared (while we were having lunch). He had skidaddled into the bush to get some bamboo grubs (actually a moth caterpillar – omphisa fuscidentalis), as he was going fishing in the afternoon!
We set off, and this time Son Chai disappeared to cut us some bamboo walking sticks. That became a very welcome and useful tool, as we walked in the full heat and humidity! He carried a machete, and cleared the path in places. With the low tourism season at present meaning fewer travellers through, the current wet season (although they have low rainfall this year), the verdant hills are in full growth.
The rock in these hills is limestone, so our first adventure was to go on a bat hunt! Talk about exciting for me, and you can’t imagine the sense of trepidation, excitement and mystery of Ilona and Tadhg!
Finding the cave entrance….scoping the surrounds….locating torch….switching it on…..walking single file…..the gradual crescendo of the whirring and flapping from the bats wings….the freaky swish of air near my face as our entrance displaced some of the bats…..exhilaration of spot lighting them with torches, and seeing the cloud of bats in the semi darkness….
I took a few photos with a flash (I know, they are very sensitive to light – sorry Colm and other bat people who read this), and only afterwards did I see them in detail. Truly amazing!
The rock formations at the entrance to the cave were also spectacular, and home to spiders, and an amazing bluish reptile that I am trying to find the name of (perhaps red spotted tokay gecko).
Such an adventure.
We pressed on, and slipped-slopped in the mud in places. Ilona counted 30 slips on her trek, I had two good ones (landing on my backside!), Tadhg and Daniel both half fell once.
Ilona wins the prize for falling, as she took the arse out of her trousers…..quite literally! She was a good enough sport to laugh about it! 
The soil here is amazingly fertile. We walked down a ridge line, until we met a road, which led into a village. Sonchai found a rhino-beetle, which caused wonder and awe (and minor panic).
It doesn’t move quickly, so makes it tolerable to hold! Son Chai identified a bat’s wing end, which feels like a strong nail, but which is an amazing iridescent green. I was then able to spot a couple on the trek.
We also saw bees, which have created this weird funnel sticking out from the tree, within which their hive is located. An elaborate porch, which no doubt has some very efficient function. Very little wasteful structures emerge from the state of nature – wasteful structures are fabricated
Son Chai scaled a guava tree in about 5 seconds flat, gave it a shake and we feasted on guavas.
We were truly lucky to have him showing us this beautiful environment. He comes from the area, just about 1km from where we set off from, and his parents still live there. So this was his stomping ground as a kid.
A few motorbikes passed us as we walked up the road to the village, which was a collection of houses and a school (closed as we passed through). We stopped off in someone’s house, where we were offered to buy water from an ancient lady, and an ancient man with an extra thumb on one hand. The cool iced water was a welcome refreshment, and they kindly offered us some deliciously sweet small bananas.
I also used my first traditional Thai toilet. The novelty wore off, as more such were to come.
After that break, we set off again through maize fields, on the path that the villagers take to get to their farms, which can be kilometres away from the village. When it’s dry, they can take a bike through these paths, but not when wet.
Eking out a living, with no tractors or easy access to market. It is a hard slog, and labour intensive. These are mainly Lahu people.
This area was the golden triangle of opium growing, in former times. In recent times they have encouraged farmers to to grow coffee instead (I understand Úna worked on this project with FAO in the late 90s?).
It was a tough slog climbing up in the searing heat and high humidity. We had lots of breaks, lots of goading coaxing and encouraging the kids. They did really well though, trekking for five and a half hours.
The view when we reached the ridge line was spectacular. Another refreshing bonus was Son Chai’s gift of a cucumber he found growing (I’m sure he has an eye on all the plants on that route).
We started our descent through foresty bush, the terrain changing magically again. By this stage we were quite tired (hence no photos!). We arrived into a village in late afternoon, comprising of three families. Our kids played with three girls – elastics and trying to high jump it. Their parents work with elephants in one of the elephant camps, and also run the camp for trekkers. The bamboo house we were staying in was constructed for tourists/treks. It was a bit wobbly. You could see the dogs roaming underneath (built on stilts to ensure against snakes), which was quite cool, and the gaps in the walls meant full view out. It felt like camping…..but slightly more adventurous! A cold shower under a tap and a meal cooked by our guide on open fire inside one of the huts replenished us. We sat looking at the fireflies, and nearly didn’t need a torch because of the crisp light of the half-moon.
We slept (letting myself forget about the concept of hygiene and the state of the bed linen we were given!) inside mossie nets, lullabied by strange and enchanting sounds of intermittent frogs croaking, crickets, the odd dog barking and other peculiar to our ears but ever so exotic unidentifiable noises.
our accommodation:
from the inside:
Eating area and cooking house:
We walked out of the bush in the morning, about an hour to pick-up. Two motorbikes had left before us, with five people on….as they went their respective ways to work and wherever the kids went to.
What an absolute privilege to have had an insight, albeit from a complete tourist perspective, into Chao Khao.
Really interesting to see how these rural communities adapt in the face of growing tourism. I read a few TripAdvisor reviews on some of these treks, where they say that the Chao Khao (people of the mountain) are fake, because they EVEN saw a person from the village using a smart phone (the sheer audacity of it! /sarc). That makes me laugh out loud (or 55555 as they abbreviate in Thai!) and cringe at the same time. The fact that privileged travellers/tourists feel cheated that their money doesn’t buy them a glimpse of underdevelopment as they traverse and try to pay admission into a human zoo is just mind boggling!