CR: Homestay is freaky and I have a terrible night’s sleep. The owner of the homestay actually sleeps the night in the property on a tent outside that’s pitched on a bamboo base that itself is pitched on the roosting area of Turkey Clan 2. Our guide, Angie, says this is for security. She sort of smiles as she says it so I assume it’s a joke. Increasingly we get the feeling it is not a joke.
Day two of Trek is a long one but fun, in its own way.
I know Declan is finding Trek difficult because he is showing signs of not wanting to go for a second round. He keeps talking about how hard I am finding it which is a deflection I know well. He is tired too.
Hike length is about the same as yesterday. 3-4 hours, I am not exactly sure, time sort of melts away after half an hour.
DW: Classic Cait exaggeration. The challenge is the whole point. It makes it a fundamentally different experience from the two German tourists who rocked up for basket weaving and then left in their bus 2 hours later.
CR: They didn’t want their basket so it is given to us. Souvenir. It will feature in later photos.
CR: Declan taking a break after we finished yesterday’s hike. We were ready to go to bed at about 5pm. DW: I am empowered to wear thongs thanks to the power of DEET.CR: Sunrise over the Homestay. We are all awake early thanks in large part to the aviary outside our (unsealed) door. And the cats. Kittens paw and mewl at us from behind our mosquito net. They are very annoying. Declan shoves one off the edge of the mattress. It makes you realise everyone is just one hot uncomfortable week away from animal cruelty, no matter what they claim in their air-conditioned Sydney homes. Over breakfast our guide asks about our occupations. I go through the usual routine. “I work at a bank.” “Ah, a teller.” “Yeah, sort of.” Usually that’s that. But our guide catches me red faced in a lie when she asks, “have you had any bank robbers?” We are told this is common in Thailand. I am embarrassed I haven’t excelled in all aspects of my fake job. DW: When I say “engineer” people understand. Armue’s son is an engineer and he builds a house for his older sister down the road. Everybody loves engineer.DW: This is but a mere sample of the countless birds Armue owns that each have their own incredibly loud and incessant morning wakeup sounds. The turkeys chuffing are my favourite.CR: We identify the clucking outside the door to our sleeping quarters. As I go a little closer to take a photo three people yell out of me to be careful. This!? This is what I am being careful around on Trek? Literally everything else is a greater hazard than this roosting chook.DW: This photo contains a snapshot of most of the crops grown by the Akha people. You have a banana tree in the foreground, then pineapple bushes, some “corn” (specific plant somewhat lost in translation), Lychee trees and rubber trees in the forested area near the back of the picture. The fact that 1kg of pineapples costs 5THB really puts into perspective just how much tourism can upend the economy. CR: We’re asked to pose for photos for our guide. Our default poses are never good enough and we are being asked for increasingly elaborate poses. Not once has she offered to share them with us. I am not confident they are for our benefit. I think they’re destined to go in an online gallery without our consent. I sneak a photo for myself of this one she made Declan take.CR: Today we are taken into the Akha village to Make The Activity (arts and crafts) and have some kitchen time. We get an introduction to village life which involves a lot of pottering around and some coming and going. Lots of flim flam. I am praised for being a fast learner with the embroidery task and I can feel Declan seething behind me (DW: actually I was praised first due to my amazing sewing skills, I was just being more considered than Caitlin with my bead placement which made me seem slower, but actually resulted in a higher quality bead band). When everyone leaves and we’re by ourselves Declan makes sure I know his beads were actually sewn a lot straighter than mine.DW: Kitchen cat cage/table is the must have accessory for all Akha kitchens this year. Some cages are more effective than others and not all cats go in the cage. Only the naughty ones.CR: Opium economy has successfully transitioned into tourist knick knack economy.DW: I could have been being flirted with. Unfortunately the sun was in my eyes and I couldn’t see anything. CR: This is cultural appropriation but somehow we were the ones being forced into it. This photo makes me laugh so much. I just remember Declan saying, “the sun’s so bright. I can’t see anything.”CR: Lunch. We’re both apprehensive about how long this has dragged on. It’s midday. We’re right on track to Trek in the hottest part of the day. DW: Just as I planned all along. CR: I’m sorry mum. DW: I think I’m sorry Declan could be more appropriate. To be honest I am surprised Caitlin didn’t take more books on this two night activity. CR: Every time I saw this bag bobbing on Declan’s shoulders I did remember the hard work you went through to procure it.CR: Halfway through today’s afternoon trek is a waterfall. It was the only time we’ve seen other people on the Trek (you can drive to access it). I cannot express how nice it is to swim in. Despite bringing swimmers, we go in fully clothed as our hiking gear is so drenched in sweat. CR: A shack in the middle of nowhere for the farmers who tend to the rice fields. The crop is not active at the moment because it’s the dry season. Closer to the city the government pays for irrigation to enable a second harvest each year. This area must be too remote to access that. DW: Some of these random huts have better internet than Blackheath did until recently.CR: While on Trek I lose all sense of self. It all drips away in the sweat. DW: At this viewpoint near the end of our trek you can see the big white Buddha in the distance we visited a few days ago. CR: It is off-putting walking closer to the gunshots echoing louder now in the hills.DW: After a hot and sweaty afternoon we made it. Caitlin gets called hero a lot. No-one calls Declan a hero… CR: I am congratulated for “fighting tooth and nail”. Guys, was it that obvious I was struggling?CR: Quiet relax time at the Lahoue village post Trek. Our guide is shocked to learn Declan won’t eat bananas. “But they are ubiquitous,” she states, flabbergasted that Declan would decline such a natural bounty. DW: All homestays invariably involve bland food unfortunately. On closer analysis this may be addressing the lowest common denominator of Westerner to attend these activities. “No spicy” being a common refrain in the night markets. We get a taste of actual flavour with some Lahoue new year sticky rice, pork rind and my favourite chilli chicken with a nice bit of heat and flavour.CR: We lost a good man today. DW: I blame Ottolenghi.CR: It was explained to us yesterday that Lahou New Year involved slaughtering a pig and dancing in traditional garb around a pole with a head on top. That sounded frightening. The reality is much cuter. Lots of kids causing mischief. DW: At one point an old man appears out of the dark and starts throwing firecrackers around before playing the harmonica while dancing around the tree as all the children started following him. This is what I imagine a forest spirit would embody themselves as.CR: While the adults gamble. It’s interesting that the ‘hilltribes’ have such a distinct culture. The ones we are in are less than an hour from Chiang Rai township but they don’t really seem to be ‘thai’. They have different holidays and wear different clothes and speak if not a different language than definitely a different dialect. From what I can work out Thai people consider them a separate group. I think they get mostly left alone. Each tribe has a chief that goes to meetings in the city where government officials pass on health and education messages and then the chief will come back and disseminate this to the village. There is a village doctor that treats anything non life threatening with jungle remedies. Alongside this is an air of lawlessness. Declan and I are not permitted to go into the villages without our guide, who in turn is not allowed to go without the porter (a local). DW: It is unclear how much, if any, of an imposition we are in these events. Our porter and guide play on their phones and are normally eager to keep us moving along to the timetable. When we get to the next event we discover the timetable is weakly indicative only and there is much flex.
Thanks so much for posting as the content and photos are top notch.
A couple of blogs ago I remember cait saying she was the first female to do this trek. At the time I thought that the operators would make her part of their marketing and this blog confirms my suspicions.
Do you think the security was needed because of the other locals or the wildlife. Where did your guide and porter sleep
Was there any romance on the trek?
Germans make bad decisions about military conflicts but very sensible ones about how to travel. I’m 100% team Germany for today’s activities.
Cait, now that’s it’s over would you do this again or is it too soon to ask.
Had a chuckle about the guide asking about your work. Whenever anyone asks me and I tell them strata manager that stops the conversation faster than if I responded with mortician. It’s funny watching people’s faces as they process my answer whilst simultaneously devising a plan to chat with someone else.
Love the turkey photo. It captures the essence of where you are staying beautifully. Would also make for a super difficult jigsaw puzzle.
I see the Taylor swift wrist bracelets have made it to Thailand.
If the local lady in the group photo was average height they must have their traditional garments upsized to fit tourists. Could you communicate with the locals or was it just lots of hand gestures and giggling.
The waterfall must have been such a nice respite from the exertion of walking.
Major achievements for both of you but a do agree that cait is a hero (and also a bit silly to contemplate such foolishness).
So much of this trip reminds of survivor. The last photo looks like a challenge to win immunity.
On the smelly scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being call emergency services because the stench is life threatening how would you rate yourself.
Dad: I don’t understand why the security was needed. The English skills of the guide weren’t quite good enough for that subtlety and also being on a tour I guess they don’t want to make you feel unsafe.
I would not do this again. It was too hard, especially having to carry everything. Although I am glad I did it once. It gave me an understanding of hill tribe life. In Australia we don’t have an equivalent.
I bet when you tell people you are a strata manager their head just goes blank and cannot figure out the next follow on question. The world needs a strata manager based Tv show. Like the Sopranos or Mad Men but for strata management.
Cannot communicate with local people. Even our Thai guide mostly talked through basic words, and hand gestures made up the balance. Lots of giggling.
If this is Survivor I am ready for my stay at Resort Ponderosa.
We were probably a 7 on that scale. Layers of sweat and DEET.
I thought Declan doubled as boyfriend and security guard.
I’m confused. If you had a guide and a porter why did you have to carry gear.
Was this tour with a legit company that had a website or was it more casual than that.
What was your expectation when booking the tour re carrying your gear.
Overall was the actual trek similar to what was advertised.
Strata management is so boring and so poorly respected by the community that people either have no idea what it is, or they do, and can’t muster the enthusiasm to engage apart from telling you how bad their experiences have been with the industry.
Surprised that the tour company doesn’t employ staff fluent in the local dialect. Apart from the cost of the tour did you spend any money over the three days.
With Declan’s outrageous flirting I’m surprised he wasn’t married off to an eligible lady. He could have become like Kurtz in apocalypse now.
The first night back in the modern world must have felt like heaven.
I lost personal interest in the trek when I failed to locate any air conditioning in any of your homes.
I’m shocked you only rated yourself a 7.
In summer I’m a 10 after a couple of hours of tennis
Dad: I couldn’t work out why we couldn’t use the porter. The guide used the porter for her backpack but we never were offered that luxury. Unclear.
The tour company was legit. Or as legit as it gets in Thailand. It was certainly the one that cost the most.
I was expecting someone to move my bag by motor bike or car to the next place. Declan assumed the opposite. The website was super vague telling us to take all this stuff for the three days but never said we’d be hiking with it.
Actual trek was quite similar to as advertised.
To be honest I think there are only 300 people that speak the local dialect so they get some bridge of communication by having the porter and the guide and then us.
We just spent money on trinkets because we were pressured into it (more info next post).
Good reference to Kurtz.
Maybe we’d just gotten immune to our smells. Declan did say my breath smelled like poo so maybe I was being too generous.
I think every night the guide went to sleep being amazed that she had gotten away with the bag situation again.
Scared to even imagine what the trek would have been like with the cheapest company. Maybe you would have had to carry your stuff plus the guides stuff.
I’m guessing your last paragraph answered my question about romance on the trek. I’ve never seen that phrase used in a romcom.
When I said crying about the tote bag I meant crying with laughter. Cant believe that was your jungle trek bag of choice!!
Favourite photos: the turkeys – what a great shot and I really liked the one of the kids. The little girl on the left was giving major side eye!!
And I always love a friendship bracelet 😉 Did the bracelets and traditional clothes have any special meanings?
Good observation about the importance of the tourism for these people Declan. It must make an astonishing difference compared to the hard toil of farming.
Our local nursery sells a pineapple plant in a pot for $35 each! They are such a bizarre looking plant when you think about it.
Sending lots of love xx
Caitlin, you need a serious indulgence on this trip. SERIOUS INDULGENCE!. Bugger the cost and don’t listen to Declan.
Insert eye roll emojii here.
I guess my point wasn’t more that tourism is important, it is that it can destroy any semblance of a local economy that does anything else. When tourism pays 10x or more as much, why would you bother farming? It is somewhat analogous to trying to hit the 1% for tourism in Australia, except in these regions the entirity of the West is your local 1% and you can scale to only do that.
But why shouldn’t they get the advantage of something that pays 10x more?
Mum: To be completely honest I assumed that the tote bag would not be carried through the jungle!
Good spot on the side eye. Don’t mess with her!
No special meaning for the garments (that we could assess). There wasn’t always the best communication.
I wonder how many pinacoldas you’d make with your own pineapple plant!
Leo: THANK YOU. Serious indulgence would be a welcome addition!
Thanks so much for posting as the content and photos are top notch.
A couple of blogs ago I remember cait saying she was the first female to do this trek. At the time I thought that the operators would make her part of their marketing and this blog confirms my suspicions.
Do you think the security was needed because of the other locals or the wildlife. Where did your guide and porter sleep
Was there any romance on the trek?
Germans make bad decisions about military conflicts but very sensible ones about how to travel. I’m 100% team Germany for today’s activities.
Cait, now that’s it’s over would you do this again or is it too soon to ask.
Had a chuckle about the guide asking about your work. Whenever anyone asks me and I tell them strata manager that stops the conversation faster than if I responded with mortician. It’s funny watching people’s faces as they process my answer whilst simultaneously devising a plan to chat with someone else.
Love the turkey photo. It captures the essence of where you are staying beautifully. Would also make for a super difficult jigsaw puzzle.
I see the Taylor swift wrist bracelets have made it to Thailand.
If the local lady in the group photo was average height they must have their traditional garments upsized to fit tourists. Could you communicate with the locals or was it just lots of hand gestures and giggling.
The waterfall must have been such a nice respite from the exertion of walking.
Major achievements for both of you but a do agree that cait is a hero (and also a bit silly to contemplate such foolishness).
So much of this trip reminds of survivor. The last photo looks like a challenge to win immunity.
On the smelly scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being call emergency services because the stench is life threatening how would you rate yourself.
Dad: I don’t understand why the security was needed. The English skills of the guide weren’t quite good enough for that subtlety and also being on a tour I guess they don’t want to make you feel unsafe.
I would not do this again. It was too hard, especially having to carry everything. Although I am glad I did it once. It gave me an understanding of hill tribe life. In Australia we don’t have an equivalent.
I bet when you tell people you are a strata manager their head just goes blank and cannot figure out the next follow on question. The world needs a strata manager based Tv show. Like the Sopranos or Mad Men but for strata management.
Cannot communicate with local people. Even our Thai guide mostly talked through basic words, and hand gestures made up the balance. Lots of giggling.
If this is Survivor I am ready for my stay at Resort Ponderosa.
We were probably a 7 on that scale. Layers of sweat and DEET.
I thought Declan doubled as boyfriend and security guard.
I’m confused. If you had a guide and a porter why did you have to carry gear.
Was this tour with a legit company that had a website or was it more casual than that.
What was your expectation when booking the tour re carrying your gear.
Overall was the actual trek similar to what was advertised.
Strata management is so boring and so poorly respected by the community that people either have no idea what it is, or they do, and can’t muster the enthusiasm to engage apart from telling you how bad their experiences have been with the industry.
Surprised that the tour company doesn’t employ staff fluent in the local dialect. Apart from the cost of the tour did you spend any money over the three days.
With Declan’s outrageous flirting I’m surprised he wasn’t married off to an eligible lady. He could have become like Kurtz in apocalypse now.
The first night back in the modern world must have felt like heaven.
I lost personal interest in the trek when I failed to locate any air conditioning in any of your homes.
I’m shocked you only rated yourself a 7.
In summer I’m a 10 after a couple of hours of tennis
Dad: I couldn’t work out why we couldn’t use the porter. The guide used the porter for her backpack but we never were offered that luxury. Unclear.
The tour company was legit. Or as legit as it gets in Thailand. It was certainly the one that cost the most.
I was expecting someone to move my bag by motor bike or car to the next place. Declan assumed the opposite. The website was super vague telling us to take all this stuff for the three days but never said we’d be hiking with it.
Actual trek was quite similar to as advertised.
To be honest I think there are only 300 people that speak the local dialect so they get some bridge of communication by having the porter and the guide and then us.
We just spent money on trinkets because we were pressured into it (more info next post).
Good reference to Kurtz.
Maybe we’d just gotten immune to our smells. Declan did say my breath smelled like poo so maybe I was being too generous.
I think every night the guide went to sleep being amazed that she had gotten away with the bag situation again.
Scared to even imagine what the trek would have been like with the cheapest company. Maybe you would have had to carry your stuff plus the guides stuff.
I’m guessing your last paragraph answered my question about romance on the trek. I’ve never seen that phrase used in a romcom.
When I said crying about the tote bag I meant crying with laughter. Cant believe that was your jungle trek bag of choice!!
Favourite photos: the turkeys – what a great shot and I really liked the one of the kids. The little girl on the left was giving major side eye!!
And I always love a friendship bracelet 😉 Did the bracelets and traditional clothes have any special meanings?
Good observation about the importance of the tourism for these people Declan. It must make an astonishing difference compared to the hard toil of farming.
Our local nursery sells a pineapple plant in a pot for $35 each! They are such a bizarre looking plant when you think about it.
Sending lots of love xx
Caitlin, you need a serious indulgence on this trip. SERIOUS INDULGENCE!. Bugger the cost and don’t listen to Declan.
Insert eye roll emojii here.
I guess my point wasn’t more that tourism is important, it is that it can destroy any semblance of a local economy that does anything else. When tourism pays 10x or more as much, why would you bother farming? It is somewhat analogous to trying to hit the 1% for tourism in Australia, except in these regions the entirity of the West is your local 1% and you can scale to only do that.
But why shouldn’t they get the advantage of something that pays 10x more?
Mum: To be completely honest I assumed that the tote bag would not be carried through the jungle!
Good spot on the side eye. Don’t mess with her!
No special meaning for the garments (that we could assess). There wasn’t always the best communication.
I wonder how many pinacoldas you’d make with your own pineapple plant!
Leo: THANK YOU. Serious indulgence would be a welcome addition!