Back in civilization!

We just returned from a 4 day trek in northern Thailand around Mae Hong Song province, close to the border with Burma. It was an organized trek with 6 other travellers. Two French girls, an Canadian and an American bloke and a couple from Italy. Great group and we got on very well. The trek was described as easy but there were some bloody tough climbs in there and 15 kilometers a day through jungle and mountains but we all got on with it after clarifying to our guide (a Thai version of McGyver) that we were on vacation and not on a military boot camp.

The trek was described as back to basics and back to nature and spending the nights with remote hill tribes. All of this was very true. Lunch wrapped in banana leaves, cooking over a campfire, bathing in the river and sleeping in bamboo huts. It was a fantastic couple of days and staying with the 'Mountain People' was a delight. The villages were so remote that everyone came out to greet us and kids came to check out the white people. We did not see any other tourists for 4 days so all of this was in very genuine and not the usual tourist trap where the villagers dance for the tourists and all that kind of demeaning stuff. Moving from village to village you have great views and people in the forest fishing, herding or hunting for tonights dinner. Look at some pictures and you get the idea.

The concept was also pretty good with the village community owning the hut we slept in and getting the money for the drinks we had with each family taking turns to look after the visitors every other week. The villages were no more than 50 families with a defined family being the head of the village which means no more than in charge of religious affairs and a village chief that is chosen by the entire community every 4 years. The villagers meet to decide what piece of land to clear for growing rice, what machinery to buy (if any) and who would have which task in the process. This is democracy in its purest form I guess and a bit of communism if you take into account that all land is owned by the village. This dependency on each other preserves the way of life, forces respect and cooperation and envy plays no role because your quality of life is entirely depending on that of the others around you. Don't get me wrong, we did not visit Nirvana, far from it but it does make you realize that there are very different drivers out there to be happy and enjoy life.

We made two good moves that went down well in all villages; digital camera's and a keyring I have that works as a kaleidoscope. Seeing themselves on a picture, or even better a little movie, makes everyone laugh their heads off, again and again and again... Great fun. Showing the kids to look through the kaleidoscope and see the campfire or their friends faces reflected twenty times was of course magic and another reason to laugh yourself silly.

Every evening we sat around the campfire with the locals joining and leaving. Sometimes wanting to sell some bracelets or shawls but mostly to share local cigarettes (for the brave), rice wine (I hope other vintages are better) or to try chewing Bettel leaves which apparently gives you a bit of a kick if you eat enough of it. I gave up well before that. We stayed around the campfire as long as possible because after that you had to go to sleep in the bamboo huts, on the floor, with no mattresses and too few blankets and it was cold, freezing cold. The huts were built on pilars so you were sandwiched between two layers of cold air and no mattress. The bedtime ritual was as follows: put four blankets on the floor to not wake up bruised and battered, put a sleeping bag on top, put three more blankets on top, put on all clothes you have with you (two trousers, three shirts, a fleece, 2 pairs of socks), roll yourself into a blanket and get in the sleeping bag, put on a wool hat (ears, eyes and nose covered!) and pray to god that you don't have to pee in the middle of the night! We even put some bloody rocks in the fire to take to bed to keep us warm. We all had our sleep deprivation moments but all in all it was absolutely great. People, landscape and realizing how far you drifted away from nature, how much nature has to offer and that you don't need all the stuff you own to lead a happy life.

Mind you we did go to a very nice Italian restaurant in Chang Mai when we came back with a nice wine, great food, freshly shaved and smelling nice. Yes, we're not quite there yet....

Tomorrow we are off to Laos (Luang Prabang) so if we can find an internet cafe there you'll hear from us in a couple of days.

Take care and keep those messages coming. It is great to hear from you all and know that you are all working hard while we are enjoying our trip! ;-)

Speak to you soon.