In the Jungle the Mighty Jungle
Trekking outside of Chiang Mai, a banana leaf hat atop my head and a bamboo walking stick in hand, I stumbled through the woods, with one of our guides singing “In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle” for the 700th time.
During our stay in Chiang Mai, we signed up for a three day jungle trek east of Pai, Thailand. Luckily another family, the Campbells, was in our group, and we quickly became friends. I was fortunate since they have four kids: Hattie age 6, Emmie age 8, Porter age 11, and Sophia age 12.
Our adventure started out like any other, a 3 hour ride in the back of a pickup truck. During the course of the ride, we had many activity stops along the way. First, we stopped at a local market. The market was small and about 45 minutes outside of Chiang Mai, old town. In the market, we found eels in clear plastic bags and buckets, very yellow chickens with feet and heads still attached, fruits-pickled and fresh, waffles, and possibly lottery tickets. We felt like true locals and not some tourists shopping for souvenirs.
A hop, skip and a ride in the truck, and a short hike with a cave exploration break later, we arrived at Mok Fa waterfall. The falls weren't particularly special, but it was pretty and a much needed truck bed break. With the fear of getting hit by a falling rock in the back of my mind, I stood about a foot from the main stream of water, but got soaked nonetheless.
Mok Fa waterfall
An interesting thing we did before the start of the hike was eat sticky rice out of a bamboo stalk from a roadside stand. At first it looks like a piece of bamboo stalk with markings. After a short “How to eat” demonstration, we were eating like pros (sorta). You peel it like a banana and at the end it looks like a flower. “It’s like a rice push pop,” says my mom. The bamboo is warm in your hand; it’d be a perfect cold day snack.
Bamboo Sticky rice
Fueled by rice we got back in the truck. You know this “trekking” seems like a lot of driving now that I’m writing it all down. Anyway, after a short lunch stop we wound our way up the mountain (still in the bed of a truck). At last, it was time to start actually trekking, stopping every now and again to climb on trees and swing on vines. Near a patch of bamboo our guides noted how much we were falling on the trail and made us bamboo walking sticks. The next fun craft was banana leaf hats. Basically, it was a leaf cone that we put on our heads. Some were decorated with ferns and leaves. Banana leaves on our heads, and bamboo sticks in hand, we continued to trudge through the jungle. The trail soon became more steep and slippery. There were many logs and branches that we had to scramble over or under. At some point Sophia and I realized that stabbing leaves with our staff looked a lot like a selfie stick. Laughing we posed in front of our fake selfie device.
Fake selfies
In the distance, after two and a half hours, we saw a few huts. A murmur rushed through the group. Then the realization dawned upon us- We made it! Laughing, the kids ran down the hill, excitement coursing in our blood.
As we reached our stilted hut, we noticed shoes placed at the bottom of the stairs. So we slid off our shoes, with our legs covered in dirt, we walked up the steps. On the deck, the view was amazing looking out on the tree covered valley.
Our hut for the first night
Our room had 4 sleeping pads on the floor with mosquito nets. The wooden floors were handmade, actually the whole hut was handmade. The hut was wooden, with a metal sheeting roof. The beds were either very thin mattresses or a thick blanket that was put directly on the ground. My Dad and his metal hip can definitely confirm this fact.
Beds for the night
We spent the majority of our time there on the deck. A few card games later, we decided to explore around the hut. We saw the bathroom/outhouse a few yards from the main hut when we came to the hut for the first time. There was actually a shower, well, a spigot with a bucket in the outhouse. My Mom will take a shower anywhere, including over a pit-styled toilet. Another few yards past that were some animals in an enclosure. Upon further inspection we realized it was two pigs, which we named, of course. I named one Chad while Sophia named the other Suzie. Suzie and Chad are both night sky black. Suzie was more curious and moving about, while Chad just kinda sat there. We later learned that Chad had an injured leg which would explain why he didn’t move much. Attached to the Suzie and Chad's separate enclosures was an elevated and smaller area were 3 piglets! They weren’t really small but they definitely were young. So of course we had to name these as well. We decided on… Suzie Jr was the fat one , Chad Jr the middle one, and Undauntable the smallest. We also found (and definitely heard the next morning) some roosters. We met some very friendly dogs.
There were two rooms on either side of the deck. One room for us and one room for the people who lived there and our 2 guides. The kitchen was really cool, and consisted of a fire pit in the middle of their room. This is where the hosts prepared our dinner. It was amazing what they could do over a simple fire. It makes our fancy kitchens and appliances in the United States seem unnecessary. For dinner the vegetarians ate fried tofu and for the meat eaters there was fried chicken. Also we had some kind of soup, two types of steamed vegetables, and rice. The tofu was delicious and crunchy.
Fire pit kitchen
After dinner we tried to do a podcast recording, but tried is the main word there. One of the many distractions was of course our guide, Wan, singing “In the Jungle the Mighty Jungle”. Another interesting thing that happened was around 7:30ish our guide came to the table on the deck and said it was a team meeting. Before I tell you what happened let me tell you this. Apparently our guide, Wan, hadn’t seen his friends who live in this house for two years, and we think he might have had too many adult drinks, so keep that in mind. Now, back to the story. Once we were all at the table, the guide started talking with his limited English vocabulary and Thai accent about who knows what. We think at one point he started ranting about democracy among other things. We all had no idea what he was talking about. It became kind of funny since he just kept talking with no one understanding what he was saying, and the fact he was quite drunk. He also tried to teach us a hand game that didn’t go well. At the end of the night, our jolly and well hydrated guide kept coming into our room to say “goodnight” one last time, much to our amusement, groans and giggles.
That night was a long night. Like I said earlier, the roosters were making all kinds of noise way before the sun came up. I was up around 5:45. When I went outside on the deck in the morning, I was cold for the first time since I came to Thailand. Looking out, I saw fog resting in the valley like an obedient dog. Thailand is so beautiful and I need to remember this, I thought.
That day our guide, Wan, kept leading us the non-trail way--up slippy, muddy and overgrown slopes, all the while singing “In the Jungle the Mighty Jungle.” Meanwhile our other guide Mr.Di was in the back, but he knew the way and would take the well groomed trail and laugh at us as we were bushwalking. Eventually we got Mr. Di to lead the way and it was a lot easier walking.
For lunch we stopped at a simple hut, in a village, by a small river. Hungry after 4 hours of walking, we ate delicious pad thai, and fruit. Saying thanks to the hosts, we headed off again. We were told it would be another 2 hours after lunch. The estimates were right.
I saw the river! We were so close to the bottom. Down at the riverside, we boarded a somewhat sketchy bamboo raft, and floated across the river. After everyone made it across, we started walking along the river for another few minutes before reaching our hut for the night. It was once again two huts connected by a deck. When we arrived, I noticed some kids playing soccer. The boy from the other family we were trekking with also plays soccer, so we went down to where two boys were playing on a muddy 10 yard by 10 yard “field” at the river’s edge. The goals were a thin piece of bamboo that was put in the ground to look like an arch. The boys were maybe 9? It was the two local boys vs. me and Porter. After a bit, two sisters came down and it became girls vs. boys. One of the girls was my age while the other was nine I think. At one point the ball got kicked in the river, and the two local boys took off their shirts and dove in after it.
Sketchy bamboo raft
Soccer with local kids
Afterwards, we walked back up to our hut and played some cards. Go fish, to be specific. The sisters came over and watched us play. After a few games we dealt them in. The oldest knew some English and numbers. We ended up playing a LOT of go fish, but it was fun. She would beat us 98% of the time. She could understand us saying the numbers, but we had to show her the card if we wanted a royal. The oldest became friends with me. She seemed to understand some of our conversation, and laughed with us. Sometimes if we said something I could hear her quietly saying it aloud to practice her English. Her sister didn't seem to know much English, except “hello”. We learned the girls had not been to school for two years because of COVID.
Dinner that night was different then the prior night. We feasted on spring rolls, potatoes in curry, rice and cut up cauliflower with some other vegetables, with pineapple and oranges for dessert, again all prepared over an open fire. After dinner we played even more go fish until it was time to go to bed. That night we had thicker mattresses and better pillows so it was a lot easier to sleep. I also think we were more tired since it was a 7 hour hiking day compared to 2 ½ hour day.
Late night Go Fish
That morning when I was walking up to the hut from the bathroom when I heard THE sound. It’s a sound anyone could recognize, The sound of someone throwing up. Hattie walked out of the room face pale with her legs and hands slightly shaking. It was her, she got some type of food poisoning. Luckily that day we didn’t have to do any hiking.
Before breakfast, we played some more cards. Go fish and crazy 8s This time it was only the younger Thai girl who played with us. Breakfast was banana spring rolls, sticky rice with mango and peanuts, pineapple, and watermelon. Last but not least was pancakes cooked in bamboo stalks. The pancakes were warm and good. They were nice and doughy.
After breakfast we walked down to the river and got on less sketchy bamboo rafts. Our bags were put on a hook so they wouldn't get wet. The rafts were on maybe 15 bamboo stalks tied together, with a few stalks elevated off the main raft for you to sit on, so you're not just sitting in the river. We took two rafts. My mom and dad, Sophia, Mr. Di and I on one while Wan and the rest of the Campbells on the other. Our guides stood at the front of each raft with a bamboo pole to steer. The Dads stood at the back with a pole in hand to steer the back of the raft. We never went over any class 7 rapids but it was still fun and thrilling. We were told the rafting, which was taking us 3 hours, only takes 45 minutes in the rainy season. I’m not sure if I’d want to go that fast, but it’s still pretty impressive. Even though it was a three hour journey down the river, it never got too boring. Once we finished the rafting segment, we stopped in a village for lunch.
Our last, but not least activity was elephants, which we reached by a 20 minute truck ride. At the elephant sanctuary we got to feed the elephants sugarcane and banana stalks. One of the elephants was male, but had no tusks. The other was female and old. The female must have had a tooth problem since she wouldn’t eat the banana stalk. Eager with anticipation we walked down to the river with them. The elephants leisurely strolled into the water, as we splashed them. It’s very satisfying at first. You can see the dirt that they throw on their backs rolling down their sides into the water. At one point a splash fight occurred while we washed the elephants. Two separate times the elephant guides completely poured a bucket of water on me, and it came out of nowhere. I was the only one that they poured water on for some reason. When the elephants felt they were done, we scrambled out of the water onto the shore. We witnessed one of the elephant guides, basically birth the elephant's poop out of him or her. The guide caught the poop with his bare hands and then threw it over his head into the river. It was really gross and now very clear why you don’t drink water directly out of a river.
Not but five minutes after we left the river, a sudden downpour started. We had to wait it out, since it’s dangerous to drive in the rain there. We piled back in the car and drove 1.5 hours back into town. About 20 minutes out, suddenly Hattie threw up again. It was all a panic. We pounded the glass and we pulled off on the side of the road. We all clamoured out and stood on the side of the road while her parents cleaned up the truck. We realized that it might have looked weird to cars behind us since the car stopped and people came crawling out of the back, but whatever. After that ordeal we had an uneventful ride back home.
The trek was definitely something unique and fun. We were lucky to do it with another family too.
Interestingly, the trek ended up the same as the Thailand trek my mom, dad and brother took 16 odd years ago, when my brother, then 6 years old, threw-up out the back of the truck squarely hitting a motorcyclist following behind. Well, some things never change. Ee-e-e-oh-mum-bum ba-a-weh!
