Hi again, this time from Chiang Khong, just across the Maekhong River from Laos. The last you heard from me we were in Chaing Mai investigating treks.

After attending a meeting suggested by Ms Soipet, the travel agent suggested by the Potters, we said 'what the heck', signed up for a trek to the Mae Taeng/Pai region and found ourselves packing our small detachable day packs, and the next morning, Friday, getting loaded into the back of a pickup truck with 9 other people for the ride to the start of a 3 day, 2 night trek. The group consisted of a head guide, Andrew Sukham and an assistant, both members of the Karen hilltribe, Ray & me, a young couple from Denmark & 7 young Aussies, 5 of whom were travelling together to celebrate the completion of their 'Uni' (university). The truck had benches along each side and had a hard top with rolled up plastic windows. The best seat was on the side with 5 people nearest the open rear of the truck. This was important later. Our first stop, after 1 1/2 hours, was at a large food market in the town of Mae Taeng, where the guides bought our box lunches & we browsed. The whole market was under a tent & each vendor sat at or sometimes cross-legged on top of plywood tables. The whole market was a riot of sights and smells from dried fish, buckets of spices, fruits, raw meats, live fish crowded into aluminum pans, to dinners cooked to your specifications on propane or charcoal burners. We loaded up on bottled water & continued on to the Mork Fa waterfalls, our lunch spot.

About 1 K down a jungle path the water fell in twin streams from a height of about 50 ft to a pool below. About half way up the falls was a large cave, formed by long ago water action, which several of us explored. The truck ride after lunch was twisting and bumpy, straight up into the hills. By the time we stopped another hour later for a break, all Ray wanted to do was get out. He and several others were starting to feel nauseous from the motion. Andrew gave us a choice, we could drive for a shorter distance and hike 3 hours or drive farther & hike 1 1/2 hrs. You can guess Ray's instant response: 'long walk', that was echoed by the others. He and another girl also opted to ride the rest of the way standing on the tailgate. He declared it was fun & infinitely better.

We finally stopped at the beginning of a jungle path, just before the village of Pai, and adjusted our packs. Ray & I had elected to rent sleeping bags, so these were added to our load, but we managed fine, but we missed our walking sticks left behind in Bangkok. The day was warm & the path was straight up the hill, just like the Lake Placid trails. Thank goodness Ray & I were in shape from our other trekking. I think it was a revelation to the others, who generally did not have good footwear & were not hikers. The trail continued uphill, then along a ridge where we had lovely views of the surrounding hills, all lushly covered in jungle forests. Here and there on the slopes of the hills were cleared fields, some replanted, which Andrew told us were once opium fields. It is now illegal to grow opium, except for the personal use of the tribes people in the area. We never did see anyone smoking.

We arrived finally at our overnight destination, a Lisu hilltribe village set in a small valley. A pond that apparently holds fish for the villagers, in the center of the town, was surrounded by low windowless buildings, with walls of split bamboo, and small open doorways looking into what appeared to be one large room with an open fire in the middle for cooking. Andrew told us the tribe was originally nomadic and moved their homes following their jungle food source according to the season. Therefore these simple homes are easier to take down & move. Now the government has moved several villages together to a permanent site (sound familiar) and there were 125 families in the lower village and on the adjoining hillsides. The men of the village wore T-shirts and blue cotton trousers, constructed like a skirt with the middle drawn up between their legs and secured at the waist. The women in the village wore colourful tunics over black cotton trousers, the same design as the men's trousers. Some even had leggings on under the trousers and several had babies carried in a sling on their back. Our dorm that night was the same construction, but with a door, with a sleeping platform of bamboo poles covered with bamboo mats along each side. Our bathroom was an outhouse next door and the shower was a cold water tap in an adjoining room. We each were provided with 3 thin blankets and a pillow. I was glad of the sleeping bag as it was chilly as soon as the sun went down, but I did miss the foam pad and Thermarest I had in Nepal.

Before supper we had a visit from a French couple who seemed pleased to converse with me in my terrible French. They were part of Group B, and were staying in another dorm down the hill from us. The tour company we were with had enough people for 2 groups, but to make sure the trails were uncrowded, had divided us into 2 groups. I call us Group A as we left first every day & never saw any other trekkers. After supper prepared by our guides, we were entertained by some of the villagers. One man played a 3 stringed instrument and the villagers, invited us to join them in a circle dance around an open fire. Andrew, our guide, directed the step dances from the center. They started out simply & got gradually complex. I think the villagers get a kick out of seeing the tourists mess up the dances. Anyway, it did warm us up.

We were all up early the next morning, as everyone had trouble adjusting our soft bodies to the hard beds. Our hike this day started uphill through the jungle, but continued mainly downhill on a narrow sharply banked path. The views once again were beautiful. On the trail, Andrew stopped to have a snack, and offered us some. No one took him up on it, as he was eating dried crickets! As we descended a steep path, we came upon elephant dung. I was surprised as I didn't think elephants would go up such a steep path, but in the forest nearby, we saw the elephant with his Mahoot riding into the jungle. We learned later the elephant was spooked by our noisy appearance & the Mahoot had to detour 5 miles to get the elephant back to the elephant camp, which was 1/2 hr walk away. At the elephant camp, beside a small river, we all watched in interest as several elephants, including 2 babies, descended from a small hill and gathered with their mahoots below. One of the babies decided to wade the stream towards us, so everyone grabbed leaves to try to feed him and give him a pat. The mother followed but was not threatening, but we kept our distance anyway.

After lunch, we started on our elephant ride. The elephants in this area are smaller than the Chitwan elephants, apparently as a result of the difficulty in obtaining food. On the other hand, the babies, aged 3 & 4, were born in the vicinity, so they must be doing right. We sat 2 to an elephant in a sedan chair facing forward, with the Mahoot walking along side. Three Aussie girls shared one elephant, with the 3rd sitting in the usual Mahoot place on the elephant's neck. She said later that it was safe but hard on the but for 1 1/2 hrs. The chair was padded but lacked a front safety bar which would have been helpful when we made our many descents. You had to hang on or fear slipping off the seat onto the ground. Anyway, it was fun. Ray & I were on one of the Mothers, following behind the 2 babies and the other Mother. We were a little slow as the babies kept stopping to munch leaves and had to be prodded ahead.

Our destination that day was the rafting village beside the Mae Taeng River and a dorm similar to the previous night, except it was larger & had a fire pit in the middle. We were not allowed to light it as another group had burned down a cabin during the night. We arrived in plenty of time to swim and ride the current a short way down the river. Great fun.

The night was a lot warmer than the previous and we all decided to stay up until we were good and tired, so we would hopefully sleep better. I folded by 3 blankets into quarters to make a mattress & it did work. That night we sang and listened to more of Andrew's terrible jokes (I swear he reads Xmas crackers) and had a good time, probably fueled by the beer we bought from the locals. I told the group the nickname I had given us: 'Mom & Pop & the Aussie kids' and they got a good kick out of it. One of the guides from the other group started calling us Mama & Papa & it stuck.

The next morning we got ready for rafting down the river. The rafts are made new for each group and are 45 ft bamboo poles lashed together with a quadri-pod arrangement of poles towards the front to hold the backpacks out of the water. You were well advised to wear sandals for the trip as your feet were in the water most of the time. We had 2 rafts for our group with six of us plus a guide as raft master on one & 5 and a guide on the other. We stood in the center one behind the other and rode the current downstream. The Guide had a long pole to steer us as did 2 people at the back of the raft. A third person had a shorter, spare raft to help us along. The day was overcast and we rotated the people with poles so everyone would have a chance & stay warm as well. It was a lot of fun and we were quite pleased with our ability to work as a team navigating the frequent rapids, even if we did get the bottom of our shorts wet at times. We had a break after 3 hours at a small village where we could get snacks & drinks. Five of the Aussies were supposed to leave us at this point to trek to another village for the night, but they had decided they had had enough and cancelled the 4th day. Besides, they said, they would miss us.

After our break, we started out again, this time negotiating several small waterfalls. This was quite a thrill to ride on the raft through the quite large waves. Ray then discovered why he wore his bathing suit! He was manning the short pole through one of the waterfalls when it became wedged in some rocks. Rather than lose the pole, he tried to free it & freed himself from the raft instead. He was unhurt, aside from a bruise on a hip, and said he was fine and was more concerned about being hit by another raft, as there were several other groups navigating this same stretch of water, than being dashed against rocks. We were able to stop our raft a short distance away from his upset and he floated over to re-board the raft, getting a good laugh out of the experience. At least it was near the end of our trip so he didn't have time to get chilled. He was the talk of the other raft groups. A few of the other guides were heard to exclaim 'where's Papa!' when he fell. Anyway, we were able to change into dry clothes at the end of the trip & traveled back safely to Chiang Mai.

Back in Chiang Mai, I persuaded Ray to go with me to one of the Thai massage parlours. I highly recommend this. We opted for a 1 hour traditional massage (only 100 baht). We were ushered into an upstairs room to change into baggy cotton shorts and top, then into another dimly lit room with about 6 mattresses on the floor. We were directed to side by side mattresses by our masseurs, Thai women of indeterminable age, and were subjected to a full hour of massaging and manipulating all the muscles and joints in our feet, legs, back and neck, with some work on our arms. The women used their hands and even their feet for the treatment. I can see that regular treatment could really help your body and even improve your flexibility and prevent soreness.

I think this letter has gone on too long and I am going to have to write another episode to bring you up todate! Ray is waiting for dinner, so I bid you adieu. More later.

Ciao, Jeanne & Ray