25 November, Pai
Picked up a van/cab for minimal charge to the silk factory to pick up Judy's dressing gown. Then thinking to assist him to get more rewards for introducing customers moved first to the lacquer factory where we bought another three bracelets for £15 for Christmas presents.
The final stop at the driver's request was a wood carving shop where the carvings in solid teak were attractive but the solid teak furniture was out of this world, though one would need huge rooms to justify purchase, for instance £2400 for a set of one large and two small coffee tables plus four easy chairs and a three/four person sofa, with lots of carving. Onto an ornate eight seater dining set but finally resting on a teak table of simpler design for £1868-£1762. Each placing had it's own built in drawer Very tempting the price included pacing and insurance but not freight charges. Looking back we realised how near we were to buying something too big for our needs, and still feel a sigh of relief.
We got the last two seats on the bus to Pai but it soon got overfull as Thai people joined. Two and a half hours later we stopped high on mountains for a break and a food stop, free water mussels in a sauce with vegetables and rice - very tasty for 10B. A girl got on with several plastic bags of live frogs and one eel. Just as we were leaving I noticed I noticed an advertisement for DIY trekking maps alongside a very small guest house, an interesting thought for next time, a few days in this small rural place would be so different.
At an army check point a legless Thai drunk got on, determined to stand but continually falling. Eventually he was persuaded to stay on the floor and I nestled my feet under his head to save him from further damage which served the additionally to protect a large box full of bread rolls. He took a liking to me and gave me a thumbs up when he finally stumbled off.
We went for the Duang Guest House just opposite the bus station for 100B we had a five foot bed, toilet and a hot shower, though Charlie's 50 yards further might have been better. Duang's sister ran the restaurant where we ate well, once again being the only non Thai. We booked a three day, two night walking trek for 750B each starting tomorrow so went to our room to pack our rucksacks and write these memoirs.
26 November, Trek to Karen village near Pai
We were picked up an hour or so late at 10am by a pick up truck somewhat back on our arrival route before turning into a large track which ended in a settlement. The party consisted of Pot our guide and his helper John-ju, American police Jack (35) and Gail (32), John a Belgian doctor who was intending to go later to Cambodia and Vietnam, Paul an Australian who had been away for 19 months much of it in London and was due n home for Christmas and Yeo a 25 year old Dutch girl. A pleasant party and one with at least four strong walkers. I was carrying a much larger rucksack since we had decided to bring sleeping bags, which would not fit into our day sack.
Lunching
after three hours of walling it was obvious this was no easy trek. Next
at least one long hard climb in the hottest and most humid part leaving
our clothes soaking wet with sweat. Unfortunately the views weren't
that good because of the trees and the height of the bushes. The path
was almost always under the cover of trees and wound its way though
undergrowth and if you got 10 metres behind it was often hard to see
those in front. So that evening we were all exhausted when we arrived at
a river for washing. I surprised everyone by stripping off completely
and sitting in the water, it was glorious and by the next evening the
other males had taken the idea on board.
That left just a last steep climb to the village and our bamboo hut in two parts, a dormitory where we slept (they slept in an annexe inside a mosquito net), in the other part on the first floor there was a hearth with a fire used for cooking - remember the structure is entirely bamboo. Pot immediately set a to making tea and the dinner to which we added chili. No-one found it harder than me to sit on the floor so I spent time standing. The native Karen people were obviously pleased to see us. The village was very poor with just a few animals, we were to learn later the more prosperous villages concentrated on the production of opium. There was however one young addict in the corner and John was persuaded to lie down with him and he took 12 pipes at 5B each before giving up with zero affect.
Gail a physio did a marvellous job on the back of my knee which I had recently injured playing tennis. It took her a long time to find the problem area deep in the structure, her massaging was painful as she got the blood moving but next day was absolutely free until the very end of the day's walking (pity I didn't persuade her to do it again).
The night was very hard and somewhat cold on the bamboo strip, so we were glad to have brought our sleeping bags. The toilet as in Nepal was simply a reserved area of the jungle near the village.
It was nice to find the village so natural and so friendly, they even cooked a rat to add spice to their breakfast but ours was more conventional with coffee served in bamboo cups with an inset lip for your nose, toast and pineapple jam.
27 November Lahu Village near Pai
The morning's walking was not too hard though we climbing a great deal from the outset. Soon we were seeing fields with young poppies. Midday we stopped in Lisu village and had lunch in a prosperous looking Chinese bamboo hut. Jack and I also sampled the Thai lunch next door with a beautiful omelette and bamboo shoots with cooked crisp chillie.
That afternoon was the hardest part of the trek, steeply up for an hour or so to the summit with photo session at 1500m, then as steeply down for the same distance.
The Lahu village looked far more prosperous with an abundance of pigs and chickens, far more colourful and like a village, the other was spaced out so as to avoid mingling with neighbours.
We ate, slept and cooked in the same room, in fact it probably was one of the village's main opium dens with at least five people lying down to smoke, one a father with a small child on his back. I studied the opium habit more carefully. The opium itself was a black tar like substance which was mixed with a blackstick, probably charcoal, before being ground, a globule the size of a penny was placed on a pin and burned over a small flame whilst the smoker draws off the fume in a pipe and the helper gradually feeds more of the globule into the flame, a burning process lasting around one minute before the wait whilst the next pipe load is prepared,. All very messy.
Pot told us it takes around a year to become addicted, much slower than heroin, but after that you are useless for work, for him becoming addicted would be the end of trekking, though he said Jong-ju his helper was an addict who could obviously still walk well and on our return to Pai saw he was also employed as a waiter.
Paul had 16 pipes and ended up with a high and Yeo just four and though both slept well they were both shattered the next morning - maybe it wasn't the opium that did it!
Joan and Jack were feeling sick and went early to bed. I stayed long enough to see the opium have a deal more effect on Paul than on John the previous evening.
Wednesday 28 November, trek and return to Pai
First task a walk to the stream for a wash then breakfast of rice cooked in coconut milk, toast and coffee.
Joan was walking very slowly on the very first uphill stretch and we waited 30 minutes for her to arrive. After that I walked with her carrying her rucksack in front but soon she was violently sick, largely fluid with diarrhea. She walked very slowly up hill without energy, one step at a time and most unusually complained. Still she kept going and soon it got better.
Pot for the first time bought a great deal of fruit including Pomelo , like Grapefruit but not so juicy and with many pips that day as we neared the road and civilisation. Pot taught me to throw his knife into a nearby tree, I could hit the tree but only once did it stick in as intended.
We had to wait 30 minutes for a songthaew which took a further 50 minutes to take us back to Pai. That evening we all had a meal together of 'home cooking' but it was neither very good or a success though the evening was not helped by the insistent music and the fact that everyone was very tired.
29 November Pai
We decided to spend a leisurely day in Pai though Gail and Jack departed at 7am.
We walked to the temple on the hill after a leisurely brunch with a young Dutch fellow. We eventually found out he worked for the Dutch customs in Rotterdam for eight months of the year and travelled for the other four months. He looked very much like a punk with small tattoos and a blond top to his hair though I later came to the opinion that he was currently on duty as an informer.
He had told us however about a cycle trip to a waterfall on which he was offered opium for resale, perhaps to sound us out. Later he was very friendly and how he was learning Thai from a black book and gave us several addresses in India for future reference.
That evening we had dinner with him and the Belgian doctor John in a truly Farang restaurant (usual slang? for foreigner) which was owned by a Thai with a Scottish wife. An excellent Minestrone soup and curry followed by a couple of small bottles of Mekong. A very pleasant evening.
Picked up a van/cab for minimal charge to the silk factory to pick up Judy's dressing gown. Then thinking to assist him to get more rewards for introducing customers moved first to the lacquer factory where we bought another three bracelets for £15 for Christmas presents.
The final stop at the driver's request was a wood carving shop where the carvings in solid teak were attractive but the solid teak furniture was out of this world, though one would need huge rooms to justify purchase, for instance £2400 for a set of one large and two small coffee tables plus four easy chairs and a three/four person sofa, with lots of carving. Onto an ornate eight seater dining set but finally resting on a teak table of simpler design for £1868-£1762. Each placing had it's own built in drawer Very tempting the price included pacing and insurance but not freight charges. Looking back we realised how near we were to buying something too big for our needs, and still feel a sigh of relief.
We got the last two seats on the bus to Pai but it soon got overfull as Thai people joined. Two and a half hours later we stopped high on mountains for a break and a food stop, free water mussels in a sauce with vegetables and rice - very tasty for 10B. A girl got on with several plastic bags of live frogs and one eel. Just as we were leaving I noticed I noticed an advertisement for DIY trekking maps alongside a very small guest house, an interesting thought for next time, a few days in this small rural place would be so different.
At an army check point a legless Thai drunk got on, determined to stand but continually falling. Eventually he was persuaded to stay on the floor and I nestled my feet under his head to save him from further damage which served the additionally to protect a large box full of bread rolls. He took a liking to me and gave me a thumbs up when he finally stumbled off.
We went for the Duang Guest House just opposite the bus station for 100B we had a five foot bed, toilet and a hot shower, though Charlie's 50 yards further might have been better. Duang's sister ran the restaurant where we ate well, once again being the only non Thai. We booked a three day, two night walking trek for 750B each starting tomorrow so went to our room to pack our rucksacks and write these memoirs.
26 November, Trek to Karen village near Pai
We were picked up an hour or so late at 10am by a pick up truck somewhat back on our arrival route before turning into a large track which ended in a settlement. The party consisted of Pot our guide and his helper John-ju, American police Jack (35) and Gail (32), John a Belgian doctor who was intending to go later to Cambodia and Vietnam, Paul an Australian who had been away for 19 months much of it in London and was due n home for Christmas and Yeo a 25 year old Dutch girl. A pleasant party and one with at least four strong walkers. I was carrying a much larger rucksack since we had decided to bring sleeping bags, which would not fit into our day sack.
 |
| Back Row - JACK - JOAN, PAUL, JEO,GAIL - Middle POT, JACK - Front JOHN-JU and JOHN |
That left just a last steep climb to the village and our bamboo hut in two parts, a dormitory where we slept (they slept in an annexe inside a mosquito net), in the other part on the first floor there was a hearth with a fire used for cooking - remember the structure is entirely bamboo. Pot immediately set a to making tea and the dinner to which we added chili. No-one found it harder than me to sit on the floor so I spent time standing. The native Karen people were obviously pleased to see us. The village was very poor with just a few animals, we were to learn later the more prosperous villages concentrated on the production of opium. There was however one young addict in the corner and John was persuaded to lie down with him and he took 12 pipes at 5B each before giving up with zero affect.
Gail a physio did a marvellous job on the back of my knee which I had recently injured playing tennis. It took her a long time to find the problem area deep in the structure, her massaging was painful as she got the blood moving but next day was absolutely free until the very end of the day's walking (pity I didn't persuade her to do it again).
The night was very hard and somewhat cold on the bamboo strip, so we were glad to have brought our sleeping bags. The toilet as in Nepal was simply a reserved area of the jungle near the village.
It was nice to find the village so natural and so friendly, they even cooked a rat to add spice to their breakfast but ours was more conventional with coffee served in bamboo cups with an inset lip for your nose, toast and pineapple jam.
27 November Lahu Village near Pai
The morning's walking was not too hard though we climbing a great deal from the outset. Soon we were seeing fields with young poppies. Midday we stopped in Lisu village and had lunch in a prosperous looking Chinese bamboo hut. Jack and I also sampled the Thai lunch next door with a beautiful omelette and bamboo shoots with cooked crisp chillie.
That afternoon was the hardest part of the trek, steeply up for an hour or so to the summit with photo session at 1500m, then as steeply down for the same distance.
 |
| PHOTO OPPORTUNITY at 1500 METRE |
 |
| A MORE PROSPEROUS VILLAGE - WITH OPIUM to SELL |
 |
| OPIUM POPPIES |
Paul had 16 pipes and ended up with a high and Yeo just four and though both slept well they were both shattered the next morning - maybe it wasn't the opium that did it!
Joan and Jack were feeling sick and went early to bed. I stayed long enough to see the opium have a deal more effect on Paul than on John the previous evening.
Wednesday 28 November, trek and return to Pai
First task a walk to the stream for a wash then breakfast of rice cooked in coconut milk, toast and coffee.
Joan was walking very slowly on the very first uphill stretch and we waited 30 minutes for her to arrive. After that I walked with her carrying her rucksack in front but soon she was violently sick, largely fluid with diarrhea. She walked very slowly up hill without energy, one step at a time and most unusually complained. Still she kept going and soon it got better.
Pot for the first time bought a great deal of fruit including Pomelo , like Grapefruit but not so juicy and with many pips that day as we neared the road and civilisation. Pot taught me to throw his knife into a nearby tree, I could hit the tree but only once did it stick in as intended.
 |
| KNIFE THROWING LESSONS |
29 November Pai
We decided to spend a leisurely day in Pai though Gail and Jack departed at 7am.
We walked to the temple on the hill after a leisurely brunch with a young Dutch fellow. We eventually found out he worked for the Dutch customs in Rotterdam for eight months of the year and travelled for the other four months. He looked very much like a punk with small tattoos and a blond top to his hair though I later came to the opinion that he was currently on duty as an informer.
He had told us however about a cycle trip to a waterfall on which he was offered opium for resale, perhaps to sound us out. Later he was very friendly and how he was learning Thai from a black book and gave us several addresses in India for future reference.
That evening we had dinner with him and the Belgian doctor John in a truly Farang restaurant (usual slang? for foreigner) which was owned by a Thai with a Scottish wife. An excellent Minestrone soup and curry followed by a couple of small bottles of Mekong. A very pleasant evening.
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