Sunday 3 August 2014

BEST 3 day TREK IN THAILAND for $50

The best value trek in Thailand or maybe even in all of SE Asia is a 3 day trek out of Chaing Mai. It's an easy to moderate trek up into the hills outside of the city. Two nights are spent with the hill tribes in home-stays which is an insightful & interesting experience into the lives of the hill tribes. Usually the trek involves staying with 2 different hill tribes that have totally different languages, different traditions and different & distinct clothing. Some hill tribe people are very shy and stand off-ish while some are all over you, selling their traditional wares.

The price is about 1500 bht or $50. That is with pick-ups, 7 meals, 2 nights accomodation, guide, elephant ride & bamboo rafting. It really is exceptional! 
We were well catered for & well looked after. And l learnt so much about Thai people, hill tribe people, the jungle and also about myself.







The Thai guides are excellent at their jobs & are well trained with a wealth of informative stories. Their duty of care is exceptional. I had attracted a couple of leeches on to my leg while trekking after the rain when leeches are more likely to prey on red blooded tourists. Our guide kept checking us along the way. But l was the only one in our group of eight that was targeted. Must be my good blood. Lae, our Thai guide was so attentive, he was more concerned than l was. Sweet man.

The trek begins with a pick- up at the hotel or hostel and a long drive out into the Thai countryside.
 A three hour walk begins through the jungle, stopping off for lunch and a well deserved swim at the waterfalls. And then on up into the hills which is probably the most difficult part of the trip as it can be quite steep & slippery. But the guide is excellent at knowing how to pace the trek. It's not a competition & he never pushed anyone. In fact because l was lagging behind, he came & walked with me, talking about his family & home town and asking questions about mine. So though it can be challenging, it is a great hike & so much is learnt about the local plants & flowers. Lae showed me a plant that smelt like Tiger Balm.

The first night was spent with the Akha tribe. The beds are comfortable & clean with mosquito nets in a large community bamboo hut. Clean concrete showers are provided & heated with a small solar panel supplied by the tour-operator for the convenience of tourists. Our guide looked after us totally, answered our questions, translated questions to the tribe and cooked our breakfast.


The trek moves at its own individual speed, at no time were we ever rushed and it feels like life is moving at a perfect pace.
We continued our trek through the jungle after a leisurely start to the day and headed to an elephant camp to board our elephants. What a treat! I love riding elephants! I know it has become a moral  issue now but l cant help it, l love it! Their gentle power & slow moving strength is almost graceful. And riding on her back through the jungle gave me a feeling of belonging to nature and to some archaic simple world that was slow & timeless. We waded for several hours through the river, whilst monkeys & fat-arsed pythons manoeuvred through the trees above us. It was bliss. The rest of the world did not exist.
Sadly we came to an another camp where we dismounted & l watched the young Thai mahout slowly meander back up the river. I was so envious of him & the obvious easy relationship that he had with the elephant.
At this camp there were other hill tribes selling traditional handcrafts & souvenirs. Massages were on offer as well. And we had such laughter & lovely banter with these people after our relaxed elephant ride. Then we continued on to another home-stay with the Hmong people, perched high up above the river. 



Getting to know my other trek-mates is part of the fun & experience of the trek. People from all over the world participate in these treks & it's educational & interesting to learn about their cultures as well. In the evenings we would talk over dinner & drinks and our guide would teach us new tricks & games.

The last day we took off again and headed to another hill tribe that specialises in building bamboo rafts. It was fascinating to watch their ease & skill and in no time there was a raft ready to ride down the rapids. And though it probably wasn't quite white-water rafting, it was very exciting & shiploads of laughs. Our guide was well skilled in guiding us down through the rocks & waves and once down the river, we cheered his accomplishment & our safe return to the real world. 

It felt like an endless trip back to Chaing Mai, feeling tired, happy, exhilarated, satisfied & sweet sorrow.






It is one of the best treks l have ever done & value wise, it has to be the best. A lot of one day trips cost 1500 bht ($50) so this is exceptional. Almost every agency in Chaing Mai is selling the same product with different companies. I highly recommend it.




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