4 Days in the Jungle

Day 1: 01 March 2005
We got up this morning, stored our big packs with Mr. Om at the Number 4 Guesthouse in Mae Sot, and were picked up in a truck by our driver around 8:00 am. We had prepared ourselves for the 4 hour drive south to Um Phang, as we had been warned it is an extremely windy mountain road...1,297 turns to be exact. We were not looking forward to it, and did not have much hope when we saw a truck pulled over on the side of the road with a local on the roadside spewing in the bushes. Nigel claims that the scenery was nice, but I just saw one long yellow line painted on a black surface. We passed quite a few trucks loaded with Thai military men in fatigues with very large guns in hand...Um Pang district, Tak province is on the Myanmar-Thai border, and relations are not too great at the moment (Burmese people are trying to free themselves from a military dictatorship). At one bend in the road, we surprised a large snake, who was sunning itself in the middle of the road. It sat up rigidly and looked at us before slithering off into the bushes. It was reddish brown, very long, and looked very poisonous (our driver said it is). After about an hour, the forests were burned out here and there, with some areas still in flames. Unfortunately, this was to be our 'jungle' scenery for the next 4 days. The local hill tribes burn the land to chase animals out for hunting, and to prevent a major devastating forest fire in the future. Important for them, but it doesn't make for very good trekking.

The road turned out to be not so bad (we've certainly been on worse) and we arrived in Um Pang around 11:00 am. We picked up our two guides, Chai and Kit, and had some lunch at a local restaurant in town. We then piled our gear into the truck and drove down to the river. Our raft was there waiting for us: 10 bamboo logs about 6 metres long strapped together, with a small bamboo platform in the middle to store our gear. We got comfy on the little platform, our feet in the water on the raft in front of us, our bags tightly wrapped up in plastic bags. Chai and Kit took their places at either end of the raft, and pushed off with their bamboo oars. We had a beautiful, peaceful cruise down the river for about 4 hours. We passed through some thick jungle, under overhanging cliffs about a metre above the water surface, steep cliff walls rising from the water, and some great waterfalls streaming down, nearly on top of us. There were hundreds of dragonflies and butterflies flying about, in every colour imaginable, and a few different types of bird species, including a gorgeous little kingfisher like the one we saw in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. We also saw a monitor lizard swimming across the river, then hop out onto a log and scamper up the hill. There were a few 'rapids' we had to tackle, but nothing the bamboo raft couldn't handle. About 2 hours into the trip we stopped at some natural hot springs, where locals have made a small pool to soak in. The water was warm and bubbly, and had some bizarre reaction with the sunblock on our skin, as our legs and arms turned white. Very odd. Then another 2 hours on the raft to camp. It was so relaxing sitting there on the raft, dangling our feet in the cool water (they were quite wrinkly by the end of the day), watching the scenery go by.

We pulled into shore somewhere along the river to our camp for the night. We disembarked and crawled up the hill to a flat area under an overhanging cliff wall. Chai and Kit disappeared and returned with a heap of supplies: tents, pots, dishes, a gas stove, lanterns, tarps, and more. The Number 4 Guesthouse has built a little storage room in a cave nearby so that not all of the supplies need to be carried on the raft and on the hikes. It was amazing how quickly the two guys got everything set up, and before we knew it, they were chopping veggies, boiling water, and cooking rice for dinner (they wouldn't let us help, we were forced to sit back and watch). We put our tent up, tried to wash up as best we could, and got some long sleeves and pants on before the mossies came out. We enjoyed watching the guys cook up a great dinner, all 3 courses! We had spicy soup broth with turnips, pork with loofah (yes loofah, not the one you wash with but the fruit of the tree, kind of like a squash), and red curried pork with green beans. All of this followed by fresh pineapple for dessert. It was so delicious, and there was so much food! Nigel had bought some moonshine rice wine from the guy at the hot springs, so we all took turns having shots from the jury-rigged shot glass made from the top of a plastic water bottle. Okay, let's be honest here. Kel had about 2 shots (plenty to feel tipsy on!), and the guys had the rest. It was a great evening under the stars, in the middle of nowhere on the river. We did hear some animals during the night, but did not see any, nor did we find out what they were (did we really want to??).

Day 2: 02 March 2005
Breakfast was at 7:00 this morning. We crawled out of our tent and tried to knead out the kinks in our bodies from sleeping on the hard ground all night before wandering over to the fire. Chai and Kit had breakfast all cooked up for us: roasted potatoes with a spicy tomato sauce, and of course, coffee. Again, absolutely delicious. We packed up our gear, stored away the supplies in the cave, and boarded our raft again. It was a cool, clear morning on the river, and rafted downstream for about 2 hours. We docked around 10:00 and changed our flip flops for our hiking boots. Kit came up to us with the skin of a very large King Cobra...it was cool to see, but we were glad we did not see the snake it belongs to! We loaded all of our gear onto our backs, and set out for a 4-hour hike through the jungle. This was not the most spectacular hike, as the majority of the forest was burned out, black ash covering the jungle floor (bamboo leaves turn black when burned), and no leaves on the trees to provide shade. It is probably gorgeous most of the year though. The cicadas in the trees were so loud at places that it was hard to hear each other. Because of the state of the jungle, we didn't see any wildlife except for some beetles, spiders, a few birds, a few squirrels and another poisonous snake. This time we were not in the comfort of a vehicle, but luckily it slithered away from us before it got too scary. This area is home to some exciting animals, including tigers, wild elephants, gibbons, monkeys, bears, barking deer, giant squirrels, giant flying squirrels, and monitor lizards.

We arrived at our destination around 2:00, the Thee Lor Su Wildlife Park. There are tons of campsites, bathrooms, and showers, as well as covered picnic areas, as this place sees a lot of visitors during parts of the year. Over the New Year holiday, there are up to 3,000 people all packed in! But we were only there with one other small group. Chai and Kit whipped up a fantastic lunch and we were able to cool down and relax a bit. We changed into our bathers and walked through some 'real' forest to the Thee Lor Su waterfall, Thailand's largest. The walk was lush, green, and beautiful. We saw a grove of the world's largest bamboo species as well as thousands of spiders. These things are crazy 8-legged things, with tiny bodies the size of a small bee and really long legs, about 4 inches. And they are everywhere (but harmless). Our first sight of the Thee Lor Su waterfalls was breathtaking. A series of falls cascade down from a height of 200-300 metres over red limestone rocks and between a variety of lush green trees. Because it is the dry season, we were able to enjoy many different falls instead of just a few huge ones. And Nigel and I had the entire place to ourselves! We climbed down to the edge of the bottom pool and quickly jumped in. The water was pretty cold, but very refreshing...besides, both our bodies and our clothes were in desperate need of a wash by this time! We swam around (not under the falls, as they're too strong) and lounged on the rocks for a while, enjoying the view and the sound of the water falling. Then we strapped on our boots and climbed up to explore some of the other falls and pools. This would be impossible most of the year, due to the amount of water falling. Each fall is different, and each is truly spectacular. It is one of the most beautiful places we've been yet.

We (reluctantly) went back to camp as the sun set, took a 'shower' (cold water dumped on us from a plastic bowl while trying to dodge our spider friends), and relaxed before having yet another delicious meal cooked up freshly by Chai and Kit. This time it was mushroom and cucumber soup and red coconut curry with pork. All of this washed down with a few cold beers (bought from the people in the park) and followed by hot tea. This was not just normal tea. We drank it out of our very own bamboo cups with little bamboo stirrers, made just about an hour ago by Chai. He and Kit are like McGuyver, Commando and Indiana Jones all rolled into one. They can do anything. We had some more moonshine but all headed to bed around 9:00, tired from a full day.

Day 3: 03 March 2005
We had a 'late' breakfast this morning at about 8:00, which was a traditional Thai breakfast of rice soup with mushrooms. And coffee out of our cool bamboo cups. We packed up camp again (the guesthouse has a few large lockers in the park where a lot of their supplies are kept) and I had to fight of a bunch of huge biting red ants that had found their way onto her clothes drying on a makeshift bamboo clothesline. Of course Nigel helped me, the Prince Charming that he is. We set off for a hike to our next destination, a village of some minority hill tribe people called Karen (pronounced Car-ren). Again, the hike wasn't too spectacular, but there were a few more green sections than the day before. And I was a bit uncomfortable as I had slipped while hiking at the falls yesterday (before I got my boots on) and got a nice chunk removed from underneath the toenail on my right big toe (same foot I sliced open at the beach in Cambodia).

About 2 hours later we arrived at the village. It is small, less than 150 people. But it has been around for 130 years! They live in bamboo raised huts with attap roofs. Pigs, chickens and dogs roam around, as well as children. They are farmers, growing mostly rice. Their only income is from selling chilies they grow, and from tourism. The Karen people here do not often leave the village, as they only get schooling until around age 12, at which time they work full time. Even if they saved enough money to move to a large town or city, they would have a hard time finding a job with such little education. And they do not speak English at all. The older people (about 40 years old and up) do not even understand Thai. They are quite shy, and we were disappointed we could not interact with them, despite eating our meals in one family's home and sleeping in one of their huts. We dropped our gear in our room for the night (an open bamboo raised platform covered with an attap roof) and got some cold drinks at the Seven Eleven. Really just a few old guys selling some stuff from their front porches. There are 2 rival Seven Elevens in town, right next door to each other, but we're pretty sure it's the same family.

After lunch (delicious fried rice) we hiked with Kit, Chai and a villager about 30 minutes down to Khotha waterfall. This is another beautiful series of falls, really in the middle of nowhere. The Thai guys went off to fish (using a piece of line tied to the end of a bamboo pole, freshly chopped down), leaving Nigel and I to swim and do our laundry. 'Laundry' involved rubbing some soap into our clothes (while still wearing them) and then jumping into the pool of water at the base of the largest fall. The water was warmer than the falls yesterday, but still cool. Kel swam around a bit, but Nige got freaked out by the deep, dark water and stuck to the shore. Nige then had a go at fishing, and caught the only fish of the day. While I sat on the rocks watching, I saw a very long snake swimming in the water and slither onto the rocks about 3 feet in front of me. I froze and yelled "Nigel, snake!"
"What?" he said, turning around towards me.
"There's a snake, right there."
"Where?"
"RIGHT THERE!"
But it turned around, went back into the water, and disappeared under a rock. It was the same type of snake we saw in the road on the first day--very long and very poisonous. I'm actually glad Nigel didn't see it, as it could have been quite devastating to his health. Needless to say, we decided to move away from that area, quickly! We went further downstream to explore a little, dodging huge piles of elephant poo along the way. We then returned to the village in time to watch Kit and Chai cook up our dinner. Well, Chai cooked and Kit played a flute. After dinner (delicious yet again), we learned that the elephants they use for tourists (we rode on one the final day) are semi-wild. They live in the jungle and when it's time for a tour group to use them, the owners go into the jungle to get them. That is why we saw lots of elephant poo in random places near the waterfall. All of the elephants have wooden bells around their necks, each one making a slightly different sound so that each owner can tell his/her elephants apart from their neighbours' elephants. We drifted off to sleep under a clear sky full of stars, our final night out in the jungle.

Day 4: 04 March 2005
Our alarm went off about 6;30 this morning--a big fat pig snorting and squealing, chickens clucking, roosters crowing, dogs barking, and the family's oldest son grinding rice in a huge mortar and pestle type tool. Truly rural life! We had cereal for breakfast (the first cereal we had since leaving Australia) and waited a while for our elephant to come in from the jungle. We actually heard him before we saw him. By the sounds of it, he didn't seem too happy to go to work today. Elephants are REALLY loud, and quite scary when you hear them echoing through the jungle! But he was happy when we saw him. We loaded our gear into the basket on his back, climbed on up (he lowered himself down to the ground as much as he could, then we had to step on his front leg to get up, which I still feel guilty about) and we were off like a herd of turtles. Now, we love elephants, but if anyone has ever ridden an elephant before, you'll know that it is not the most comfortable, smooth ride. Actually, it's really quite uncomfortable. We had 3 hours of rocking back and forth, side to side on our ellie's back. Nigel had to have a quick trip to the 'happy room' as they call the toilet here in Thailand, and as he approached the elephant to get back on, he made a very loud grumbling, rumbling sound, which vibrated through his whole body (I was still on top in the basket). Nige jumped back a bit startled, but the elephant let him back on in the end. The jungle was a bit greener here, and we went through 2 rivers, but didn't see any wildlife. Three hours later, we got off of the elephant, bruised in the lower back and actually motion sick! I can't believe we got sick riding an elephant, but didn't get sick on the twisty windy road on the first day here! This was the end of our jungle trek, and we waited by the cool river for our driver to pick us up. We drove back to Um Phang, had a great lunch, said goodbye to Kit and Chai and waited for our ride back to Mae Sot. Much to our surprise, a sawngthaew pulled up (the pick-up trucks with two benches in the back), our transport for the 4 hours back to Mae Sot. We did not know this was our transportation, but couldn't really do anything about it as it was our only option. So, we got in with 4 locals for the long, windy road. After about 3 hours (backs now bruised in a second place, higher up than our bruises from the elephant ride), we stopped to pick up some more locals on the side of the road. Sawngthaew are like taxis here, you just wave them down. For the next hour or two, we were crammed into the back of this truck with about 15 other Thai and Burmese men. And we thought it was uncomfortable the first 3 hours!!! We were quite happy when most of them got off, about an hour outside Mae Sot. We arrived back at Number 4 Guesthouse about 5.5 hours after leaving Um Phang. We were happy to get out of the truck, and headed STRAIGHT to the shower (our first in 4 days). We then had a HUGE dinner: cheeseburgers, fries, and a brownie with vanilla ice cream for dessert. We felt we deserved a bit of 'comfort food' after such a long day on shocking transportation. But overall we had a fantastic trip, and would do it all over again if we could (maybe we'd walk along with the elephants the second time around!). Needless to say, it did not take very long to fall asleep that night!