Thailand Trekking: Day Two

We woke early for a delicious breakfast cooked by our guide Gee. He made us eggs, toast with homemade jelly, and pineapple. It is winter in Thailand, so the days are hot and dry, but the night is cool, around fifty degrees. The morning air was cool and crisp, so we huddled around the fire while eating our breakfast.


After we had breakfast, it was time to hit the trail. Today will be the longest trek, about eight hours of hiking over six hills. We hiked our tallest hill today as well, which was around 800 ft. It will be a tough day, but the last leg of the hike would be on the backs of Asian elephants, so that was motivation for the group.

As we left the village, we immediately began a vertical hike up the first hill. When I say a vertical slope, I mean VERTICAL! We were on our hands and knees, clutching our bamboo sticks for support, slipping on the dry dusty trail. We hike uphill for about forty minutes before we reached a point where we could stand on our feet.


We then continued on the trail, hiking down beautiful valleys, pristine streams, and breathtaking cliffs. Even though it was the dry season, there was a lot of life in the forest and quite a few flowers in bloom.


On the last hill, we had to cross from one side of the top of the hill to the other. The trail went around the edge of the hill, which was extremely frightening! I was already slipping and sliding all over the place, to have literally six inches between me and a 500 meter cliff was very nerve wracking. Meanwhile, our guide was skipping along this narrow path, telling us to be careful and smile.



We descended from this hill to a group of locals who lead elephant treks through the hills. We had lunch there, resting our weary feet in the ice cold brook nearby. After lunch, we had the much anticipated hour long elephant ride through the hills. I have no words to describe this experience besides amazing, breathtaking, majestic, intriguing, and awe-inspiring. The elephants were magnificent gentle giants that seemed unfazed by the fact that they were carrying three people. To ride through the hills of Thailand on the back of an elephant is an experience that will stay with me until the day I die, it was more than anything I could have imagined. After a long day of trekking, to reach the village we would be staying in for the night by elephant was great.



The village we stayed in was a group from the Hmong tribe. It was a larger village than the Karen village we stayed in the day before. There were about 2,000 people that lived in this village. The Hmong people are not nomadic like the Karen tribe, so the village was a lot more settled and permanent. After a lovely dinner cooked by our guide Gee, we watched a group of the local children dance a traditional dance. They were absolutely adorable and looked exquisite in their traditional dress. We spent this last evening watching the stars in the clear sky, appreciating the seclusion we have here in this place from the rest of the world.