Tribal Trekking

…And here it is. The plans have been made. The trips have been sold. I am finally getting to run the trip I always dreamed about.

This is a trip that aims to cross the entire northwest portion of Thailand by our own power. Vehicle transport will be kept to a minimum as we travel across the most remote parts of Thailand. These are parts that foreigners have not visited until now. When I scouted the trip, I was the first foreigner to stay in the village where we will teach at the school. This area was dangerous because of drug trafficking until only a few years ago. Luckily, it is safe now and we will be the first group to attempt such a journey through the region. Trekking is common around the areas where we will be going, but no one has made the full trek that we will be doing.

This trip starts off with riding bicycles from Chiang Mai north to Chiang Dao. We will do this over 2 days. While we are cycling, we will take ferries over lakes, stop at waterfalls, ride elephants and spend a night at an organic farm and sustainable building home stay. From Chiang Dao, we will begin our trek to Pai. Along the way, we will plant trees in community forests, trek through many different environments, spend the night in villages, and teach school children English. We will cover about 50 miles and do it in 6 days with one rest day in the middle. From Pai, we will rest and explore some of the caves and rivers in the area before heading out on a 2 day whitewater river trip down the Pai river to Mae Hong Son. This river canyon is one of the few areas of Thailand where animal life is still abundant and the jungles are untouched by humans.

Hill Tribe people inhabit most of the mountain areas of Thailand. They kill all the wildlife for food and cut down the jungle to grow crops. It is extremely rare to find untouched places in Thailand where wildlife can still be seen. Even if it still exists, they have learned to be very sneaky and stay out of sight of the humans because if they are seen, they will be killed.

This trip turned out to be an amazing journey and was everything I thought it would be. We used vehicle transports a little more than I would like, but it was necessary to make the trip safe and doable for the students. There is no better feeling than to have conquered a great distance by using your own power.

written by  brookejason on August 21, 2009 from Chiang Dao, Thailand
from the travel blog: Thailand 2009
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