A Time for Trekking & Cooking

After our birthday weekend full of broad experience, we headed back into Chiang Mai to undertake the two major tourist activities the city has to offer: multi-day trekking and thai cooking classes. Knowing that our stay in Chiang Mai was nearing its end, we decided to participate in these experiences before it was too late. First was a two day trek in which we were going to witness, explore and experience several different activities within the 48 hours we were to be gone. The first day consisted of a lengthy ride up north in a song-thaw filled with the other trekkers (a couple from Calgary, a couple from France, a couple from the Czech Republic, another Frenchman living in Germany and a Korean woman living in San Francisco) we would experience this adventure with. We all became fast friends and we started guessing who would be the slow-pokes throughout the hiking part of the trip (which ended up being our BEER-drinking Czech friends!). The first leg of the trek was a 3~4 hour trek that took us completely uphill and ended up being a lot more trecherous and dynamic terrain than we would have ever guessed. The views continued to get more and more beautiful and breathtaking as we rose each meter. After just shy of 4 hours of hiking, we finally settled into a hill tribe village at the top of this mountain, overlooking the city to the south and the quiet, clean valley below. On our approach of the village, we didn’t know what to expect. Our guide told us the village consisted of roughly 200 people and has been living in this part of Thailand for the last 30 years. The views were astonishing, seeing this completely self-sustaining community set on top of one of Northwest Thailand’s mountains. Upon arrival, we all settled into our bamboo lodge and took of to see the attached village. We were immediately taken by the slow, methodical way in which these people go about their winter evening. Everyone with a task, everyone with a duty, everyone with a goal to keep this system of neatly-woven fabrics of life meshing into one life form. We giggled with children and puppies, we smiled with elderly people busy with the day’s task and enjoyed the immense beauty of the setting in which we found ourselves. The next morning we took off down the backside of the mountain in chase of a full day of adventure. Once down the mountain, we got our chance to ride Thailand’s mascot, the elephant. We boarded our massive trounced transport and couldn’t believe the sheer size in which she represented. It was a short 45 minute ride, but the chance to be on top of this giant animal, and experience its daily “activities” up close and personal, was a real treat. After the elephants, we jumped on two more “rides” that consisted of water, not land. First was a 20 minute white water raft in which we were literally thrown in with our happy-go-beer-drinking Czech friends (having zero experience in the water) and dropped into a fairly quick first rapid. After our raft in West Virginia back in September (Gaulle River), this was a laughable pass for a white water rafting adventure…but since we were on board the Czech Express, it ended up having its own type of adventure! Last we boarded a bamboo raft that – again – was at first, a joke in our eyes. All 8 of us got on this loosely- woven raft that immediately sunk under our Western weight. The guide, absolutely giddy at watching us squirm back and forth, trying to stay afloat ended up getting us upright and guided us down the river where our 2 day adventure finally came to an end. Looking back on this whole experience, it far exceeded our expectations and despite its heavy tourist tag, ended up being quite a real adventure. Next up was our one-day Thai cooking school. We picked a small school that had great ambiance and smaller classes. Boys were we right! We ended up being the only students the entire day. There are many cooking schools in Chiang Mai and picking one can be a hard choice, but after the trek, we enjoyed the special attention. The day consisted of a trip to the local market where we did a crash course on all the main ingredients in which Thai food represents. This is no easy task. The Thais are definitely known for their culinary skills and is consistently ranked with Italian and French as having the world’s best cuisine, top to bottom. We then started our dishes. Round one was soup: coconut chicken for Tom, spicy hot and sour tofu for Jill. Next was pad Thai and crispy spring rolls, followed by one of Thailand’s staples, papaya salad. That alone would have been a wonderful day and very eye-opening. But our day had just begun as next we got to make our very own curry paste no simple task. Each ingredient is heavely pounded into a morter by a stone pestel. Jill made green curry and Tom chose the less spicy route with red curry. After making a stir fry dish and our actual curry broth, we finished our own version of Thanksgiving, Thai style. The experience was very rich as several of the workers spoke very good English and finally gave us a chance to speak with some Thais our own age. The weekend was spent wrapping up our time in Chiang Mai, seeing the last few sights we wanted to see and then flew to Mae Hong Son Monday afternoon. Our excitement for getting out of Chiang Mai had really grown when reading up on Mae Hong Son and its surrounding beauty and chance for adventure. Upon arriving here Monday afternoon, we hit a major speed bump in our journey: ILLNESS! Tom came down with a nasty virus that evening and has been recovering every since. Recovery is going slowly for now but we are hopeful that tomorrow will be a much better day than the last two and a chance for resurgence in both physical form and mental spirit. Nomadic lifestyle is not always as easy as it seems, and coming down with illness away from home can be one of the toughest things to cope with. A major loss of momentum and a chance to realize that every day is precious and should not be taken for granted.
Our upcoming travels will consist of more exploring in the northwest province of Mae Hong Son, including trips to Hot Springs, waterfalls and a stopover in Pai. But for now, time to get better!