Nobody wants a hangry Boomy.
The trek was AMAZING.
They probably should have warned us that the 3 hours per day of walking was actually heavy duty hiking up an incredibly steep mountain. Minor details. We rode an elephant, which was cool and random and now that I've done it I don't know that I'd do it again, our elephant was so unimpressed with her lot in life that she kept growling. I didn't even know elephants could growl.
The hill tribe village was so cool to see. I was disappointed that we didn't get more time to explore the village or a chance to actually see how the people live. I would love to go and spend a few days just living there with them. But we had a bit of a look and slept in a bamboo hut. The tribe was called "Lahu" and they're not Thai, they're originally from Tibet and then Burma. They like living on top of mountains, away from civilization. They're farmers and grow all their own rice, corn and vegetables, and raise their own animals. They use bamboo for almost all building materials, with some wood, and only use fire to cook and for light. The government has given them some solar panels so they'll stop burning so much wood, but they're still pretty far removed from modern life, which is strange since they're not that far away in reality.
This 24 year old Lahu guy joined our group that night and played guitar for like 4 hours straight. He was sooooo good! And funny. I talked to him later on in the evening and showed him some pictures of Canada. He said he only left the village once to go into Chiang Mai and he got lost and doesn't really want to go back. He's never been to school and I don't think he can read or write. The only life he's ever known is up on top of this hill, farming and just doing whatever it is they do all day every day. There are only 160 people in the village!! But he was smart and funny and social and pretty damn amazing. He learned English conversing with tourists that come through the village. And he taught himself to play the guitar 4 years ago, but he sounds like he was born with one in his hand, he just plays so well and so naturally. He knew a bunch of modern songs, which was kind of mind blowing. He said he has a radio (which we figure is actually a cd player) that he plugs into the solar power and can listen to cd's. I guess tourists must leave cd's for him? Or he gets someone to bring him music from the city? I'm not sure, but he was good, and knew a TON of songs. Did I mention he was cute? I tried to find a way to get him alone, even stayed up extra late hoping everyone else would go to bed, but then he disappeared when I went to brush my teeth and I never saw him again. His name was Pasi.
As we were sitting around the fire last night, listening to the guitar and doing a bit of singing, I thought about Mike and Nick, and wondered what it would be like if they were there. Mike would get his hands on the guitar at some point and would play some random punk songs that nobody knew. He'd play them loud and sing loudly and would sound decent, then he'd burn through his repertoire in about 15 minutes and hand the guitar off. I don't know if Nick would ask to play the guitar, but if it ended up in his hands he would just jam through a bunch of chilled out background music for probably a couple of hours while people hung out, listened, chatted. I don't think he does the campfire singalong stuff, but I'm not sure. What I do know is that he's absolutely brilliant on the guitar and would have blown people's minds. A very different experience with each. They're both social and make friends easily, but they're soooooo different. Mike is the centre of attention, fun-loving and loud, and every man who's ever met him wants to be his new best friend. Nick is chilled out but he likes to talk to people and is very attentive...
Yeah, they're both still on my mind constantly. Driving me a bit nuts. I'm 95% sure I'm going back to Sydney for a couple of months.. My gut feeling with Mike was always that it wouldn't work, and my gut feeling with Nick was always that he was the one I'd been looking for. I can't discount him quite yet just because I'm missing the comfort of home. (Home being Mike, I don't miss Calgary or work or my every day existence..)
Rob got in tonight so now we're four. Yay! Tomorrow we have a cooking class, which I'm very excited for. Then Tuesday we head to Laos. I'm rather enjoying our little area of Chiang Mai and will be sad to leave it. It's nice to get settled into an area and actually get to know it, as opposed to being somewhere new every day and not getting much of a sincere feeling for any place.
Still have at least 5 weeks of travel left, yay!
The jungle scenery was so beautiful to be walking through.
They probably should have warned us that the 3 hours per day of walking was actually heavy duty hiking up an incredibly steep mountain. Minor details. We rode an elephant, which was cool and random and now that I've done it I don't know that I'd do it again, our elephant was so unimpressed with her lot in life that she kept growling. I didn't even know elephants could growl.
The hill tribe village was so cool to see. I was disappointed that we didn't get more time to explore the village or a chance to actually see how the people live. I would love to go and spend a few days just living there with them. But we had a bit of a look and slept in a bamboo hut. The tribe was called "Lahu" and they're not Thai, they're originally from Tibet and then Burma. They like living on top of mountains, away from civilization. They're farmers and grow all their own rice, corn and vegetables, and raise their own animals. They use bamboo for almost all building materials, with some wood, and only use fire to cook and for light. The government has given them some solar panels so they'll stop burning so much wood, but they're still pretty far removed from modern life, which is strange since they're not that far away in reality.
This 24 year old Lahu guy joined our group that night and played guitar for like 4 hours straight. He was sooooo good! And funny. I talked to him later on in the evening and showed him some pictures of Canada. He said he only left the village once to go into Chiang Mai and he got lost and doesn't really want to go back. He's never been to school and I don't think he can read or write. The only life he's ever known is up on top of this hill, farming and just doing whatever it is they do all day every day. There are only 160 people in the village!! But he was smart and funny and social and pretty damn amazing. He learned English conversing with tourists that come through the village. And he taught himself to play the guitar 4 years ago, but he sounds like he was born with one in his hand, he just plays so well and so naturally. He knew a bunch of modern songs, which was kind of mind blowing. He said he has a radio (which we figure is actually a cd player) that he plugs into the solar power and can listen to cd's. I guess tourists must leave cd's for him? Or he gets someone to bring him music from the city? I'm not sure, but he was good, and knew a TON of songs. Did I mention he was cute? I tried to find a way to get him alone, even stayed up extra late hoping everyone else would go to bed, but then he disappeared when I went to brush my teeth and I never saw him again. His name was Pasi.
As we were sitting around the fire last night, listening to the guitar and doing a bit of singing, I thought about Mike and Nick, and wondered what it would be like if they were there. Mike would get his hands on the guitar at some point and would play some random punk songs that nobody knew. He'd play them loud and sing loudly and would sound decent, then he'd burn through his repertoire in about 15 minutes and hand the guitar off. I don't know if Nick would ask to play the guitar, but if it ended up in his hands he would just jam through a bunch of chilled out background music for probably a couple of hours while people hung out, listened, chatted. I don't think he does the campfire singalong stuff, but I'm not sure. What I do know is that he's absolutely brilliant on the guitar and would have blown people's minds. A very different experience with each. They're both social and make friends easily, but they're soooooo different. Mike is the centre of attention, fun-loving and loud, and every man who's ever met him wants to be his new best friend. Nick is chilled out but he likes to talk to people and is very attentive...
Yeah, they're both still on my mind constantly. Driving me a bit nuts. I'm 95% sure I'm going back to Sydney for a couple of months.. My gut feeling with Mike was always that it wouldn't work, and my gut feeling with Nick was always that he was the one I'd been looking for. I can't discount him quite yet just because I'm missing the comfort of home. (Home being Mike, I don't miss Calgary or work or my every day existence..)
Rob got in tonight so now we're four. Yay! Tomorrow we have a cooking class, which I'm very excited for. Then Tuesday we head to Laos. I'm rather enjoying our little area of Chiang Mai and will be sad to leave it. It's nice to get settled into an area and actually get to know it, as opposed to being somewhere new every day and not getting much of a sincere feeling for any place.
Still have at least 5 weeks of travel left, yay!
The jungle scenery was so beautiful to be walking through.