Jenyfer Matthews

We left Chiang Mai early in the morning for our trek into the hills.

But we didn’t start walking immediately – first we stopped for a bit of play.

Our guide told us we could get a massage at the waterfall. Funny guy!

Beautiful – and bigger than I expected! Anyone trying for a massage would no doubt have lost their swimsuit!

And SO SO cold! This was one of those moments I had to steel myself to take advantage of an opportunity that would likely never present itself again. So glad I did – though it was fairly uncomfortable for those first few minutes after I got out!

After we changed back into dry clothes and had lunch, the walking began.

We were only scheduled to walk for a hour or so to the village where we would spend the first night. It didn’t sound so hard, but with each step I questioned everything that I had packed into my backpack. Did I really need an extra set of clothes? A blanket? Our guide kept telling us all things you could do with bamboo and banana leaves and I kept fantasizing that I could just abandon my pack and wrap myself in shrubbery to keep warm that night!

My roommate was speculating on just how badly she would have to injure herself before they would helicopter her out!

Civilization!

I could not have told you my location with any greater accuracy than “someplace in the northwest corner of Thailand” and yet I was incredibly pleased to be there! We stayed in a guesthouse much like this one.

This village is apparently populated by a tribe who originally migrated from China and who speak their own dialect. It was like stepping back in time.

This is how you hull rice the old fashioned way.

Like most hotels the world-over, our guesthouse was located next to the local highway!

This was the village shower – and ours as well. The sun was going down and the temperature dropping – having availed myself of one waterfall that day, I passed on this one!

This is what we did once the sun went down – fireside chatting.

Dinner began with a huge portion of vegetable spring rolls, made by members of our group, served with plum sauce. Has anything ever tasted so good? Then we sat by the fire and relaxed with our beverages of choice while dinner was prepared. Note the man in the orange hat with his pineapple.

My birthday was on the previous Sunday – the evening we were on the night train. I hadn’t told anyone except my roommate, and we just let it pass. So how surprised and pleased was I when our tour leader surprised me with this “cake”?

The Thai people are nothing short of artists with how they are able to cut fruit. This pineapple was cut into rings, then also cut into pieces inside and reassembled to look like a whole pineapple. I was able to lift the shell off to reveal the cut pieces inside. I was so touched that our guide would go to so much trouble for me – it truly was the sweetest cake I’ve ever had.

Monday: More hiking, elephant rides, the second village, and a river swim.

Have a great weekend!

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