The day started off easy enough since we were being picked up from our guest house at 1000hrs. We met our trekking companions Patrick and Stephanie, a Belgian couple on the honeymoon so we found out as the trek went on.
We were dropped off at the stop for the long boats. The first part of our trip was easy. As the day later proved I think they were lulling us into a false sense of security.
Still we headed off, making our noisy way down the river on a long boat until we hit the elephant camp that was our destination. We spent some time walking around the village waiting for some of the elephants to come back.
As it turned out I was glad we did the elephant trek out of Chang Mai since this one only walked around the village. Although as with the other one there were bags of bananas and sugar cane you could buy for 20 THB per bag to feed them. I think some of the people missed the point of buying the bag of bananas. It was the saddest thing to see in a way as the travellers stood there not far from the elephants unaware of the forlorn, pleading trunks that reached out towards them and the bananas they were eating. Our guide had warned us about teasing the baby elephant in particular saying that the week before someone had teased it with a banana, holding it within reach waiting for the elephant to reach for it then pulling the banana way, until it cried out. The mother was not far away and at that point knocked over said traveller who ended up with broken ribs. I feel sorry for the baby elephant rather than the idiot traveller.
After lunch we crossed the river and began walking towards the hill tribes. One disappointing thing was that we walked on the road. Yes parts of it was steep and it was all in the sun which made it quite hot and tiring but I sort of felt if we were going to stick to the road we might as well have taken a car or motorbike. There really was not much point to walking for the afternoon on the road.
We eventually, leaving a tone of sweat trailing down the road behind us I’m sure, hit one of the villages then walked through the tea plantation which was interesting since they were harvesting one of the crops as we walked through. Along the way our guide pointed out the different plantations and crops as we wandered through. Eventually we reached the edge of the Akha Village that we would be spending the night in.
Patrick and Stephanie decided to call it quits for the day and just go straight to the Akha Hill House where they would be spending the night and skip the waterfall.
Cass and I decided that we’d push on to the waterfall since our guide said it wasn’t mush further and we could have a swim. Since we were staying in the village rather than the guest house we decided it would be good to wash off some of the dirt from the road before putting our feet up for the night.
So we climbed up the hill, thankfully it only took about 20 minutes longer and we were at the waterfall. It was small but nice and worth seeing. We striped down to bathers and went for a dip in the small pool at the base of the waterfall. The water was freezing!
We spent about 20 minutes there before redressing and heading into the village. Our guide left us at the top while he went down to the Guest House to pick up Stephanie and Patrick. While we were waiting one of the locals came out and was showing the products she had for sale. Suckers that we are we both ended up buying something from her while we waited.
Shortly the others arrived and we headed to the bungalow that we would be spending the night in. It certainly had a great view over the village. The night passed with conversation, beer and food. A relaxed night.
That night we bedded down on reed mats with a very thin mattress, I was just glad there was a mattress! A pillow and a couple of blankets. It is amazing how comfortable something can be when your tired.
