Jon the Traveller

(Trek was undertaken over the 12th and 13th February 2010 basing from Pai, Thailand)

After a few days in Pai, Anna, Luke, Mat & myself decided it was time to do something energetic and we made arrangements to do a jungle trek. We used Back Trax on the main road in Pai, mainly because they are recommended in “the book” (Lonely Planet Thailand), which is usually something I avoid following as once a “service” is in the book, the reason for it being there tends to vanish rather quickly.

However this recommendation proved to be brilliant. We spoke to a guide named Cha, who basically offered us what we wanted: Trekking with no elephants and no hill tribes, just roaming through jungle and over/around mountains, staying overnight under the stars.

Cut to a day or so later and we arrived – after a start that was early even by my standards – at our starting point. For me it went well at first, however the heat and being fabulously unhealthy soon caught up with me, and I had to slow it down a lot. This did give me more of a chance to appreciate our location, which while not deep jungle was still ensuring it let us know our place.

After a good few hours – and a slight fall that pulled all the muscles in my ever messed up right foot – we made camp, well everyone else swam while the guides built it and I got some well earned shut-eye (neatly avoiding any effort). The guides: Cha & Sap, really out did themselves on the preparation for the overnight stay, they built a “sala”, which is like an open-sided sleeping area, made a huge number of utensils and cooking pots out of bamboo as well as building the fire and along with Anna’s assistance, made a wonderful dinner.

And they provided booze in the form of local whisky, presumably made from rice!

I really was not that useful as standing up required a huge amount of effort and so slept soundly – near enough anyway – for the whole night after I’d had my fill of dinner (a very delicious potato soup was the stand out thing in my mind).

Due to my foot making it hard for me to walk a lot and often, my second day of the trek was cut very short and after watching a squirrel get shot for lunch I, with Sap’s assistance left the others to finish out the trek with a serious hike and arranged to meet them near the road to Pai after they were done.

Despite my slight injury I really did enjoy myself on the 2 days and would do it again, given a few months of gym time obviously.

Called this place after finding them in Rough Guide. Price is a winner, less than £3 (150 baht) per night per hut; 250 baht for the ones on stilts and there are also a couple of Tee-pees for 100 baht a night.

Very basic bamboo huts, quite spacious inside for the size of the hut’s. Shared facilities but well maintained, even has hot water showers. A nice relaxation area and several fire pits for late night bonfires which are a must in the area as the nights can get pretty cold.

Other than the huts being basic and it being not that easy to find (Other side of the river behind a couple of similar operations), it is a good place to stay for those on a serious budget.

We – Anna, Luke, Mat & I – spent some time while in Pai doing a spot of sightseeing.  We visited a bridge the Japanese used as a supply route in World War II:

As well as Pai canyon, a waterfall and a working rice paddy:

It was also Luke’s birthday during our time in Pai. We as usual ate at Na’s, however Anna arranged for a cake and candles to be brought out. Very impressive cake and Luke was I’m sure very surprised by it all, especially when half the restaurant joined in with Happy Birthday, before helping polish off his cake.

The rest of our time in Pai passed very quickly in a haze of Jungle Trekking (Post to come shortly), drinks and sunbathing. In the final few days we met another couple of people from “the group”: Clare & Shaheen, and many drinks where had over the days we were in Pai together.

However, eventually the slow pace of life in Pai gets to you and Anna moved onto Laos, a few days after Luke & Mat did the same and I moved back to Chiang Mai to sort a new battery for my netbook – it gives 2 hours max these days. The bus ride back was great fun, sitting chatting with a couple of Monks at the back of the bus, which had stacks of leg room, only place that did.

So I am back in Chiang Mai for a short while, before heading to Laos myself.

After much waiting due to a combination of the Flower Festival and repeated “15minutes” – Thailand seriously works on its own definition of time – we eventually left Chiang Mai for Pai, a town up in the mountains that is a good place to base for treks and chill out for a while.

Minibuses really do suck by the way. Cramped and hot is the politest way I can describe the journey in one of these, although as an alternative to the non-air con local buses with non-existent suspension, I can see some merit in using them in particular area’s. Still don’t like them though.

Pai itself is a very small town, about 20 minutes walk across, so it is possible to get a feel for town in no time at all. It has a serious amount of bungalow operations, many by its small river which you can float down on tubes should the whim take you, as well as innumerable guest-houses dotted around town. There are plenty of bars, however they never all get busy, its more of a case that one does and when that closes people occasionally move on, or due to it being damn cold at night here, they go and find a bonfire to huddle round. Playing with fire is great when its cold.

To be continued…

Make a note folks, Im as cold here at night as I was at lunch time in the UK during january…