Impressions from Mae Hong SonMae Hong Son , December 2017

Thailand Backpacking Part III: Hill tribe & Jungle Trekking

Visiting a Karen tribe, traditional wedding customs and homemade rice liquor, jungle trekking, cooking with bamboo canes and crossing a bat cave.

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Hill Tribe & Jungle Trekking - Thailand Backpacking Part III

Three days trekking with Pooh Eco-Trekking in Mae Hong Son province

After an early and several hours arrival from Chiang Mai, our tour guide Ting did the shopping at a local market. In the meantime, we fortified ourselves with fresh chicken soup. On the back of an old pick-up truck we continued our journey between various old canisters with drinking water. Quickly, the tarred road changed into a loamy and rough path, of which we felt every bump. Halfway, overlooking the mountainous border area with Myanmar, we descended and hiked the last kilometers through the hilly landscape. Every now and then we crossed rice fields until we finally arrived at Ban Dong Ku village at 1100m above sea level.

There we were welcomed by Thom and his family, with whom we were to spend the night, as well as the two local guides Ke Saw and Sae Wang. The family's house or hut was on stilts and consisted of three rooms with a sort of covered hallway. One room for the family, one room as a "guest room" and one as a kitchen. The floor consisted of simple boards, partly bast mats were laid out, there were no chairs or tables. Directly under the hut were the open stalls for the pigs and chickens.

After a short briefing, we quickly explored the village a bit at dusk before joining our guides and hosts in the kitchen. Ting bereitete auf einer traditionellen Kochstelle aus Lehm unser Abendessen vor. Als einzige Beleuchtung dienten Stirnlampen, da es im Dorf außer ein paar Solarpanels keinen Strom gab, und auch kein fließendes Wasser. Sitting on the floor of the hallway, we ate dinner and waited until it was time to get comfortable in our sleeping bags on the wooden floor.

Prayers, singing and rice liquor

A short time later, we, or rather Thom's family, got another visitor. Am nächsten Vormittag stand eine Hochzeit im Dorf an, und so gingen die Stammesvorsteher am Vorabend von Haus zu Haus um dort mit den Familien zu singen, zu beten und selbstgebrannten Reisschnaps zu trinken. After a few minutes, we were allowed to join them in the kitchen to experience this native tradition up close, including rice schnapps tasting.
With the necessary bed weight it was easier to find sleep on the hard floor. However, we underestimated the temperatures, after all we were at 1100m altitude. Several times we woke up freezing and pulled everything over each other, which was still in our backpacks.

So it was not particularly difficult for me to get up shortly before 6 o'clock in the morning to the sound of countless roosters to experience the sunrise over the valleys covered with fog. Already the view from the "balcony" was dreamlike.
The first villagers were also already on their feet and the fireplaces smoked from many huts. As the sun rose above the horizon and the first rays of sunlight touched the face, one directly felt their power and the soothing warmth. Breakfast was also served on the "balcony", under a picture of King Rama IX, who died the previous year and who enjoyed a very high reputation throughout Thailand and is "honored" by a picture in almost every household.

In the village it became more and more lively. The first inhabitants of the village, from which the groom comes, gathered outside with the others to pray and, as the night before, to drink homemade rice liquor. We were allowed to watch the hustle and bustle for a while. Unfortunately, the groom was late, so we did not witness the actual ceremony, as we had to leave for our next stage.

From the mountain village to the bamboo hut in the jungle

With our backpacks packed, we first walked along loamy paths and densely overgrown trails before descending through impassable bamboo forest to the Nam Mae River. We followed the river along its banks for a while, crossing it several times before finally reaching our second night's camp, a simple stilt hut built entirely of bamboo canes and a few boards by the tribesmen at the fork of the Nam Mae and Mae Ho rivers.
We enjoyed a quick dip in the river under a small "waterfall" while Ting unpacked supplies for dinner and Ke Saw and Sae Wand used their knives to make eating utensils, drinking cups, and cooking containers for rice from freshly cut bamboo canes. It was quite impressive what such a bamboo cane can be used for.
While Ting was cooking, the locals prepared torches, which they also made from bamboo canes. They cut the cane into long strips, dried them over the fire and bundled them. After a delicious dinner around the campfire under a fantastic starry sky in the middle of the jungle, we slipped into our sleeping bags and spent a warmer night, since we were only at a good 590m above sea level.

Riverbed hike and bat cave

In the morning we woke up to tens of different bird songs and the sound of the two rivers. Clouds of mist shrouded the treetops and created a mystical atmosphere.
After breakfast, we stowed everything in our backpacks and began to follow the smaller Mae Ho River uphill and thus upstream. Quickly the river bank narrowed, so we had to walk through the river for most of the distance ahead of us. At another small waterfall we took a short break, which we used for bathing. Refreshed, we continued on, in and beside the river, until we ran toward a rock wall from which the river came.

In front of us was Taralod Cave, a karst cave that housed hundreds of bats. And it was for this very purpose that our guides had built the torches out of bamboo the night before. They lit them and off they went, just by torchlight, hundreds of meters through the impressive cave. After the cave crossing we hiked a bit through the jungle, passed more rice fields and followed a loamy road to the agreed meeting point.

Full of new impressions and experiences we went back to Chiang Mai. In the office of Pooh Eco-Trekking Sarah was surprised with a cake, it was her birthday and she will probably not forget it so quickly.

For anyone who wants to experience the real and simple life of a local tribe far away from any mass tourism and hectic cities, and is willing to sacrifice comfort on vacation, such a tour of a sustainable operator is absolutely recommended. For me, this trekking was the highlight of our three-week backpacking trip through Thailand.