David Francis continues his real
life adventures amongst the hilltribes, a world away from Chiangmai city.
BASIC MOTORCYCLE TREKKING
I arranged with Pan to go into the mountains on Pan’s "trade
route". He’s a Thai chum who buys and sells food and other goods in
remote villages.
We met as arranged at 10.00am near Chiang Dao on the main Chiangmai
road, then waited at his brother’s house while Pan did some last minute
shopping. Pan’s brother makes beautiful hand carved teak rifle stocks and
watching him at work almost compensated for the frustrating delay.
Pan returned after 2 hours on his 100cc Suzuki (yes, 100cc) and asked
me to take half his goods on my bike while his brother would ride with
him. Off we started, Pan with the traditional 2 hand-weaved bamboo baskets
on a pole across the saddle between them, me with a case of whisky and
God knows what else strapped around the back.
Up the road to the Lipton’s tea plantation where, lo and behold, they’re
building a new concrete road. Building it Thai style of course, single
lane here - double lane there, some dry - some wet. I was proudly shown
a place where a 6 wheel truck had brake failure and ended up 100 metres
down into the river. No, the driver jumped in time!
When the concrete nightmare ended we were faced with a very steep hill
in the direction of up, complete with huge ruts caused by heavy rain. The
other bike got up OK but I hit a large rock while avoiding an old man who
was slithering downwards. Up in the air went the front wheel, the bike
crashed sideways on top of me and the whole ensemble slid several metres
back downhill. Every time I tried to get up we slid further, the whisky
in the middle of the road (but intact!) and petrol pouring out of the bike.
The old man asked with a smile "Sanuk
Mai?" ("Having fun?").
With his help - although he could hardly stop his laughter turning to
hysterics - I eventually got up the hill. At least I had made an old man
happy and given him a story to tell. As for me, I’ll remember his "Sanuk
mai?" for the rest of my life! Arriving at Pan’s shop at 2.00pm his
wife cooked us a beautiful lunch and he dashed off to sell some goods at
a funeral. On his return we headed for a 4 house Red Lahu village, me falling
off once more on the way. There was only a woman and 3 children in the
village as everyone else was fetching the cows home. The children had never
seen farang before and were
terrified of us, but smiles and sweets have a way with kids and we were
soon friends. We were allocated a house and made really at home.
The other inhabitants arrived with 138 cows (yes, 138!) of different
sizes, most with bells round their necks. Two men said they were going
hunting and left as dusk fell, one carrying a 12-bore shotgun, the other
with a Thai version of a musket - ball, powder, ramrod and percussion cap.
Rest - Not sleep!
We had brought more than enough food. The women added some vegetables
and cooked for everyone - quite a crowd in a 4 x 5 metre room. After the
meal the women and children disappeared and out came the opium pipe and
my Mekhong whisky. Each to his own! Soon it was time to sleep, but with
the talking, laughing, bellowing of cows and ringing of bells it was just
impossible.
At 5.00am the women started preparing food for the day ahead. As we
ate breakfast there was a noisy commotion outside and we all ran out to
see what was happening. Two big bulls were fighting and in the early light
of dawn, with the mist on the mountains, it gave me a feeling of going
back thousands of years to prehistoric times, the sheer power of the beasts!
The Lahu men stopped the fight by hitting them with lumps of wood, drove
one way and tied the other to "our" hut. Fight over we went back
inside, but suddenly the whole hut was shaking! The tied-up bull was lashing
out at a huge black pig whose food container was nearby. The pig was a
sight to see, almost willing to risk death by the intruder to get it’s
food!
Peace reigned once more. The hunters returned with a huge wild black
pig they had shot. It weighed over 30 kilos and we watched as they butchered
it - and bought a kilo for the day’s lunch. Packed and ready to go, we
found that a cow had chewed the straps off my crash helmet and the petrol
pipe off Pan’s bike. No accounting for taste! Eventually we got started
and decided to ride further up the mountain before heading home. After
half an hour we came across a Black Lahu village which was spotless, the
people Christian and very friendly. The views from that village took my
breath away. I have been in many hilltribe villages but this was astounding!
On one side you could see right down into the Mae Tang valley, all of 30
kms. It was worth all the hassle getting there just to revel in the splendour
of it all. I’ll return there many, many times.
Forty-plus enlightening souls from 9 nations took part
in the first Silver Dove Congress at the Chiangmai Garden Hotel, February
14-19. (...).
MISS
SUPHITCHA. I am seeking friendship or relationship with
a respectable, kind, foreign gentleman 35-60 years old. I am a 28 year
old Thai girl, 158cms tall, 46 kgs weight. (...).
David
Francis
