Our adventure continues. We departed from our friends at the Mirror Art Foundation and embarked on our long and treacherous journey through the dense, overgrown jungle until we reached our destination, the Lahu hill tribe. We were fortunate to have such perfect weather for the six hours of trekking; a majority of our time in the village was rainy and overcast. Much of our time was spent inside by the fire relaxing, eating local Lahu dishes and binge drinking coffee. When it wasn’t raining, we helped create terraces for the rice patties, and constructed and painted a water tower for the community. There was never a dull moment in the village thanks to the absurd amount of children under the age of eight all fighting for our attention. One of the members of our group, Blake, celebrated a birthday while we were there so to help us celebrate, the Lahu people made a ‘birthday cake’ for him by filling a hollowed out pumpkin with egg!
As a farewell from the village, all of Carpe Diem and the local community performed a local Lahu dance together. We set off the following morning for a shorter hike of only only two hours this time but little did we know of what was to come next. We stopped for lunch in a different village and to our surprise, a heard of monstrous, majestic elephants came thundering up the hill, all with saddles strapped to them. Greg and Brooke had surprised us with elephant rides! Once we dismounted off our elephants, we then boarded a couple of traditional Thai water taxis which took us to Chiang Rai while at the same time gave us a spectacular view of Thailand from a new perspective.
Blakes egg filled pumpkin birthday surprise mmm
Grandma stepping in and showing me how to make a bamboo cup… The Lahu way.
(Below) Pi Sula Chai, Our leader, showing his sensitive side
