By Katherine Lord
We have just returned to Chiang Mai after an incredible three-day long trek through the Thai mountains and jungles. Though very physically demanding, it was an incredible experience. On the first day, we drove two and a half hours in the back of pickup trucks to a national park north of Chiang Mai, where we began the trek. That day, we walked nine miles through the mountains, so we were always walking either straight up or straight downhill. We passed hot springs, water buffalo, tiny hill tribe villages, and many different types of trees and plants. When we got to the top of the mountain, the view was absolutely amazing and made the physical demands of the whole trip worth it.
After six hours of trekking, we arrived at the village where we’d be spending the night. The village is part of the Karen tribe, which has about half a million people in it spread out over Burma and Northern Thailand. In Thailand, relations between the Karen people and Thai government are peaceful, but in Burma there is lots of war between the tribe and government. The people in the village were Roman Catholic, which I found interesting. The village had no electricity, no roads, and no Western toilets. Very few people ever leave the village.
There is one primary school with four teachers who are police officers, and kids from nearby villages walk two hours to get to this school as it’s the only one in the area. About 70% of the kids continue onto secondary school. The nearest one is three hours away. The kids that don’t go to school get married off at the age of 14 or 15. The people in the village raise their own crops and animals and are completely self-sufficient. They use plants to heal illnesses, and our trekking guide showed us plants that make bleeding stop and cure colds. When they need money to send their kids to school, they sell their animals.
The experience of staying in the village was one that I’ll never forget. We slept in one room on sleeping pads on the floor, wearing headlamps to bed so we could see. We cooked all of our food over an open fire which was really cool. The next day, we got a tour of the village and the school. Then we walked for two hours, and got to see elephants! It was so cool. The elephants were beautiful.
Then we walked for another hour on a very treacherous trail to the village that we stayed in on the second night. It was much smaller than the other one. The other one had a population of 400 people, but this one was probably only 40. The sleeping conditions were the same. We had a delicious dinner of spring rolls, cashew chicken, pumpkin soup, and sweet and sour vegetables. That night, a group of little kids from the village came over to play with us and we gave them piggy back rides for a very long time until we finally made them leave so we could have a group meeting.
The next day—our last day—we went bamboo rafting! It was so much fun; like white water rafting, except on bamboo rafts. At points, it was storming which was a little bit concerning but we survived. Then we returned to Chiang Mai, exhausted. Overall, it was an incredible three days where we learned so much and got to experience so many things that we never imagined doing. We are in Chiang Mai for one more day, then travel to Pun Pun Organic Farm to learn about sustainable living and agriculture.
