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| D A Y 2 |
| After a pretty chilly night filled with the occasional roosters cock-a-doodle-dooing and dogs barking, we had 2 pieces of toast with jam/butter and a hard-boiled egg with tea/coffee for breakfast at 9 in the morning. Around 10 am, we gathered by the stream to watch elephant-bathing. You can get in the water and use pots to help throw water on some very happy elephants, but they sometimes poop in the water. |
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| 11 people on the 2-day tour departed on the back of a pickup truck while the remaining 9 got picked up at 11:15 am for a bumpy 15-minute ride followed by a 5-minute hike to a waterfall where we had pad thai noodles with tofu for lunch. The waterfall is a nature slide with a cool deep pool under. |
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After lunch, we quickly began the hour and a half uphill hike in the hot sun towards Lahu Hill Tribe Village located in the mountains, following the remaining guide, a young guy named Crazy But Spicy or CBS for short. CBS, a member of the Lahu tribe, kept on walking up on the dirt road without saying much. At first, it was just a boring uphill climb but eventually, it became more scenic. At 2 pm, we arrived a quiet village dotted with bamboo huts and locals going about their business. The only other foreigners you'll see are other backpacking trekkers. |
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The accommodation for the night is another bamboo hut on stilts with a gorgeous view overlooking the mountains. There are 2 cold showers and 2 squat toilets in a separate hut a minute away.
We had time to rest and explore the idyllic village. If you walk further up the mountain, there's a shop to buy snacks and beautiful scenery to be seen. Watch the sunset just after 6. You can also get a massage from a local villager for 150 baht — she was a nice lady who spoke very little English, but the massage was not the best. |
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Surprisingly, Crazy But Spicy also doubled as a cook and prepared a simple yet fantastic non-spicy candlelight dinner with pumpkin curry and savory cabbage with vermicelli. As the night progressed, he increasingly lived up to his name, becoming more talkative and lively. He would pop out of his hut with new things to barbecue, dancing around making jokes.
It was a quiet starlit night except for occasional gun-shot-like firecracker noises because it was part of the week-long Lahu New Year's celebration, the time frame of which seemed to correspond with Chinese New Year. Time went by quickly as everyone in the group told stories and played games. Overall it was an amazing day. |
| D A Y 3 |
