After I arrived in Mae Hong Son, I booked a trek through Friend Tour to run around in the Thai jungle for 4-6 hours. Crazy, right? Well, I just finished reading Survivorman Les Stroud’s book Survive!: Essential Skills and Tactics to Get You Out of Anywhere – Alive last week, so I was excited to test out some of the skills he covers. Unfortunately, Mr. Stroud would have been very disappointed in my lack of preparation. Fortunately, my trek didn’t have any accidents or emergencies, but it did have a little hiccup:
When I booked the tour, they said there would be a local guide and an English-speaking translator. Oops, when I got to the tour agency, they told me the translator had an emergency and wouldn’t be able to make it. They handed me 200 baht and said “Ok?” Sure, I guess that’s better than missing the local guide. (Honestly, it turned out not to really be an issue because the guide spoke pretty good English and I speak survival Thai.)
Soon came the only other brave soul who would accompany me, a gangly Frenchman from Ethiopia. We met our guide Patii (emphasis on TII), a member of a local Karen hilltribe. We all hopped in a van and 10 minutes later were dropped off on the side of the road. I sure hope Patii has done this before.
We walked into the woods only about 20 meters before Patii stopped to show us something. Oh joy, it’s a giant wood spider about the size of my hand. (I quickly turned back to the truck, ready to make a break for it, but it was already gone.) Turns out the jungle is literally crawling with these gigantic spiders and Patii stopped me from walking into their webs several times. Every time I thought, gee it’s been awhile since we’ve seen a giant wood spider, he would stop us and point one out. He even showed us this wonderful nest with hundreds of their babies. Fantastic, Patii! (
Patii also pointed out different edible and poisonous/itchy plants. He showed us which leaves are strong enough to make a shelter and which are brittle and good for fire. The most interesting plant we saw was a “bleeding” tree. I don’t know the actual name of it (I best Les does!), but looking it up now, I think it was a type of Eucalyptus called Ironbark. Anyway, it leaks a blood red sap when cut. Patii said it can be used as an antiseptic and/or brushing your teeth (communicated through miming, so double check that one folks). Later on, we passed another of these trees in a dried river bank. Patii said when the water levels rise to the tree and the sap gets in the water, it gets the fish drunk and disoriented. Fun!
We didn’t see any wild animals but we did see plenty of evidence of them: wild boar root holes and big cat droppings (as in, those from big cats). Given the danger of these animals, I’m glad we didn’t meet any. Wait, I lied, Patii did scoop us up some tadpoles, which he said were used in some Thai cuisine.
Here are some other things we came across:
The aptly name buffalo spider (their “horns” grow to be quite long, like an inch!):
The knobs on this tree are cut off and ground so women can put it on their faces…or something like that. There might have been a miscommunication there.
A termite mound:
A mouse trap made almost completely from bamboo (the string is plastic):
The entrance to a black bee hive:
The best part of the trek was lunch, and not just because of the food (which was tadpole-free). While we sat down to rest, Patii fashioned a tea pot out of bamboo. He started a fire, boiled some water in this amazing contraption, added tea, then started making us cups!
You see, Patii is actually quite good at whittling not just bamboo but redwood too. He made each of us a spoon and a stir stick while walking us up a very steep and terrifying hill (you may think this is being negligent, but I’m confident Patii could navigate this route with his eyes closed!) At times the trail wasn’t even visible, so what?
Like the trek Jack and I did in Mae Wang, there were many moments of You want me to trek that? You’re kidding, right? This was not the first time I’d made peace with dying in the Thai jungles, and it probably won’t be the last. Here is one example of the one-small-slip-and-your-dead trail. Hopefully you can see here the narrow path right next to a sheer drop to certain death.
So we finally made it through the mountains to Patii’s village. He pointed out tons of fruits and edible plants on his neighbor’s farm: papayas, pineapples, bananas, wild limes, chilis, lemongrass, ginger, galangal, basil, and this most refreshing red plant. You only eat the tiny green leaves that are packed with a real punch of flavor. (Sorry about the poor focus.)
Finally arriving at Patii’s home, we elevated our legs while he told his family that I spoke Thai and live in Lampang. He seemed to be delighted by this, so I was too. All too soon, we were heading back to town, and I was a little sad to say goodbye to Patii. He was the most excellent guide, and I think Mr. Stroud would have agreed!
When I booked the tour, they said there would be a local guide and an English-speaking translator. Oops, when I got to the tour agency, they told me the translator had an emergency and wouldn’t be able to make it. They handed me 200 baht and said “Ok?” Sure, I guess that’s better than missing the local guide. (Honestly, it turned out not to really be an issue because the guide spoke pretty good English and I speak survival Thai.)
Soon came the only other brave soul who would accompany me, a gangly Frenchman from Ethiopia. We met our guide Patii (emphasis on TII), a member of a local Karen hilltribe. We all hopped in a van and 10 minutes later were dropped off on the side of the road. I sure hope Patii has done this before.
We walked into the woods only about 20 meters before Patii stopped to show us something. Oh joy, it’s a giant wood spider about the size of my hand. (I quickly turned back to the truck, ready to make a break for it, but it was already gone.) Turns out the jungle is literally crawling with these gigantic spiders and Patii stopped me from walking into their webs several times. Every time I thought, gee it’s been awhile since we’ve seen a giant wood spider, he would stop us and point one out. He even showed us this wonderful nest with hundreds of their babies. Fantastic, Patii! (
Patii also pointed out different edible and poisonous/itchy plants. He showed us which leaves are strong enough to make a shelter and which are brittle and good for fire. The most interesting plant we saw was a “bleeding” tree. I don’t know the actual name of it (I best Les does!), but looking it up now, I think it was a type of Eucalyptus called Ironbark. Anyway, it leaks a blood red sap when cut. Patii said it can be used as an antiseptic and/or brushing your teeth (communicated through miming, so double check that one folks). Later on, we passed another of these trees in a dried river bank. Patii said when the water levels rise to the tree and the sap gets in the water, it gets the fish drunk and disoriented. Fun!
We didn’t see any wild animals but we did see plenty of evidence of them: wild boar root holes and big cat droppings (as in, those from big cats). Given the danger of these animals, I’m glad we didn’t meet any. Wait, I lied, Patii did scoop us up some tadpoles, which he said were used in some Thai cuisine.
Here are some other things we came across:
The aptly name buffalo spider (their “horns” grow to be quite long, like an inch!):
The knobs on this tree are cut off and ground so women can put it on their faces…or something like that. There might have been a miscommunication there.
A termite mound:
A mouse trap made almost completely from bamboo (the string is plastic):
The entrance to a black bee hive:
The best part of the trek was lunch, and not just because of the food (which was tadpole-free). While we sat down to rest, Patii fashioned a tea pot out of bamboo. He started a fire, boiled some water in this amazing contraption, added tea, then started making us cups!
You see, Patii is actually quite good at whittling not just bamboo but redwood too. He made each of us a spoon and a stir stick while walking us up a very steep and terrifying hill (you may think this is being negligent, but I’m confident Patii could navigate this route with his eyes closed!) At times the trail wasn’t even visible, so what?
Like the trek Jack and I did in Mae Wang, there were many moments of You want me to trek that? You’re kidding, right? This was not the first time I’d made peace with dying in the Thai jungles, and it probably won’t be the last. Here is one example of the one-small-slip-and-your-dead trail. Hopefully you can see here the narrow path right next to a sheer drop to certain death.So we finally made it through the mountains to Patii’s village. He pointed out tons of fruits and edible plants on his neighbor’s farm: papayas, pineapples, bananas, wild limes, chilis, lemongrass, ginger, galangal, basil, and this most refreshing red plant. You only eat the tiny green leaves that are packed with a real punch of flavor. (Sorry about the poor focus.)
Finally arriving at Patii’s home, we elevated our legs while he told his family that I spoke Thai and live in Lampang. He seemed to be delighted by this, so I was too. All too soon, we were heading back to town, and I was a little sad to say goodbye to Patii. He was the most excellent guide, and I think Mr. Stroud would have agreed!
Looks fantastic!!! Those spiders sure are gigantic!
ReplyDeleteAmy Torrey