Eric Stahl: 2007-10-14

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Go Otto go!

Our friend Otto is out to beat a serious cancer diagnosis. His huge community of friends is rallying to provide support and raise some money for the treatment. We are up to $45k so far, which is amazing for only a few days. If you want to read something inspiring see Otto's latest post at http://ottoschutt.com/

If you can, please donate a few dollars to the cause.

Labels: Otto Schutt

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Two day trek...

We just got back from a two day trek. The plan was to hike about 12k the first day, sleep at a small hill tribe village and then trek about 12k the next day.

These paid services can go either way. You can get pouring rain, making the trek miserable. You can get a group of slow or annoying co-trekkers who you are stuck with for several days. You can can get a guide who doesn't speak English or doesn't have context for what you are seeing. You can get too large of a group, which almost guarantees that you will have at least one slow or annoying person. Everyone can get food poisoning and so on...

We got lucky and had perfect weather, a great group and a really interesting guide. The trek wound through the mountains and across a few rivers. We kept a good pace so it was a sweaty work out. Everything was as lush and muddy as you would expect in a tropical place, including the two leeches I pulled off my foot.

The most interesting part was the stay in the village. It had

seventy homes and about 220 people. They were a hill tribe who grew rice and corn. The village had dirt roads, houses made of bamboo and illegally cut teak, complete with chickens, pigs, dogs and cows running around.

The people were as interested in us as we were in them. They would sit down and just stare at us, talk to each other and giggle. The hill tribes still speak their own dialects and have their own way of doing things. They are in a constant partnership/struggle with the Thai government. The basic idea is that the government gives them medicine and money for projects. In exchange they aren't supposed to grow drugs. If they do they get visits from the narcotics suppression helicopters who burn their crops. They also struggle over forest protection issues while trying to let them keep their traditional way of life.

Each tribe has a Chief, who is elected for a four year term. The Chief makes the decisions and acts as the village judge, jury and peacemaker. He meets with the government once a month to pitch projects for funding and to get news.

Two years ago the village we stayed with got a few solar panels, marine batteries, charge controllers and inverters from the government to power some basic lighting. Prior to that they were on candle power.

We had dinner on the floor of one of the villagers homes. He is a rice farmer today. He used to grown opium. We slept in a small room with the four other trekkers. The bathroom was an outhouse just past the hog pens. We slept on thin mats a few feet above the roosters that kept us up all night. We all got a terrible night of sleep, but it was interesting :-)

A lot of people say that Thailand is played out as it has been overrun by backpackers. I agree that some places are, but staying with the hill tribe was no show... it was the real deal.

Tomorrow we go back to Chiang Mai and start working our way towards the Laos border.

[Here are the rest of our trekking pics]

Labels: Hill Trekking, Pai Thailand

Sunday, October 14, 2007

First two weeks in Thailand

Our first two weeks in Thailand have been great. Lush, beautiful landscapes, friendly locals, tasty food and comfortable guest houses... all at prices you have a hard time believing at first (even after the US dollar/Thai baht has fallen by 25% over the last year or so).

We got to Bangkok on the 4th. The flight was far less painful than I expected but getting on local time, which is 14 hours ahead of San Francisco, takes more than a couple of days.

Bangkok is a hot, crowded city but it also has some good sites to see. We stayed in Siam Square, which is close to the AirTrain and the water taxi, which are key for getting around. The traffic is a mess in Bangkok so we tried to only use taxis and tuk tuk's if we absolutely had to.

We hung around for three nights to get our bearings, meet up with an old friend (Smitty) and figure out our next steps. We checked out the Grand Palace, the Jim Thompson House and just walked around taking in as much as we could in a few days.

From Bangkok we took the train 80km North to Ayautthya, the ancient capital of Thailand. We rented bikes and toured the ruins for two days. The city itself isn't special but the ruins and working Wats are amazing. We stayed at the Baan Lotus Guest House, which I would recommend if you are passing through here.

From Ayautthya we took a 12 hour overnight train to Chiang Mai, the second biggest city in Thailand. The overnight train was fun but not the best night of sleep you will ever get. Chiang Mai is a major destination for a lot of travelers, catering to the backpacker community with trekking, hill tribe visits, rafting and elephant reserves. We found Chiang Mai to be a little too big for us so we hit the road after only one night.

From Chiang Mai we took a four hour minibus to Pai, a much smaller town in the far Northwest corner of Thailand- a stones throw from the Myanmar border. We've fully unpacked in Pai and have already been here for four nights. We will probably stay here for at least a week. It's small and friendly, has much cooler temperatures and is full of good food, bars and things to do. The place we are staying, Pairadise, is a deluxe bungalow for $30/night. We have a scooter to cruse around on for $3/day. Two days ago we rode an elephant for an hour and a half, including a swim in a river with it.

Yesterday we took a full day cooking class at Let's Wok. We learned how to make Thai curries, soups, salads, stir fry and noodle dishes. It was also great hanging out with Tee, who answered all of our random questions about Thai life. I would have never gotten around to taking a cooking class but Margaret had her mind made up so I went for it and would have to say that it was a highlight of the trip so far. I look forward to busting out some Thai dishes for friends and family when we get back.

Today was another lazy day of hanging out, eating, doing some email, reading, taking a nap, eating some more, going for a ride on the scooter, picking up laundry and just hanging out. On Tuesday we will take a two day guided trek, so on to the next adventure...

[Here's a link to all of our unedited pictures so far. You will need an Ofoto log in.]