AAVE Trip BLOG » Thailand #2A - Non Stop Action!
August 6, 2007
Thailand #2A - Non Stop Action!
Posted by Jenny at AAVE in : General, Thailand , trackback
Hello All From Mae Hong Son,
Well the kids made it through cooking class with no injuries and a few new cooking tips up their sleeves. That evening we went and had some Mexican food (which was quite good) to change up the flavors a little bit and then we headed to watch Thai boxing. It was INTENSE!! The kids all sat right in front of the ring and loved every second of it. Non stop action!
The next day we headed to the Elephant conservation center to see how the elephants are trained to be useful in logging. We also enjoyed a ride around the park on an elephant’s back. Though bumpy, everyone really enjoyed it. That evening we suited up in our Thai fisherman’s pants and headed to a traditional Thai dinner. The kids had fun sitting at these tables that are on the ground, but have a pit under them in case you don’t want to sit cross-legged. We rushed off after that to the night market to fulfill the kids urges to buy all of the cool handicrafts along the way. The night market is a huge street teeming with booths that have anything and everything you could ever want in Thailand. With bags in hand we headed home on tuk-tuks, three wheeled motorcycles.
The next day we buckled down for a 6 hour car ride up to the jungles of Thailand. It’s a long ride, but well worth the pay off in the end. The cave lodge where we stay is really great with a huge porch, fire pit, bungalows and plenty of wild life to be seen and heard. That night we readied ourselves for the 3 day hill tribe trek. We set off the next morning on 6 hours of hiking through leachy (yes, I said leaches), muddy, slippery trails to arrive at our first tribe. It was great when the kids started wearing the leach bites like a badge of honor…. those who didn’t get them just weren’t as cool 
We slept that night in a bamboo hut on the bamboo floor which isn’t the most comfortable but we roughed it. The local villagers cooked our dinner over an open fire and off to bed fairly early because I warned them that the roosters would be waking us around 4am. It came true, unfortunately.
The next day was 3 more hours of hiking to the next village. That village is a little more advanced and some of us enjoyed a quick swim in the creek and an intense game of soccer with the local kids. They beat us. It was expected given that there were fifty of them and 11 of us. The following day we hiked one more hour to meet up with some bamboo rafts to take us down the river back to the cave lodge. The rafts are piloted by two guys standing on either end with a bamboo stick (picture Venice but with alot of wilderness).
We arrived back to the lodge, cleaned up and then headed to a hand-made silver jewelry store and a cave. The kids had fun riding rafts through the cave and checking out the different formations. We awoke this morning to get back in the cars and head another two hours down winding roads to Mae Hong Son. We checked out a temple high on a hill above the town where we could see everything. Our guest house, the airport we fly out of tomorrow, everything.
The kids are enjoying some free time to e-mail and what not and hopefully they have taken the time to write each of you. This should get you up to date until now and tomorrow we get on our plane to fly down to the islands…. the kids are stoked (as am I)! The beaches are amazing and hopefully they will write to make you all jealous. I will try to write once more before the end of the trip and will be in touch from the airport via phone to let you know they made it on their planes home ok (so expect a phone call at an odd hour). Hope this finds all of you well and we’ll talk soon. If you have any questions, please write.
~Shaun Jackson~
shauncjackson@gmail.com
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