Bamboo and Bananas: Survival Trekking in Chiang Mai
After a three hour drive on questionable hillside roads, we arrived in a small village inhabited by the Hmong hill tribe. Our guide, whose nickname is Oh, introduces us to our two Karen hill tribesman guides (Uncle Shad and Mr. Philippine). Now, when I say tribesman, you may pictured some fellows dressed up in some robe-like getup with some kind of face paint, but on the contrary, Uncle Shad and Mr. Philippine looked like any other Thais we could have met, just with a little extra dirt on them. They smoke cigarettes rolled from banana leaves with tobacco and tamarind grown in the village. Uncle Shad carries a slingshot and they both wear knee-high rubber boots like fishermen.
With our introductions out of the way, we head off down the road and into The Jungle for three days of "survival" trekking during which we learn how to live off of the land from the people who still do.
Follow the Leader
We stayed at a three star jungle resort
This trek was not like a guided trek in America where they might hold your hand and tell you exactly what to do all the time. No, mostly we just followed Uncle Shad around in the jungle and he would do useful things for us. Within an hour, we all had bamboo walking sticks, cinnamon roots to make tea with, the base of a banana tree to cook for food, and acetaminophen straight from the tree for Rachel's headache. Our guides did a lot of the actual survival work with us pitching in when we were able. The language barrier between us and the hill tribesman (who speak a separate language than Thai) was wide but both men showed us the things we needed to know all the time wearing a good-natured smile (the key to knocking down language barriers). By the end of the hike, Alex could string worms onto a fishing line, make a banana leaf plate and spear frogs for cooking.
Bamboo and Banana Leaves
Available now on QVC: A lovely jungle-style banana leaf plate. Handmade in Thailand. $18.95 *Shipping not included
We camped that night in a clearing on the edge of a river and a waterfall. After a quick dip in the river (RIP Melanie's knife), we set to work constructing a shelter out of the two most useful and abundant resources available in the jungle: bamboo and banana leaves. Over the next three days, we used these two materials for nearly every task. Need a plate? Banana leaf. How about a pot to cook rice? Banana leaf. Tea kettle? Bamboo. We made cups, shot-glasses, chopsticks, spoons, cigarettes, and a table out of bamboo and banana leaves. Nothing like shooting some happy water (rice whiskey) out of a bamboo shot-glass to make for an 'authentic' experience.
Snakes and Frogs and Bats
We ate off mother nature's menu as often as possible. The first night, our guides caught five frogs for us to chow down on (they really do taste like chicken). They also seemed to always be finding snakes everywhere including one memorable episode at 2 a.m., which woke the entire camp. As it turns out, when you live in the jungle, you may develop quite the fear of lethal creatures. They caught bats in a plastic bag, one night, and were going to eat them but for the Western girl's cries to let the poor, cute creatures go. Mr. Philippine shrugged and threw the bats into the air, clearly a little disappointed. The next morning, I woke up and Oh had a poisonous snake pinned on a log and was attempting to de-fang it with a long stick.
Rice Cooking Level: Expert
The overall trek was one of the more genuine experiences we have had while in Asia. Where a lot of the tour agencies will have a set itinerary for you to do, this trek generally consisted of following our guides around and learning how they survived in the jungle. For instance, we would be walking through the woods and one of them would start banging on a tree for seemingly no reason. All of a sudden there was a flying squirrel running up the tree dodging projectile rocks from Uncle Shad's slingshot before gliding off. Once, Uncle Shad spotted a monstrously large bee hive (at least a yard wide) and had Mr. Philippine go mark the tree because they intended to travel back after the trek and take the bees' honey (essentially, an X on a trees is the tribe version of 'dibs').
An Adorable Goodbye
We spent our last meal at Uncle Shad's house in the Karen village, in the afternoon. Out in his backyard facing the mountains were his animals including a whole liter of piglets and ducklings. We spent the afternoon awwwing at these little tykes as they played around in the mud and napped under the tree.
The real survival began on the van ride home, where we encountered forest fires and fishtailed so badly that everyone applauded when we made it up the hill.
Two hours later, we were back in Chiang Mai and ready for our next adventure.
Finally, as promised, adorable piggy photos...
