Robert quipped that we are worse off than Chris McCandless!) We got
three liters of water and two pad thais packed in plastic bags and off
we went. Our plan was to hike up to a ridge for some good views of the
surrounding valleys, then hike into a Karen village and then follow a
stream all the way to Tham Lod in time to watch the swifts go into the
cave. That was the plan at least.
We started out with a hard hour hiking up to the ridge. The trail was
not too hard to follow - granted there were many trails, so really we
were just picking the biggest trails heading towards the ridge. We
enjoyed being alone in the woods, listening to the nearby cows' bells
knocking. At one point, the trail got pretty small, which made us
uncomfortable. Remember: we are hiking in sort of uncharted territory
for us - new bugs, new plants, and lots of cobras. When the trail got
small, we lost our space buffer between us and all the scary,
creepy-crawlies in the probably poisonous bushes. Needless to say, we
zipped on our pants for protection. Then we came across a real threat
- a giant spider, whose web stretched completely across the path.
There was no way to bush whack around it, so Robert gently relocated
the web and spider friend. There were actually two spider friends, one
big, one small. As soon as we jostled the web, the big spider went to
go protect the little spider. If you ask Robert, the big spider went
to go eat the little spider in a show of dominance, but either could
be true. We scurried under the spider on a branch and continued on our
way. (Michael, this story made me think of you using your trekking
poles to clear webs from the trail on your last hike.)
Meeting Friends for Lunch
We reached a "T" in the trail and took the right fork, paralleling the
ridge now. I figured the uphill bits were past - we made the ridge!
What I wasn't thinking about is that the ridge is the highest point of
the mountain only in one direction. The ridge of course dove and rose
repeatedly. The way-finding got a little more sticky at this point,
but so long as we kept going up, we were sure to find good views,
which is all we were looking for. We stopped to eat an orange in the
shade and then stopped again for lunch at another scenic bit. As we
were choosing our spot for lunch, Robert nearly stepped on a great
green snake. The snake slithered out of sight, so we had to walk quite
aways further to be sure not to share space with the snake. Our lunch
could only have been better without all the flying bugs; we attracted
quite a cloud of flies and bees with our tasty smelling vitals. I
squashed four bees with my bare hands! (I don't like to share.)
Ban Muang Phaem
Now we went looking for the trail that leads to Ban Muang Phaem, a
Karen village nearby. A German man told us all about getting lost on
the way yesterday, so we expected it to be a bit challenging. We found
a hut in a rice field, not the way. Then we found a centipede, which
was much more interesting to me than to Robert. He kept warning me
that it would bite or sting me, but I was fascinated how it moved and
how it's antenna wiggled. Eventually we found the trail with
"footprints of a motorbike," according to the German, and knew we
would soon reach a road. The road was very steep, but lead directly
down to the village. We watched lots of motorbikes pass, only those
going up were running their motors.
When we got to the village, we were a little lost what to do or see
there. We walked around a bit, admiring the old wooden houses with
livestock (chicken and pigs) living underneath. Then a man approached
us to ask if we wanted to go to the cave (we didn't even remember that
there was a cave nearby, though it was marked in the map). We
declined, but asked where a store to buy water was. We had just passed
it without realizing it was a store! We bought 5B water for 10B and
kept wandering. We found a school and our friend Jackie! She was
sitting with a local on his porch eating. We knew she was coming here
today, but it was still surprising to see her.
We left her to have her adventure and continue ours. We had a dog
escort through town, which apparently attracted the attention of a
whole pack of dogs. We noticed them as they beelined across the school
yard towards us. They did not look happy. There was a moment of panic
as I thought they were coming for us, but they swerved off to corner
our escort. It seems like they were just asserting their dominance,
not going for blood, but it wasn't pleasant to watch. Still, there was
no way I was going to step into that swirl of teeth and muscle.
Just Follow the River
Soon we tired of walking around, feeling nosy and out of place, so we
headed back out of town, whereupon we met Jackie yet again. She was on
her way out as well, so we all went together. We were told to follow
the stream, which was easy and not. There wasn't a trail, so Robert
just picked the way that seemed to be most free of cobra dens. It was
a fun tromp, full of scrambling and wading and chatting. It took a
while, but eventually we came across some boys playing petanque with
rocks and a family doing laundry in the river and a father-son spear
fishing team and Cave Lodge!
We decided the best thing to drink after a long day of hiking was a
cold beer, so we three split three. We stayed up talking and eating
and drinking for a while, enjoying ourselves thoroughly. A great day.
No comments:
Post a Comment