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Out Of Thailand Into Laos
Leaving the amazing experience of Nongtao behind us, our last port of call in Thailand is Chiang Rai, towards the north east corner of the country, our stepping stone to Laos. We make two stops en route to Chiang Rai, firstly at the hot springs at Wiang Pa Pao, the water not just hot but boiling as it shoots out through the geysers. What the hell is happening underground to create that amount of heat??! The second stop is at the famous White Temple which sits around 20 minutes from Chiang Rai, a slightly bizarre creation which can’t make its mind up whether it’s a temple, a tourist trap, or…
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Nongtao Part 4: The Jungle Trek
Night noises. You fall asleep to the sound of a thousand cicadas, and wake to dozens of cockerels. Now and again in the darkest hours, the village dogs bark and howl as one; maybe a wild animal has passed through the village and the dogs are on guard. As dawn approaches, our wooden hut creaks and groans as the temperature plummets. And then the national anthem booms out. The morning dew is heavy as we await our guide, these sweeps between day and night temperatures absolutely soak the ground each morning with both dew and mist. Still cold at dawn, the rising sun brings instant warmth and another mountain day…
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Nongtao Part 3: The People
We leave the elephants behind and head for coffee with Lazyman. Carmel explains to us that some of the villagers are known by Karen nicknames rather than their real name, including “Lazyman” and “Big Sister”. We are destined to meet both. Lazyman has a small fruit and coffee plantation in the village; we are treated to coffee ground from freshly picked beans and taken on a tour of the small garden. The coffee itself is delicious, and so, surprisingly, is the juicy flesh from around the coffee bean. But our visit to Lazyman is more than just to share a coffee. Lazyman is a descendant of senior Karen tribesmen and…
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Nongtao Part 2: The Elephants
A cacophony of crowing cockerels breaks the morning silence of this remote Karen village, the mountain air still fresh, and then the booming sound of the Thai National Anthem is played through loudspeakers throughout the village, it’s clearly time to get up! School starts at 7am preceded by this tribute to their King, it happens every day, you really couldn’t oversleep here. It’s time to see the elephants, we take the 15 minute drive in the back of a pickup truck to Elephant Freedom Village and spend a while with Nongchai who explains about the elephants and the difficulties the Karen tribespeople have encountered, even to this day, it’s all…
