A Unique Hilltribe Trek

One of the things we really wanted to do in northern Thailand was a hilltribe trek – a multi-day hike through the countryside staying overnight in minority villages – and one of the reasons we opted not to go to Chiang Mai was because the treks leaving from there don’t have a very good reputation.  Though treks from Chiang Mai are extremely popular, many people seem to come back from them disappointed – saying they only got to see villages set up for tourists to visit (which are apparently quite common in the area) and not places where people actually live, that they were never able to talk to any villagers because the villagers were only interested in selling souvenirs, and that the guides hustled them quickly from one activity to another (hiking, visiting “villages”, souvenir shopping, elephant riding, rafting, swimming – all in one day) without allowing time to really enjoy any of them.  We knew we wanted to do some hiking and see Thai village life, but trekking from Chiang Mai (and, to a lesser extent, I think, the other touristy towns of Chiang Rai and Pai) didn’t seem like it would offer we were hoping for.  So we were really happy to hear about the possibility of trekking from Mae Sariang – and we were fortunate that one of the town’s two trekking organizers was available while we were there.

After a 30-minute or so drive out of town, we headed into the jungle with our guide, who didn’t speak much English but was friendly enough.  The hike on the first day was great, and not too difficult, other than one incredibly steep area in which the ground was completely covered by slippery leaves.  After hiking about thirty minutes, we came to the first village, a cluster of stilted houses made of bamboo in the middle of the jungle.  We stopped there and ate some tiny bananas and mandarin oranges while our guide greeted somebody he knew.  One of the most surprising things to me was the how open most of the houses were – in fact, my mom asked, “Where are the door and the walls?” when I showed her a picture of one!  Many of the houses we saw were effectively lacking a wall around the front “room,” which was usually covered by a tin or thatched roof held up by a few poles but otherwise mostly open to the outside.  None of the houses had any furniture either, save for a couple mats on the floor.

After hiking through the jungle for a few more hours, we stopped in another village.  All the villages we visited during the trek were populated by the Karen, an ethnic minority group living in Thailand and Burma.  Northern Thailand has several ethnic minorities, referred to collectively as hilltribes, with other well-known groups including, Akha, Lisu, and  Hmong.  The people of these tribes are quite separated from mainstream Thai culture; each group has its own language, and they all live primarily in remote areas.  There is a much higher level of poverty, as well as lower living standards, among hilltribes than other Thais.

In the second village we stopped in, our guide took us to visit a family living in the village, and we spent a couple hours in their home.  We ate a lunch there of rice and vegetables – Ryan and I opted against having chicken – with fruit for dessert.  Around the time we finished lunch, it started to rain, so we hung out at the family’s house until it let up enough for us to continue.  Fortunately, they didn’t seem to mind having strange white people sitting on their floor all afternoon – in fact, they hardly noticed us.

As we made our way out of the village, we came to a group of people standing around outside.  Curious as to what was going on, we stopped.  Lying on the ground was a live but sedate pig, clearly about to become someone’s (or maybe the whole village’s) next meal.  We expected the pig’s throat to be slit.  I didn’t watch what happened instead, but they apparently set the pig on fire.  The pig was burned alive.  I don’t know much about hunting or butchering, but I can’t imagine that’s the standard means used to kill a pig.

A few more hours of hiking past rice paddies and we arrived in the village where we’d spend the night.  Our guide took us to a family’s house – whether he knew the family or just decided we’d stay with them because they happened to be at home was never really clear.  In the family was a 36-year-old man who’d just married a 15-year-old girl, apparently a common practice among the Karen.

After another meal of rice and vegetables, we hit the hay, tired from the day of hiking.  This house was, like many others, stilted and comprised of a partially enclosed front room and a back room that was actually indoors and served as both the kitchen and bedroom.  The back room in most houses in that area has a fire pit in the middle of the room where all the cooking is done.  I didn’t really understand how that wasn’t a fire hazard – or maybe it is – and I’m sure exposure to the smoke is damaging to everyone’s lungs.  Imagine building a campfire inside.  Anyhow, Ryan and I spent the night on a mat on the bamboo floor on one side of the fire, and our hosts, the newly married couple, slept on a mat on the other side of it.  It wasn’t horribly uncomfortable, but I wouldn’t want to have to sleep like that every night.

We woke up early the next morning, to the sound of people cooking breakfast over the fire in our room.  Thailand doesn’t seem to have any typical breakfast foods – most Thai people eat the same things for breakfast as for other meals.  Our hosts and some neighbors, as well as our guide, had rice for breakfast, but our guide grilled bread over the fire to make toast for us.

After breakfast, we headed out for our second day of trekking.  The second day was quite a bit hotter, and the hike ended up being much harder than day one.  Part of the difficulty came from hiking straight through the middle of several rice paddies, which were wet and extremely slippery and had no real path to walk on.  Plus I felt like we may be trampling someone’s crops.  The views looking out over the bright green paddies and to the hills beyond them was great, though.  Eventually, we made it to the beginning of the end of our trek – a series of six waterfalls, each providing a much appreciated mist, perfect for cooling us off a bit.  The end of the trek took us back to the main road where we ate a lunch of noodle soup in a small restaurant that seemed like it probably didn’t get many foreign patrons.

The next day, we left Mae Sariang for Chiang Mai to catch our flight the following morning.  We really only spent a few hours in Chiang Mai, and I’m sure we could have easily filled a couple days there.  But, while the city seems to offer a lot to do, I’m really glad we opted to spend our time in the north in Mae Sariang instead.  Though nice, Chiang Mai was a typical tourist town – everything in English, every other business a tour agency, more foreigners than locals on the street.  Coming from Mae Sariang, it practically felt like another country.  We were also skeptical of many of the tour agency’s promises of visits to “undiscovered” hill tribes and “unknown” villages.  Given that agencies in Chiang Mai take tourists on those trips everyday, and that there were hardly any foreigners at all in Mae Sariang, much less trekking out there – our guide and the people in the village we visited said there hadn’t been any trekkers in two months – I felt like we got the real deal.