8 January 2018
I woke up before the alarm from my mobile phone rang and stared at a moth that had somehow found its way through the protective mosquito net surrounding my bed. I had a good night’s sleep on the comfortable and warm bed in my bedroom of the Treehouse Hideaway overlooking the jungle of Chiang Dao and was looking forward to the planned activity in the morning.
Sliding open the shoji-like walls of my bedroom revealed the purple sky of dawn over the Chiang Dao mountain range, but no glorious sunrise that I had hoped to see. The view from the treehouse was not facing east after all.
The plan for the morning was a jungle trek to a waterfall that was organised for guests of the Treehouse Hideaway. We were to leave at about 8 AM but we spent more time than expected enjoying our breakfast of rice porridge cooked with meaty pork bones .
Simple yet delicious breakfast at the Treehouse Hideaway.
Even the simple hard-boiled eggs with bright yellow yolks were worth a mention. The eggs from free ranging hens in Thailand tasted so much better than the eggs from cooped up chickens we usually buy back home.
Being on a private tour, there was no need to stick strictly to a set timing. We finally started our trek at about 8.30 AM. Besides our guide Arm and driver Boon from Lanna Kingdom Tours, a 71 year old local guide was to lead us on this trek. This guide does not look his age and is definitely physically fitter than everyone in our group.
Getting ready to set off for our morning trek. From left: our 71 year old guide, tour guide Arm and driver Boon.
Just outside the Treehouse Hideaway, the start of our trek.
Light weight bamboo poles to be used as walking sticks were provided. No need for the fancy stuff. These poles would come in really handy later during the trek.
Arm, our guide, sharing interesting information about local life along the way.
We started uphill through Mae Mae village, passing huts and a small provision shop. Arm showed us some stuff on sale at the shop, including fresh frogs! He bought some rice wrapped in leaves and crushed sesame seeds, for our snack at the waterfall later.
Stopping by a “micro-mart”.
Our local guide asked us to taste the nectar found in some flowers along the way.
We could see more treehouse-like buildings being constructed along the way. Investors from Bangkok had acquired land from the locals and had started building more tourist accommodations on this area. The views of the valley from where the new treehouses stood are breath-taking. No wonder.
Breath-taking views from a new treehouse in the village.
Leaving the village, our guide led us up a narrow unmarked trail through land that belongs to a villager. We passed coffee plants laden with red ripe berries and palm trees with a strange local name that sounded like “look-shit”.
Coffee plants laden with red ripe berries. Coffee is a popular cash crop grown around Chiang Mai.
We saw a thin white string along the narrow trail which incidentally formed the boundary of the villager’s property. Arm told us the string had been blessed by monks and used as “fencing” to ward off evil spirits.
This is not the flower of a plant but thousands of baby spiders! Each yellow speck is a newly hatched baby spider.
From there, we headed up a slippery muddy slope and entered into the jungle. We were in good hands of our guides who stopped every now and then to show us interesting plants, insects and trees.
We had to cross jungle streams many times as we followed the trail to the waterfall. The streams are fast flowing and knee deep at certain places. Most had uneven sandy bottoms with protruding rocks.
Our guides came well prepared with Wellington boots. I don’t mind getting my hiking shoes wet since I had extra pair of shoes back at the treehouse.
The safest way to cross the stream is to avoid the slippery rocks and walk on the sandy bottom. Even then, the sandy riverbed is uneven.
After crossing the jungle streams a couple of times, I got complacent and underestimated the risks of the uneven sandy riverbed. As a result, I took a premature swim in the river and soak my Samsung Galaxy Note5 in river water. It could not boot up after that.
That is me, soaking wet after a unplanned dip in the river.
At one point during the trek, our local guide entertained us with a swing over the stream using a thick vine, almost like Tarzan. One brave member of our travelling group actually took up the challenge to mimic him. Successfully.
Sandals are not the footwear for jungle trekking and negotiating steep, slippery and muddy slopes.
We soon came to a clearing with a small hydroelectric power station.
Small hydro-electric power station in the middle of the jungle where we took a rest.
From there, it was a few more stream crossings before we arrived at a small waterfall.
Icy cold water from the mountain.
Some took a dip in the swimming hole at the foot of the waterfall while the rest preferred to keep themselves dry. We did not stay in the water for too long. The water from the mountain was icy cold. I actually enjoyed the journey more than the end destination.
Arm passed round the sticky rice with grounded black sesame seeds as a snack. It seems that other visitors to the waterfall had a cook-out here a few days ago. I saw some burnt-out bamboo used as cooking utensils over a campfire. Something I did as a boy scout called backwoods cooking, so many years ago in school.
We spent some time at the waterfall before taking a different route back.
Our guides, once again, introduced us to interesting plants and sights along the way. Some plants had medicinal properties that are good for cough, treat bleeding and even a long woody root that is an aphrodisiac.
“Soak it in whiskey, drink the whiskey and you will be strong”, said Arm with a cheeky smile.
Long woody root that is an aphrodisiac.
Our 71 year old guide took out his parang and cut small chunks of the insides of the aphrodisiac root for us to chew. It had a bitter taste. He kept the rest of the wood in his knapsack. Boon told me the root is sold for 20 THB per 10 cm section in the local market.
There were fewer river crossings on the way back. We came to a section where a landslide had occurred recently. We had to cross the muddy landslide area with a huge rock balanced precariously on the steep muddy slope above us.
Recent landslide along the trail.
Keeping an eye on that rock, we made it across the landslide area safely.
We left the jungle area and came to a local school where we took a short toilet break. Some kids approached Arm to say hello and I recognised a boy who was performing for us during dinner the previous night. It is good to see the village kids are attending school in this rural area.
We arrived back at the Treehouse at about 1.30 PM. Our round trip trek had taken about 5 hours while most groups would have done it in about 3 hours. These were mostly school groups or younger folks.
Our guides did a great job of looking after us and did not rush us at any point during the trek. It was not too strenuous for us and I think everyone enjoyed it.
Back at the Treehouse Hideaway after 5 hours of jungle trekking.
Delicious lunch of fried rice, panang curry pork and egg at the Treehouse Hideaway.
The last thing we did at the Treehouse was to have a hot shower and a delicious lunch before starting our journey back towards Chiang Mai.
Next stop: Wat Ban Den temple, one of the most remarkable and beautiful temples in the northern part of Chiang Mai.
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