Trekking in Chiang Dao - Day 2 & 3

After a night of interrupted sleep from crowing roosters and a snoring volume of inhuman magnitude of one who shall remain anonymous, we packed up our things, ate a filling breakfast, and set out for another day of hiking through the mountains.

After an hour or two of hiking through the steep mountain side, we took a break for hot tea and listened to Thai men converse animatedly with each other.

We then explored another cave and paid a short visit to a monk who lives there with his many cats.

Afterwards, our guides prepared a delicious lunch. Instead of carrying bowls and utensils with them, the guides cut bamboo stalks from which they fashioned sturdy bowls and chopsticks for us to use.

In the afternoon, while taking another brief rest, Giles convinced me to engage in some “martial art” choreography with our bamboo walking canes. It was all fun and games until someone (i.e. me) got whacked over the head with a stick. Ouch.

By late afternoon, we hiked to the village where we were to eat dinner and spend the night. Upon setting our bags down in our hut, we walked around to familiarize ourselves with the place and meet some of the villagers.

As we passed by a group of villagers, one of them called out to me. “Hi, my name is Joe.* What’s your name?”

*Not his real name (because I don’t remember what it really is).

Me: “Hi, I’m Christina.”

Joe: “Are you Mary?”

Me: “Um, no. I’m Christina.”

Joe: “Are you Mary?”

Me (really puzzled): “Am I Mary? No… I said I’m… Oh! Am I married? No, I’m not married. (Awkward pause). Are you married?”

Joe: “No.” (intense stare)

Me: “Oh ok. Well, see you later!”

Later that night, after dinner as we were all sitting around the bonfire, I watched our guide Ah-Mi and Joe engaged in what appeared to be a very serious discussion. Finally, Giles asked Ah-Mi what they were talking about.

“Oh, we’re talking about marriage,” Ah-Mi replied with a smirk. Then he asks me, “How old are you?”

When I told him, he gave this look that I interpreted as “What, that old and not married off yet? Must be damaged goods.”

He turned to Joe and said something in Thai. I looked at Joe. He looked at me. I averted eye contact and then stared blankly at the fire. This continued for a while. I tolerated so much awkwardness before I eventually stood up and retired into my hut for the night.

Joe is the dashing male on the right

And what a miserably cold night it turned out to be. I found it impossible to stay warm in my thin sleeping bag despite wearing all the clothes I brought with me plus Henry’s vest. In addition to the cold, all through the night, Henry kept digging into his bag – which was right next to my head – like a squirrel scavenging for nuts in a pile of dead leaves. He claimed the next morning that he was looking for an extra layer to put on but somehow couldn’t find it in the first six attempts.

At one point in the night, I sat up for no good reason. Realizing what I had done, I laid back down and in the process of doing so, I reached out to locate my pillow but found Charlotte’s head instead. Still groggy, I didn’t recognize what it was right away. So for a good ten seconds, I groped Charlotte’s face, confused as to why my pillow was no longer soft and cushiony. Yep, that made some awkward conversation in the morning.

Following breakfast and before we set off again, Joe came by with a plastic bag of hand woven clothes and bags. He said they were made by his sister. Out of guilt, I offered to look at his wares. He sat and watched as I feigned interest in each item I pulled out. In the end, I bought the cheapest thing there was – a small, purple shoulder bag. I felt like I was buying myself out of a marriage deal. (This special bag has since been sent to a very lucky person for her belated birthday.)

We were told by the guides that our third day was to be the easiest – a short walk to a pick-up point followed by an elephant ride and bamboo rafting. But that “short walk” turned out to be a forty-five minute uphill steep climb. My body was both burning from exertion and drenched in cold sweat. If I hadn’t had Henry to talk to on the hike to distract me, I probably would have wanted to give up.

We arrived at our end point a little early and the guides built a fire to keep us warm while we waited to be picked up. When the truck came, we said our farewells to Ah-Mi and headed back to tour headquarters where we met our third and final guide.

At headquarters, while we were lounging in chairs on the lawn and rubbing our sore feet, our guide he came over to my chair and introduced himself.

Guide (in one breath): “Hi I’m Eddie your guide are you married?”

These Thai men wasted no time beating around the bush. Great, I thought, What do I have to buy this time? Although a bit odd, Eddie was mostly harmless, but best of all, I didn’t have to use my wallet to bribe my way out of a marriage proposition!

With the exception of another long walk, the rest of the day was relaxing as promised. We rode elephants (it was very bumpy... you can check out a video of it here) and then glided on rafts on a small waterway. Sitting on the raft and looking at the beautiful scenery was the most peaceful I had felt in a long time and a wonderful way to conclude our trek.


The tour company dropped us back at our hotel in Chiang Mai where we all spent our last night together. The next morning we all parted ways and I headed off to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to join Indhu, her grandparents, and Lin.