Jungle trekking around the Akha village

Together with Ted I was waiting outside the guesthouse to be picked up at 08:20. When it was 08:45 we decided to call the Akha hill house to ask what was taking them so long. First Ted called and he was told he would be picked up at 09:40. As my trek would start from the hill house (23 km away from Chiang Rai in the mountains) I did not trust the answer and called as well. Then it turned out he thought I was staying at Ben's guesthouse instead of Pam's guesthouse and they had left after they concluded I was not going to show up.

I asked them to arrange a taxi to pick me up and take me to the guesthouse which arrived 10 minutes later. As Ted and I were a bit confused Ted called the guy again and asked if he should get in the taxi as well. Because the guy said "yes" Ted got in as well and we drove off. The ride took about 35 minutes and especially the last part was quite bumpy (as it was just a dirt road with huge holes in it going up really steep). As we got to the Akha village we realised that Ted was not supposed to come here. His tour would leave from the Akha river house in Chiang Rai. Luckily for him he would be dropped off along the route of the trek so he could join from there.

Three other people (2 American girls working as expats in Bangkok and an English girl (Sarah) who was travelling around the world) were already waiting for me so as soon as I got out of the taxi we left.

The hike was really nice going up and down the mountains (or are they hills?) until we reached some sort of resting place. Sometimes the jungle was really dense and you can hardly see a path. The flora is mostly bamboo, but there is also tea, coffee, banana, papaya, lichee and orange trees growing there.

At the resting place the two Akha guides cut a few bamboo branches and cooked food in them on a fire using water from a natural spring. They cooked vegetables, water and an omelet in the bamboo "pots" and made drinking cups and chopsticks from the bamboo. Then they used banana leaves to put the vegetables and noodles together and we got noodle soup. It was really fun to see them cook in this way and it tasted really great (especially after having no breakfast).

The hike continued to a vilage from another trive, but there was nothing really going on there. Then we walked to a waterfall which was really beautiful and returned to the hill house. Once there I checked in to stay the night in a bamboo bungalow with a balcony from which I had a magnificent view on the valley. The owner told me that the hill house and river house are run by Akha people and that part of the profits go into development projects for the village (like improving the school and such).

I ate dinner and had some drinks with Sarah and some Americans that were staying in the hill house as well and then went to sleep. By the way: I wrote earlier that I was eaten alive by mosquitos right? It turns out that it were bedbugs. Sarah explained me they live in beds and bite you when you sleep. I had never heard of those before, but next time I'm gonna check the beds whenever I'm checking out a room... :-)