The Trek

I had wanted to do another trek since the little one-day excursion I'd recently taken that had left a bad taste in my mouth. I found one in Pai through an outfit called Permchai Trek, who as it turns out, I highly recommend. The company advertised seeing non-commercial hilltribes, and that they would give you a 50% refund if your group encountered any other trekkers. Sounded like more what I was into, so I signed on for a three-day hike, and left early on the 12th of December.

After a quick prep, we loaded into the back of a pickup truck, and drove for about 45 minutes into the mountains. Our group consisted of two Swiss guys, Patrick and Steve, and two Belgians, Stan and his wife (name?), as well as our trusty guides Lert and Took. Later on we were joined by a local Lahu guide, Tisu. About ten minutes after leaving the truck, we encountered a guy boiling a chicken in the middle of the forest. It turns out that he was appealing to the spirits to look after his cattle, which were wandering around in the jungle somewhere. We promised that if we saw any cows, we'd tell them that their buddy was looking for them, and we moved on.

It was quite humid, and our shirts were soaked as we trudged along the dusty path. The trail was quite steep in parts as it travelled up mountain ridges and plunged into valleys. After each strenuous climb (I'm glad we were told to pack light - this ain't like canoe tripping!), we'd have a couple of minutes to catch our breath, take in the view, and then we had to press on.

We passed through several hilltribe villages along the way. The first couple were Lahu villages (Abodaya! means "hello" and "thank-you") where we watched a guy forge tools by hand, and chased the pigs and chickens which wandered freely around the grounds. The second village was our lunch stop, where the little kids entertained us (and themselves, I suppose) with whipping down the hills and posing for our cameras. Unlike the first tour I was on, we were encouraged to wander the villages we entered and mingle, and told that photography was welcomed.