A long scouting hike. Smoothie making day.
A good day resting here in Chiang Mai. Actually we are 20 km from Chiang Mai near the village of Mae An in the hills. A beautiful place. I hope we all rest well here. I woke up slowly this morning and was the last one out of bed. No one made the free morning meditation – maybe tomorrow. I decided today to venture out on a scouting hike through the nearby jungle due West from our place. I sketched some crude maps on a piece of paper from what I saw on Google Earth and Google Mas. Hopefully those images are accurate. In my mind, I knew where I wanted to go, but I had no idea what to expect when I entered the jungle – leeches, spiders, ants, monkeys tigers, elephants? Who knows? Before I left, Viena and I prepared a fruit smoothie to blend up upon my return. The cut of fruit were chilling in the freezer. Yes, we have a freezer. What an upgrade! The thought of drinking that smoothie crossed my mind a couple of times on this hike. I hiked West away from the sunrise, past the yoga sala, past the banana trees until I found the “main” road where I turned right and was greeted by some unfriendly dogs and one friendly dog. Wag wag wag Bark bark bark bark bark. If I could speak Thai or Dog or Thai-Dog, I would have said, “Hey, you there wagging your tail, tell those others guys that are barking and trying to circle around me that I’m OK and to let me pass peacefully.” The trail started climbing. Initially the trail was wide and could easily be traveled by cars then the trail narrowed so that only a motorbike could fit. Up and up through small tree jungle the trail rose. I was generally protected from the sun by the trees. The higher I ascended, the narrower and narrower the trail became until I was in that place called “no-man’s land”. But a summit of sorts was not far off, so I kept walking the ridge up. At the summit of sorts there was a partial clearing with very little view. I could tell I was on a definite ridge of sorts. There was a “trail” to the left (south) and a kinda “trail” to the (north). My google map map suggested I hike north. So I followed my instincts and turned North and after 100 meters or so, the trail quickly deteriorated but continued upwards along a ridge and I could kinda make out another clearing. I was following the marks of cut down trees and that led me to another summit of sorts where there was a burned tree and a trail leading back East. I was feeling fairly confident by now that this trail was going to loop back just like Google maps showed, but I knew I was not going to encounter anyone to ask directions. After a fork in the trail and scurrying through a tunnel of bamboo on all fours, I safely completed the loop. I saw very little signs of life in the jungle. Birds. No leeches. Ants. No monkeys. Spider webs. No spiders. No tigers. No elephants. The familiar smell of cow dung on the trail broadened my confidence concerning nearby civilization. The smoothies Viena and I made upon my return were delicious.
oneworldtwokids 