DIA 27(12-12-2018): SEGUIMOS POR TIERRAS ALTAS

El canto de los gallos nos despiertan a las 3 de la mañana….siempre se me olvida ..."que bonita es la naturaleza”…."a las 3 de la mañana"....volver a dormir se complica un poco porque llueve de manera intensa ( o eso es lo que creemos nosotras por el ruido que nos trasmite el techo). Kim se levanta para ir al baño que está fuera del almacén y como hay zonas de tierra, a su vuelta le pregunto si está resbaladizo. Me dice que no mucho, así que me voy de turné también yo.

Vuelvo a la cama, y vuelta para aquí vuelta para allá….

A eso de las 6.00 Kim se levanta y empieza a recoger sus cosas (ayer no especifiqué mucho, pero ella es una mujer muy preparada y vino con equitación de acampada, con su colchón inflable, sabanas, saco de dormir ligero, almohada, linterna para la cabeza, para la habitación) y decidimos bajar. 

Allí nos encontramos a nuestro querido guía y cuando me pregunta que tal la noche, le comento que tenemos que hablar, ya que anoche Kim y yo estuvimos comentando que necesitábamos un guía. Que ayer echamos en falta las explicaciones del templo y al llegar al poblado Karen lo mismo. Que no necesitamos a un fotógrafo y que queremos un poquito más de historias. Reacciona a la defensiva diciendo que nosotras no hemos puesto interés (se va a cagar ahora, porque Kim lo escucha y lo va a bombardear a preguntas en menos de nada), y que estuvo ocupado preparándonos la cena (me quedo nuevamente alucinada, porque en la cocina había a cierto punto cinco personas contando con él, que básicamente añadió dos ingredientes a una sopa y porque no lo contratamos como cocinero, sino como guía…habría estado bien que nos dijera que es cada plato, como lo cocinan…etc, etc). 

Le insisto en que nuestras expectativas son éstas y a ver que se puede hacer. Se le bajan un poco los humos y decide que ahora vamos a pasear por el poblado y nos va a explicar cosas…..bueno nos explica algo más, porque como predije Kim empieza a hacerle preguntas, una tras otra, una tras otra….yo me rio para adentro, porque la mitad de sus respuestas son vagas y juraría que inventadas, porque nadie antes le había preguntado cosas tan concretas…..¿que no mostramos interés?…..lo dicho….

De repente, tengo la necesidad urgente de ir al baño…..uy….algo empieza a no funcionar muy bien en mí. De momento no digo nada. Vuelvo donde estaban ellos, y están cocinado arroz en bambú. Nuevamente nos dan leche de coco con semillas y miel local para que mojemos el arroz. 

Tras este “aperitivo” vamos a desayunar, y ésta vez no nos queda otra que el desayuno tailandés, es decir una sopa de arroz con carne, y aunque ponen muchas más cosas para comer, yo desisto….con eso tengo más que suficiente. Pero al poco rato….mmmmm….necesidad imperiosa de nuevo de ir al baño. 

Esto me empieza a dar que pensar….¿serán las pastillas de la malaria (profilaxis contra la malaria)?, que entre sus reacciones adversas está la diarrea. Al salir me pregunta si estoy bien, le comento que así así. Y nos vamos a la escuela de la zona. 

Bajamos del coche y nos acercamos a una de las profesoras, nos pregunta si queremos ver alguna clase, le decimos que si y subimos. Aquí perdemos de vista a Pat un rato. Entramos a una clase y Kim y yo empezamos a interactuar con los niños. Están en clase de Inglés pero no lo hablan y no lo entienden muy bien. La profesora les ayuda, pero tampoco mucho

Y tras esta enriquecedora experiencia, la profesora nos enseña las instalaciones y nos explica un poco el sistema educativo en Tailandia. Pat solo nos dice que si queremos ir un mes de voluntarias a dar clase, el alojamiento y la comida están incluidas en el voluntariado.

Seguimos en nuestra ruta, y a pesar de haberle dicho a Pat que sería recomendable que nos contara cosas, del país de la cultura, en el coche sigue conectándose a Facebook continuamente. Descargando sus fotos en el móvil, retocándolas en Snap e ignorando a sus clientes.

Ahora vamos dirección al parque nacional Doi Inthanon y por el camino paramos a comer. Yo le digo a Pat, que ya que no me encuentro muy bien, lo mejor en mi caso es tomar un caldito de pollo, ligero, no picante. Kim pide lo mismo pero con noodles y nos sentamos a la mesa. Enseguida vienen ellos con sus platos de comida y les invitamos a comer, ya que la nuestra igual tarda algo más, ya que la tienen que preparar sobre la marcha.

Al rato viene la sopa de noodles de Kim y yo sigo esperando. Cuando ya han casi acabado ellos, parece que Pat pregunta por mi sopa que parece no entendieron, le digo que no se preocupe que me compro un yogurt en el 7-11 de al lado y listo.

Tras la suculenta comida nos vamos a la primera parada del parque, una cascada muy chula: Wachirathan Waterfall, empezamos a subir y me comenta Pat que él en esta cascada ha perdido varias cámaras, le indico que nadie le obliga a llevar su cámara….total que vuelve al coche a dejarla, yo solo saco un par de fotillos porque el caudal moja….y seguimos a la siguiente parada que es un sitio, donde en teoría nos iba a explicar como hacen los locales el café, en la practica nos lleva al cuarto donde tienen una máquina, granos de cafe, nos deja para hacer fotos y vamos a probarlo. Kim lo prueba, yo no.

De ahí a ver como teje una mujer Karen, 

y de ahí nos vamos al punto más alto de Tailandia….pero sorpresa sorpresa, mis intestino quieren dar guerra, así que le digo a Pat que necesito urgente ir al baño, vamos al más cercano y ahora si que si estoy con diarrea. Al salir, le indico que necesito vinagre (imagino que alucinaría) pero me lo consigue, compro agua y me tomo el “remedio mágico de la abuela”. Cuando me ve Kim, me pregunta si el vinagre va bien para la diarrea, y le digo que sí, que es un antibacteriano natural muy eficaz, y me dice que entonces ella también va a necesitar un poco de ese “remedio  casero”.

En ese momento empiezo a pensar que va a ser que no son las pastillas de la malaria, sino que nos hemos intoxicado comiendo algo. Pienso un poco y mentalmente recuerdo en la mañana las veces que Pat nos ha dicho que él necesitaba ir al baño….así que empiezo a sospechar, que no solo nosotras somos las afectadas. 

Kim me comenta que lo primero que pensó es en las pastillas de la malaria (aunque ella está tomando una profilaxis distinta a la mía, los efectos secundarios son similares). Le comento que a mi me pasó lo mismo, es lo primero que pensé, pero ahora que me dice que ella está igual….quito esa posibilidad de la lista.

De modo que volvemos a nuestro pequeño senderito bajo la lluvia, ya que justo en el momento de la retirada urgente cayó un buen chaparrón. 

En el camino a la cima, nos comenta Pat que tiene un amigo que conoce todas las especies de pájaros del parque….y se ríe cuando dice, yo solo he aprendido a fotografiarlos, pero no se nada de nada (menos mal que indicamos que nos encanta la fauna al reservar el tour). Kim, que es aficionada al alistamiento de pájaros, me mira …que casi se le salen los ojos de las órbitas.

Empezamos el sendero, del que obviamente no nos dice nada, con lo cual, nosotras nos vamos parando en los paneles informativos para enterarnos un poco del cambio de la flora en la parte alta de la montaña. Cuando llegamos a su nivel, nos cuenta algo de una flor, que casualmente es lo mismo que pone en el panel informativo que estaba detrás de él…..ay madre que esto va de mal en peor.

Total que Kim se para porque escucha unos pájaros y divisa uno…a Pat le falta el tiempo para disparar su cámara, la tiene en modo ráfaga y no para una foto tras otras….Kim y yo nos vamos a observar a otro árbol, porque no lo aguantamos más….y él al rato que nos sigue ….a Kim casi le da algo cuando Pat le indica con el dedo….”ahí hay un pájaro”. Esa es la indicación de un guía profesional a un cliente aficionada al birding (con sus prismáticos incluidos)…..a Kim casi le da un patautús.

En eso que acabamos el senderito y Kim vuelve a visitar al Sr. Roca. y Pat me pregunta si queremos visitar las Pagodas, le digo que si claro….y me dice ah! pues cierran a las 5.00pm (cuando son las 4.53 pm). Le informo que Kim también está malita y que ha tenido que ir al baño. 

Obviamente cuando llegamos a la entrada de las pagodas (a las 5.05 pm) están cerradas. Buena previsión la de nuestro guía profesional de preguntar con suficiente antelación si queríamos visitar las pagodas o no.

Llegados a este punto, cuando nos llevan al Homestay le digo a Kim que voy a llamar a Melissa, con la persona con la que contratamos todo el tour, porque esto ya no puede seguir así. O nos lleva el conductor solo a los puntos acordados y nos quedamos sin guía, o nos cambian el guía o abortamos el tour, porque ya no aguantamos más esta tomadura de pelo.

La situación es bastante rara, ya que resulta que Melisa es la mujer de Pat. La llamo, hablamos con ella de las posibilidades que hay y me comenta que va a ver si tienen guías disponibles, porque tienen otros tours ya iniciados. 

Mientras tanto vamos al restaurante que está enfrente al HomeStay "Pam View Hotel" a tomarnos otra sopita, porque las dos seguimos así así.

Finalmente me devuelve Melisa la llamada y decidimos que lo mejor es abortar el tour, que al día siguiente nos dejaran en algún sitio para que nosotras pudiéramos organizarnos el resto de las jornadas. Nos propone Chiang Mai, pero Kim dice que mejor en Chiang Rai, ya que nuestro vuelo saldrá de allí. Aceptan la propuesta y cuando llegamos a la habitación intentamos reservar otra noche en el hotel que cogimos en Chiang Rai una vez finalizado este maravilloso tour, pero estaba completo, así que en pleno viaje volvemos al estado "agencia de viajes". 

Localizamos uno con muy buena pinta y aunque es un poco caro, estamos malitas, y nos merecemos algo de mimos y seguridad alimenticia sobre todo.

Day 8, 12-12-2018: Day 2 of 4d/3n Northern Thailand Adventure – or is it a learning experience??

Yay!! We have found roosters again that are very happy to be an alarm clock for us!! For those of you who might need a reminder (or who are new to following Cris’s adventures), 2 years ago when Cris and I were in Puerto Rico, we were woken up every morning by the wonderful sound of roosters greeting the day, normally prior to 05:00hrs. So we have been missing our natural alarm clock and the roosters in the village have been kind enough to step up to the plate and sing a happy tune at 03:00hrs ….. lovely ….. just lovely!! We lay in bed and cannot believe our luck that we have this again.

We finally manage to drag ourselves out of our happy little room (if you do not remember what it looks like please return to yesterday’s pictures to remind yourself of the happy little room in the grain shed where we spent our slumber). Cris immediately (or it seems to me that way) goes to seek out Pat, the ultimate guide, to discuss our reservations with his guiding ability and what we were actually expecting from this adventure. I stand to the side for several reasons, one of which is that Cris actually made the arrangements and has so far paid for the tour (as balance is due at the end and I am to pay that part). So, Cris is definitely a professional and knows how to handle herself, another reason why I stood back, so it was very interesting to watch Pat attempt to explain why he is a bad guide. Here are a few of the reasons why we are wrong about him (in his mind) and as a disclaimer this is not all of the reasons:

• We were not interested in what he had to say …… excuse me?? Come again for big fudge!! 
• He had to do all the cooking and preparing for dinner last night and that is why he could not pay attention ……. Uummm, he helped prepare one dish and that was soup.
• All the other clients want what he gave us ……. Yes, but we are not other clients.
• He does not talk about the pagodas because that is not his idea for the tour but what we asked for …… then why did you agree to the trip???
• His knowledge is regarding the hill tribes and we have only seen the Karen tribe …. Then let us go walk the village and we can talk about the tribe.

Short(ish) synopsis of the conversion is that Cris and I think we are not getting what we were expecting and paying a lot of money for (this is the second most expense item on the trip after the dive boat) and Cris expressed her feelings accordingly. Pat thought we were being unfair and expecting more than what other clients expect therefore we should lower our standards and be happy. 

If any of you reading this blog can guess the outcome without reading on then congratulations ….. but I would still read on to see what actually transpires throughout this day.

So, we are not interested in what he has to say …… interesting. Well then, I guess I need to start asking more questions. Questions about everything I see and hear and taste and smell and feel (gotta love those 5 senses). We walk a bit from the house to the field where the buffalo are roaming (yes, there are water buffalo roaming around ….. not the buffalo from the prairie). I ask about the farming, the animals, the way of life, the schooling for the kids, the new electricity and the old solar regulator that I saw (for anyone who does not know, a solar regulator is something that is attached via electric wire to the fucking solar panel that is somewhere and it regulates the power from the panel into actual usable electricity and helps to charge batteries – never had electricity before my ass), the new road, why there are speakers on the new power poles (used for Thailand Government propaganda messages early in the mornings apparently), why are the new power poles made of concrete instead of wood like in many other countries, …… I think you are getting my drift ….. I decided to ask many questions and very soon Pat (remember he is very knowledgeable about the tribes and their way of life) could see defeat in the near future so he decided that we needed to start heading out to the school since we had such a long day ahead of us and apparently one of the stops is the local school for the villages.

We stop at the local school and we are invited to speak to the English class. We are very excited to have this experience. We go in and start to attempt to engage the students. They are older than I had expected – 15 years old. 

INSERT PHOTO OF KIM TALKING TO THE ENGLISH CLASS – CRIS HAS THIS IN HER CAMERA AND WILL POST IT WHEN DOWNLOADED

The students seem shy – expected as we do speak English. We, more Cris then I, attempt to engage them in some conversion with some questions like “What sports do you enjoy? How old are you?” We were able to get one girl to talk to us. The teacher acted as the interpreter as the students are in just the starting to learn sentences and basics of English.

We walk the school grounds afterward and are educated about the school system by Pat. He explains how the school system is very poor for the hill tribes and how the Thailand government does not make it easy for the students. He shows us the room where the English teacher volunteer stays for free and starts to push that they always need a volunteer English teacher for a minimum of 1 month at a time in exchange for free room and board in the village. He speaks about how he has people who come back every year to do this and that we should do this as well …… I thought we were on a paid tour and not on a self-promoting NGO tour so now I am confused.

After seeing that our heart strings were not sufficiently tugged by the school and stories and the kids (we are such hardened westerners), we are off to the highest point in Thailand and a waterfall. I notice that Pat’s ability and desire to be a good guide has either been faked to this point (and not well) or has diminished to almost nell as we are not moved by his cause and the kids. Cris and I are now having more doubts about the trip, on top of having some stomach issues again.

We stop at a local place where Cris has asked for a clear broth with chicken to help settle her stomach. Pat orders me a yellow curry soup without even asking me ….. interesting.

The soup has a wonderful flavor but my stomach is not the happiest at the moment. Cris’s soup never comes (apparently there was a miscommunication). She goes to the 7-11 next door for a yogurt (a much safer idea).

After lunch we head to the Wachirathan Waterfall. It is raining a bit but no worries as the mist from the waterfall also envelops us. 

I attempt to ask questions to our all-knowing guide like “How tall is the waterfall?” (Cris does also ask this question) to which he answers “80m”. Now, please look at the picture again and the sign in the picture. Just to let you know 80m, which equals 264ft for all you non-metric people out there, is pretty tall and I am not very far back to take the photo. I look at Pat and ask the very question: “Really? 80m. Are you sure? It just does not seem to be that tall.” He just shrugs and says will maybe a little less. FYI: it is about 25m tall the portion we are looking, total for the multi-level waterfall system to 80m - thank you internet!!

My stomach is starting to give me more issues but I push on to see the park and cloud forest. We are at the waterfall for only a quick stop. We walk a bit around it and Cris and I wish to continue to follow the path up but Pat says it goes nowhere and we should just leave – which we do. 

As we drive down the road, Cris and I notice there are farms and villages inside of the national park. This is something that we are not accustom to as the national parks in America are pristine areas to be kept as wild as possible.

We stopped at another local Karen village to see how they prepare by hand the coffee (like I have never seen this happen before) and to see some weaving by the tribe. Pat shows us the coffee roaster (not in current use) and pretty says “This is where they do the coffee” WOW!! I am amazed by v ery the amount of information from this guide. He does not tell us anything about how they do things or how the roaster works or how they harvest the beans or …. Well, really anything at all.

I take a small taste of the coffee – okay but not the best and gritty with grounds. Maybe I am just too much of a coffee snob being from America home of Starbucks.

As we stand outside of the little coffee place, I see a little bird flutter behind Cris’s head on the tree there. Just as back ground, I have yet to take my binoculars out of the bag since I have yet to be impressed by this guide. But we did hire him for his knowledge of the fauna, including birds, and we are now in the national park that has almost 400 different species of birds. So, I am very interested in the flutter and look closer. Cris sees me spy something and turns and says “OOHH, bird. What kind Kim?” I say that it is some kind of hummingbird but then correct myself to a sunbird (they are similar to the hummingbirds found in the USA). Cameras come out!! Focus on the tree and the fluttering activity. There are several Green-tailed Sunbirds in the tree feeding off of the blooms.

I am sure that Cris has a much better picture than I do as I am not the top-quality paparazzi as she is and I actually just stood there and enjoyed the birds feeding. Hopefully Cris has put a picture or 2 of the Sunbird in the blog.

As I stand there watching and enjoying and Cris is framing photos, all we hear is Pat’s camera shutter going about 4 times faster than Cris’s shutter!! Amazing!! Now, for anyone who has been with Cris when she is on top of her game with her camera, this is a pretty amazing feat for someone to beat her that soundly with taking photos. Cris actually mentions something to him but I am too disgusted to listen and start walking away and looking at other things. 

We come to a small shed where there is an elderly woman weaving a scarf. We observe her for a bit and look at bit and then take our leave.

We drive further up the mountain to the highest point in Thailand!!! During the drive, Pat says that he does not know any of the birds in the park or elsewhere. He just likes to "make pictures of the birds". 

He just calls them all birds. Cris reminds him that we have requested a guide who has knowledge about the flora and fauna, especially the birds for me. Pat shows her a text from a client asking about what the plan is for next year’s trip as he just loves being with Pat and his company. Pat says that his other clients prefer what he has been giving us and attempts to show Cris the texts. She rejects the phone and repeats that we are not those clients and that all clients are different and that we have requested and book certain items for the trip, which we have yet to have, namely the guiding part.

Not much to see as we are in a cloud forest while it is raining and we not above the tree line but still awesome!!! We walk around a bit, find more birds. Now, I have taken my binoculars out of the truck and enjoy looking at them. Once again, Pat sees me looking at birds. His camera starts to go off feverishly. I walk away disgusted. He follows. I go to the bathroom to lose him 

There is a nature trail across the road, so we decide to take a quick walk and enjoy part of the park.

We take our time on the trail as we do not know of anything else on the agenda – because Pat has not told us anything. We get done. It is almost 5. 

Pat is now in a hurry if we wish to make it to the pagodas as they close at 5pm – thanks for telling us that Pat! Would have been more useful information about 30 minutes ago when we started the nature trail lollygag.

The driver races us down the hill only to find the pagodas closed as it is now after 5pm. Cris mentions that we did not know 1: of the pagodas and 2: that they closed at 5 and all that information would have been nice to know prior to this time. Pat says we can just revisit tomorrow …. But we have a jam-packed day tomorrow too??!!

The hour drive to the Pamview Hotel in Mae Caeng (possible town name as we did get a name but not this name from Pat – Thank you Google). We were initially under the impression that we may be staying closer to the park or at least in the other direction as we have to travel east the next day but we seem to have travelled an hour west. 

We get the best room, which thankfully has 2 beds (had to remind Pat that we needed 2 beds earlier in the day). Settle in. Cris has reached her limit with Pat and so have I. She decides to email Melissa, the lady who she dealt with in setting up the tour. She then decides to text her. She then decides to call her. Speaker phone call – Melissa argues with Cris; Cris reminds her of what we wanted, booked and paid for; Melissa asks for suggestions; Cris says either find us a new guide or we need to terminate this trip; Melissa will look at the calendar and call back but just does not understand as all the other clients like this service – but we are not other clients and we wish to have what we paid for and expected.

Walk to dinner. Pat wants us to try some things. We ask for clear broth with chicken as our stomachs are not well. Sit down, call from Melissa so Cris excuses herself. She comes back and Pat is gone from the table. The choice has been made – terminating the tour. Choice to be made: Where to drop us? Original plan is to be dropped in Chiang Rai and I tell Cris that is what needs to happen. More talking on the mobile – can drop us in Chiang Rai but we must fill the truck with petrol – fine!!

Soup comes – has pork not chicken but no spice so we eat it. Pat never comes back to the table. We find him and ask about their dinner (original arrangements are for us to pay for their dinner). They have chosen to eat elsewhere. Information about the tour being cancelled has reached Pat so we make plans to start the 220km trip at 07:00 – basically to get this start of the horror story over with as soon as possible. Pat says we can go to the pagodas still as they are on the way.

Attempt to sleep on mattress that may even be harder than the wood they are sitting on for support!!