abba tour
this morning i did head out ont eh tour, with an eco group called pooh;s treks. i now feel really mislead because when i read trek i thought walk - and the write up about ti suggested there was quite abit of walking however it was like any other crappy tourist tour where you get dropped off at each waterfall, wat or view spot and then walk around for a buit. with me on teh tour was 3 couples each representing one fo teh scandinavian countries. the swedish couple introduced them as we swedish - abba? it was great that there wasn't more walkign actualyl because we could haev had a few heart attacks, the bus was like a pant fest after teh longest walk along a boardwalk (200m). i knew i'd done the wrong thing, when on that same walk which was my favourite bit, the norwegian woman lit up and then later discarded her butt int eh forest, and the guide did nothing - soem eco tour.
anyway, the money i paid for it goes towards some eco stuff, and also the local school. among the other interesting things we did was go to a tribal village (low impact, i think not!), and then to teh tallest mounitain in thailand where we got otu and took photos and also to teh His Majesties Project. this was actually pretty interesting. 36 years ago they started this project to stop small tribes growing opium for income, so the government invested in 3o research centres and farms managed by governemnt but worked by teh tribes people. they are paid a steady income, and they produce fruit, flowers, coffee, tea and vegetables, which in turn makes thigns cheaper for the tribes. still they work very ahrd - the women stay home and weave cloth to sell to tourists (like me - i bought something bcause i feel the tour companies need tog ive something abck to the villages. i aske the guide about how they help teh villages, apart from bringing people to buy their wares, and he replied 'we eco tour' and smiled. then again, the scarf did cost 200B which is about 7 dolars, but that is very expensive for here, so possibly by bringing tourists to the village they make more money and save on travel, but also ups demand and makes them work harder. one scarf takes 3 days work).
anyway, while we were driving from place to place i was feelign a bit downa dn thinking of home and wishing people were here to travel with me. but ti great to do what i want
anyway. i'll sign off now, sorry tehre are no photos yet, one fo my memory cards conked out, and i want to make sure teh other doesnt die as well before the gibbon thing.
tomorrow is a 5 hour drive to chiang kong, and onto laos and gibbons (hopefulyl without rabies). :)
anyway, the money i paid for it goes towards some eco stuff, and also the local school. among the other interesting things we did was go to a tribal village (low impact, i think not!), and then to teh tallest mounitain in thailand where we got otu and took photos and also to teh His Majesties Project. this was actually pretty interesting. 36 years ago they started this project to stop small tribes growing opium for income, so the government invested in 3o research centres and farms managed by governemnt but worked by teh tribes people. they are paid a steady income, and they produce fruit, flowers, coffee, tea and vegetables, which in turn makes thigns cheaper for the tribes. still they work very ahrd - the women stay home and weave cloth to sell to tourists (like me - i bought something bcause i feel the tour companies need tog ive something abck to the villages. i aske the guide about how they help teh villages, apart from bringing people to buy their wares, and he replied 'we eco tour' and smiled. then again, the scarf did cost 200B which is about 7 dolars, but that is very expensive for here, so possibly by bringing tourists to the village they make more money and save on travel, but also ups demand and makes them work harder. one scarf takes 3 days work).
anyway, while we were driving from place to place i was feelign a bit downa dn thinking of home and wishing people were here to travel with me. but ti great to do what i want
anyway. i'll sign off now, sorry tehre are no photos yet, one fo my memory cards conked out, and i want to make sure teh other doesnt die as well before the gibbon thing.
tomorrow is a 5 hour drive to chiang kong, and onto laos and gibbons (hopefulyl without rabies). :)
posted by ben at 9:12 PM
2 Comments:
Good to see you are really getting into what's (wats?) over there - understanding the cooking, eating, remote economy and more. Great luck that you met such a wonderful Monk - prob much better than an organised Monk Chat nyway! Amazing that they weaned the people off growing opium poppies!
Enjoy your fly through the trees with the Gibbons! I guess its really in the forest, and there may be as many gibbons there as there are koalas on a "trek" here. Looking fwd 2 u telling us.
It sound like your having a real holiday over there, not planning out to much, plus also meeting the locals a lot and not getting to touristy so aren’t missing out the true culture. Your chat with the monk sounds interesting, sound like your having quite and adventure with bikes falling apart. I’d love to look at your photos when you get back and see where you’ve been.
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