Julie: As more and more travelers venture further off the beaten path, we can't help but impact these traditional cultures. But if we each take the time to share something of ourselves, not just our money, hopefully in the end the impact is positive.
Male: After a memorable stay with the family, we headed down to the river for our next adventure.
The villagers were already busy building our transportation.
Our journey would take us down to maytang, one of many small rivers in northern Thailand that connect rural villages and provide a real jungle adventure for travelers.
Julie: We were amazed at the stability of the bamboo rafts, as long as you don’t ram in to anything, you should stay comfortably on your feet.
Along the way, we passed many raft graveyards. We were relieved to learn that the abandoned bamboo is used to build houses.
Male2: This house cost nothing, because they take the bamboo to build the house from the raft. Anybody can take this, because no pressure.
Julie: I felt better knowing the wood is not wasted. But I was still a little concern about the jungle’s being depleted.
Male: Scattered along the river banks are tiny villages where you may run in to some other rafters.
Female: We fell, in a split second, bam.
Female2: Then an elephant was crossing, it was coming straight for us. She's not going to stop. It ended up stopping.
They're so happy all the time. You see people at home, kids at home, and they don’t have everything.
Julie: Even with the low dry season water levels, Derrick warned us that the second half of our journey may involve some involuntary swimming.
During the monsoon season, the river often overwhelms its banks. And can be quite dangerous. Derrick explained that many of the local villagers are animus and believe that the river’s spirit is responsible for any lost of life.
Derrick: The spirit of the river, very angry.
Next 400 meters, the most difficult place. Most of the time, the raft hit the rocks, and we need to get out, push.
Male: Rapids were a total workout. But we had a real sense of accomplishment after finally clearing them.
Julie: Looks great. My favorite rafting I've ever done. That’s river rafting.
Male3: Looks like you're getting a well deserved break after all that?
Julie: My hands toast.
After finishing our trek, we headed for hot showers and real mattresses in the river side village of Tha Ton. Here we met and Irish expat, who took us on another river trip, but this time under power.
Male: A common sight on Thailand’s water ways are narrow colorful boats called long tails. They're designed to navigate shallow rivers with small noisy motors as a prop mounted on the long drive shaft.
Julie: What's the name of this river and where does it go?
Male4: It’s the Mekok, it’s about 50 kilometers up into Burma. It’s interesting just here on the bank we can watch life passing by on the river here.
Male: We travelled to Myanmar border which at the time was only open to the Thai and Burmese people who cross to sell their goods.