Mae Salong, Thursday, November 5, 2009

Got to bed early last night, about 9 pm. Got up at 7:30 this morning, stretched, showered and packed. I asked the manager about a 50B room. None was ready, but the girl workers were cleaning a room and he gave me the key. I moved my bags into the room, locked it and took a look at the 2 ponies being used for the village tour. They are small. The tour was to leave at 9. I left a little after 8.

The map is not to scale, but I was able to follow it, mostly because there aren't many side roads, except in town. I took 2 side trips, the first was probably 200 yards to a small Akha village, where I was called with 'Hello' by an old woman in traditional clothing. When I kneeled down she got up and brought out a small plastic stool for me to sit on. There were 2 young women and 2 children with her on the porch of their home. When I pointed to the camera and asked 'OK' the woman said nothing. Since no one said no I took 2 photos and offered a 20B note. She smiled and nodded a thank you. I have no idea how much to offer. I didn't pay anyone else for their photo, although one the the 3 boys playing with tires hid when I pointed the camera at them, and said something to me when he ran by, probably scolding me for not asking, or not paying.
The rest of the walk, sometimes on concrete pavement and sometimes on clay soil, was entirely on a single lane road, after leaving the town road. The road was up or down with very little level ground. The second side trip, about 6 km roundtrip, was to a Lahu home stay village, Ja Bu Si, where guests can sleep in the village, in a separate building. The posted cost is 100B, plus 50B for food, probably for each meal. The road was nearly all downhill going there, and it took me over 1.5 hours to reach the village, although I was able to walk faster uphill and returned in an hour.

Trish called on the return from Ja Bu Si. Reception was broken up when she called and she called back later when I had nearly finished climbing back up the ridge. We had a good talk. She may be able to go to the pet store permit hearing tomorrow.

The map doesn't show all of the distances. With the side trips, I estimate the distance was 21 km, about 13 miles. Took me over 7.5 hours, and I was exhausted. The last 5 km took me 1.3 hours. I carried only the camera, camcorder, 2 extra lenses and the 1.5L bottle of water. Don't yet have my hiking legs back. The left hip is still too weak.

When I got back at 3:40 I took a cold shower and rested for over 2 hours. I had my meal for today at the guest house restaurant. The vegetable curry and 2 plates of rice, plus oolong tea, and a banana shake all tasted great. Cost should be 80B, on the tab.

So my outlay for today is 20B, $0.60, and I still owe another 50B for the room and 80B for the meal.