All Terrain Thinking

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Wonderful strange stories from around the world

Underground With The Hill Tribes

The cave opened like a crater, leading deep into the center of the earth.

Peering over the edge, the darkness quickly gathered, preventing us from seeing the bottom. And, yet, we felt compelled to explore. Dangerous? Maybe, but for real adventurers, there is no such word as "afraid." Unfortunately, my friend Darren and I weren't real adventurers.

"I'm afraid." I said, holding the vine with one hand, but clinging to a tree for dear life, with the other.

"Just let go of the tree, and slide down the vine, to the bottom of the cave." Advised Darren. "What could possibly happen?"

"I could fall and die, for example." I said.

"People do it in the movies, all the time." Pointed out Darren.

"If it's so easy, why don't you do it?"

"You're younger." He argued, reasonably.

"Yes, but you've already lived your life. If you died it wouldn't be such a tragedy."

"I have a wife and child."

"You see, I don't. And if I die today, I never will."

"Well, if you won't do it, who will?" asked Darren.

"One, two, three, four." Blurted out the third member of our team, Ningo, a son of the Luoa tribe. This was the only English he knew, and he used it to convey a surprising array of meanings. In this instance, he meant "There is no darn way I am sliding down that vine."

"Maybe we should try a different cave." Suggested Darren.

When I asked the owner of Rose Guest House, Darren Wright, where the best

adventures could be found, he invited me to his country home, in a tiny village, called Nong Kiao , north west of Chiang Dao.

As soon as we arrived, I realized that this small, out of the way location had a lot to offer, in both adventure and culture.

Most of the population were from the Lua tribe, but almost all of the other tribes were represented as well. There were Lihsu, Lahoo, Karin, Katchin, Musa, Akha, and Isan. The nearest town was Nong Ouch, where, in addition to Thai hill tribe people, there were Chinese hill tribe people, Chinese Thais, and Chinese immigrants. As each tribe has their own language, the two lingua-franca were Thai and Chinese. The region was also full of temples and churches, with nearly every denomination of Christianity, Animism, Thai Buddhism, and Chinese Buddhism.

Darren and I stowed our gear, grabbed some flashlights, and headed off to the caves, to do some exploring.

"It would be better of we could get one of the Lua to come with us." Said Darren, slowing down in front of the bamboo hut of his friend, Ningo Lua.

"He looks pretty busy in his garden." I said.

"I'll twist his arm." Said Darren. Then in Thai, he called to his friend. "Do you want to go in the caves?" Without a second's hesitation, Ningo threw away his shovel, and hoped into the truck.

"Where was this guy when you were selling insurance?" I joked to Darren.

The area around Nong Kiao is absolutely breath taking. The rolling, green hills lead right off to the border, where, on a clear day, you can just about make out an outpost of the Lua State Army. The jungle is full of edible plants, which the hill tribe children would show us, the following day on our hunting trip. The sad thing about the area, however, is that, as roads are built, making the land accessible to outsiders, the forest is often destroyed to make farms. Slash and burn farming is illegal, but there seems to be some loophole, which allows people to farm land which was burned by natural causes. Natural causes seem to occur more often after roads are built.

Although there was no shortage of beautiful scenery, and unexplored trekking, all too often, Darren would point out his window at the horribly, barren fields and say "This was all jungle two years ago."

The area is definitely worth visiting. And is still one of the wildest I have seen in Thailand . But the question is, how much longer can this last?

At the bottom of a small hill, the temperature suddenly dropped by several degrees centigrade. Feeling around, we discovered a vent shaft, which acted as a natural air conditioner, blowing cold air out of the caves. A few meters further was the massive entrance, seven meters in diameter, which led to a shaft, at least ten meters deep. Since we didn't have proper equipment with us, we opted, instead, to enter one of the other caves, which opened onto a, more or less, horizontal plate, where we could walk and scramble, with little difficulty.

At times, caving is a lot like rock climbing. All of the elements of clinging to rock faces, looking for hand holds, and maintaining balance are there. But you have several added dangers, which you have to be aware of.

First of all, it's dark in a cave. So you always have to be careful of your flashlight. If you loose it, that could be the end of your expedition.

Another danger is rain. Outside a storm had been blowing in. Under the earth, we had no idea what was happening topside. Cavers will sometimes have to crawl through a very narrow tunnel, or even through subterranean

waterways to reach their destinations. If it begins to rain outside, these small passageways could become blocked, as the water table rises. The real danger is that there is no warning at all, as you cannot hear the rain, when you are fifty feet below the surface.

The final issue you have to deal with in caving is slime. If you remember the films "Ghost Busters" or "Men in Black," just picture all of that green alien slime attached to a rock, which you are trying to climb. It also attaches itself to your clothing, hair, and body.

Ningo, at age twenty-two, was the youngest of us. He was as agile as a ring-tailed lemur, and could probably have scaled any of the walls easily. But, in order to keep Darren and me from loosing face, we fell down a lot, he held back, always trailing behind us. Darren, who is in his mid forties has lead an incredible life, having worked in Africa and Asia since

graduating university, back in the UK . So, we were constantly talking, swapping sea-stories. When we reached the punch line, and began laughing together, Ningo would suddenly blurt out "One, two, three, four," and then laugh right along with us.

We explored each cave to a point that we would require climbing equipment to continue any further. Buddhist monks, from a forest monastery, had built a huge shrine in one of the caves, converting it to a temple. It was a holly,

quiet place of reflection, and could bring about healing to tortured souls, willing to make the pilgrimage from the city.

That two crazy Farangs would want to go crawl around in a slimy cave is something Hill Tribe people and Thais don't quite understand. But, for people like Ningo, who have been around Darren before, they are used to it.

While all of the hill tribe people seem to be gifted climbers, and even enjoy going on an adventure like this one, with their Farang friends, caving or climbing doesn't seem to be something they would ever do on their own. A friend, who lived with hill tribes for many years, told me that historically hill tribes had been so poor, that they couldn't afford to waste calories in foolish pursuits, such as sports. They had to conserve all of their energy, and focus it on feeding their family.

The people of Nong Kiao, on the other hand, were one of the lucky hill tribe groups who seem to be developing economically. The villagers all looked well fed. The children attended school. And everyone spoke Thai. They had reached a point in their development where leisure activities might start to take off. Darren told me. "Usually, if I drive through the village, telling people I am going caving, the whole truck is full in no time. Everyone wants to go."

The outdoor adventure sports are all exciting. But the truly special experience of doing these activities in Thailand is getting to know the Thai and hill tribe people. I try to make every experience a cultural exchange, with the adventure activity simply functioning as a backdrop. Darren and his wife seemed to take a similar approach, and are hoping that Farangs, visiting Chiangmai, will want to come stay at their country home, experience village life, go caving, learn traditional, hill tribe archery, explore the mountains, and swim in the hot springs and waterfalls. "On the one hand, I hope too many people don't come here, because that could destroy the village." Said Darren. "But if a few people came, with the right attitude, it could be good for the villagers and for the Farangs."

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