Nongtao Part 4: The Jungle Trek

Night noises. You fall asleep to the sound of a thousand cicadas, and wake to dozens of cockerels. Now and again in the darkest hours, the village dogs bark and howl as one; maybe a wild animal has passed through the village and the dogs are on guard. As dawn approaches, our wooden hut creaks and groans as the temperature plummets. And then the national anthem booms out.

The morning dew is heavy as we await our guide, these sweeps between day and night temperatures absolutely soak the ground each morning with both dew and mist. Still cold at dawn, the rising sun brings instant warmth and another mountain day begins.

Our guide tells us to call him Tony; we climb into the back of Tony’s pick up truck and our next adventure is under way, just us two and our guide. Tony carries a small backpack, a shoulder bag (everyone carries one here) and a catapult (everyone carries one of those, too). 

Our last experience of jungle trekking was Malaysia a couple of years ago, which was fantastic, but as today unfolds it is clear that this is going to be every bit as good. The trek is never easy, always either steep climb or steep descent, negotiating fallen trees, tree roots, vines draped across the trail, cloying plants, biting insects, annoying flies. Underfoot, much of the way is covered with dry leaves, pine needles, or both, often concealing tree roots, holes and other obstacles. Basically, every footfall is a potential hazard.

For much of the day the trail is all but invisible, completely indiscernible to the untrained eye, but Tony seems to know every step and, by reputation, most of the jungle. Our nerves kick in as Tony strides along the trunk of a fallen tree, balancing tightrope style, over a drop of about ten feet. But Tony’s done it, so we have no choice but to follow him across, and it’s not as hard as it looked.

One touch of our arms reminds us just how far up in the mountains we are: despite overheating and being drenched in sweat, our flesh is icy cold to the touch. It’s an odd sensation.

Our education today comes from Tony’s knowledge of the jungle plant life, knowledge which is common to Karen people. He shows us which plants are edible, which plants to chew on if you need energy, which plants to drink sap from if you have run out of water. Here is a leaf to cure indigestion; there is one to ward off mosquitos. 

He draws his machete and cuts into the bark of a giant tree, and instantly a milky white sap oozes from the wood. Tony takes some, licks his finger, and says a word we really don’t expect. “Paracetamol “, he says. Sure enough, this sap is the exact bitter taste of painkiller, and Tony assures us that Karen people use this sap for precisely that purpose. Next is a piece of bark cut from a smaller tree, the inside surface of which has the distinctive pungent odour of antiseptic. “This one” he says, “you put on insect bite”. This trek is an entire lesson in natural medicine.

This ancient skill set and knowledge base goes to a new level when we stop for lunch. Tony has picked herbs along the way, and has brought some food from home. Picking giant leaves from stream side plants and cutting stalks from surrounding bamboo, Tony first lights a fire, then chops up the herbs and vegetables, and creates a large pouch from the giant leaves. With water added, the pouch is tied with bamboo string and hung between bamboo poles over the fire. Chicken and sausages are speared into kebabs, again using bamboo, and cooking is underway. The result, twenty or so minutes later, is delicious, fresh and energising, but the joy is in watching Tony’s survival skills. So wonderfully resourceful, knowing just how to use what nature provides.

The actual aim of today’s trek is a double shot of waterfall: two separate treks either side of lunch, each leading to that massive wow moment as we clamber around a rock and the stunning sight of a huge cascading waterfall meets our eyes. Each of the waterfalls is spectacular, both are hidden deep in the mountainside jungle, both well worthy of the long trek.

By the time we finish it’s been around seven hours of tough trekking. We are dishevelled, dusty, sweaty, covered in plant scratches and mud spatters, though thankfully seemingly pretty free of insect bites. We are also extremely tired and clamber awkwardly into the back of the pickup for the drive home. It’s been another amazing, wonderful, day.

Nongtao has been wonderful. We are leaving too soon.

Final Word

Meeting these people has been inspiring, educational and humbling. Their life is so, so different from our world. On our first day in Nongtao, Soe said to us, “here we have plenty of water, we can grow plenty food, so we are not poor people. But we do not have money here”.

She also used another phrase, “Karen people do not have knowledge”. Talking with Nongchai at the elephant village, and asking him whether they were suffering depopulation, he used exactly the same phrase. When pushed, he said, “they would not know how to have job in a city. They don’t know that life. They do not have knowledge”.

Well, in our experience of the last few days, when it comes to understanding and living with the world around you, Karen people have more knowledge than virtually every westerner we have ever met.

Wonderful people, fabulous experience.

We leave Nongtao and the Karen people with both fabulous memories and enormous affection.