Lau of the jungle (by Joe)

We recently took a very enjoyable three-day jungle trek in northern Thailand. It was hardly unchartered territory (the agency which organised it runs several treks a week through the same route), but it took us through some terrific jungle terrain and included staying in a hill tribe village.

The tribes (whose total population nears 1 million) live in very small communities right across north Thailand, Burma (Myanmar) and Laos. Though closed communities for hundreds of years, over the last decade they have opened out to allow controlled tourism, which brings them useful cash.

We enjoyed visiting them, but inevitably had mixed feelings and left with questions as to how the irresistible drive of modernity and tourism will alter their way of life in the future.

Accommodation and facilties over two nights were entertainingly basic (see left / above - the loo at one of the camps). Washing in the morning involved using streams or, where we stayed on the second night, a waterfall (see top - Lau in front of the shower).

We enjoyed greatly the round-the-campfire evenings and the stars (above the setting of the mountainous jungle) were as clear as I have ever seen. We also enjoyed the company of two Canadian girls on the trek, Mary and Andrea (see left - with Laura at the camp fire in the morning).

However, star of the show was undoubtedly our guide Seebah Prakoon (aka Robert). He was from the hill tribe we visited and had spent a few years in the Thai army. We found him consistently entertaining and informative - occasionally hilarious.

After some bamboo rafting on the final day, we headed back to the hotel for the five of us to get stuck into a mighty beer drinking session and karaoke.

The evening culminated with Lau of the jungle giving a rousing rendition of 'Hey Jude'. It was, we feel, pure coincidence that the owner then decided to shut down the bar for the evening!

Joe