#mrchart

MR. CHART JUNGLE TREK - DAY THREE, FEBRUARY 27, 2018: Waking up with the rooster calling quite literally right outside the hut, Ryan and I realized Mr. C was nowhere to be found. His friend, however, served us tea and started to prepare breakfast. But a breakfast wouldn't be the same, of course, without the whiskey. Ryan was given four shots, I believe. I was luck to escape having had only two. We spent some time relaxing at our favorite spot, where we watched the sunset the night before.

Mr. C returned a few hours later, and stated he shot a deer but only wounded it. We needed to help him find his friend Tahtah with the mustache who had a dog that could help track the deer down. Ryan and I walked around for about an hour, yelling out “Tahtah?!” and “Sawatdee?!” (meaning hello in Thai). Alas, there was no sign of his mustachioed friend.

The three of us discussed, and we determined it would be best for Mr. C to call Mr. Driver to come get us. That way, Mr. C could wait for a dog to help him track down the injured deer. All Boy and I had to do was walk to where the back roads connected with the drive-able main road. Mr. C sent us on our way with some warm hugs. We made it to the meeting place, and after only an hour of friendly Lisu people stopping and trying to talk to us in Thai, were happy to be picked up by Mr. Driver in the white truck. He even brought us some cold Cokes!

All the food we consumed on our journey was yummy, and we by no means went hungry at any point. However, after some nice hot showers back in Pai, we indulged ourselves with some curry from The Curry Shack (for the third time – it was our favorite place to eat in Pai!). And then our new favorite dessert: mango with sticky rice.

Grateful to be back in the air conditioning, we slept heavily and peacefully.

MR. CHART JUNGLE TREK - DAY TWO, FEBRUARY 26, 2018: After a shockingly comfortable night of sleep on the jungle floor, we awoke (a bit hungover) around 8 am. A few minutes later, Mr. C tromped back into camp and quickly set us to work. Ryan gutted frogs Mr. C had collected in the night, and I was sent to gather jungle vegetable goodies. After, of course, a few more shots of whiskey (Mr. C had his own stash). I got to use a mortar and pestle (fashioned out of bamboo) for the first time in my life, which most definitely fulfilled one of my bucket list items. From this point on, Mr. C referred to us only as “Boy” and “Girl,” as he'd forgotten our names.

As breakfast was being prepared by Mr. C, we were sent to hunt. Boy was given the gun, and a whistle meant to imitate one of the birds' calls. I was told to follow him and to not say anything, because apparently, that is very disruptive of the hunting process. Breakfast, as dinner had been the night before, was served in bamboo “bowls.” It was also very aroy.

We went about cleaning all our bamboo dishes, and packed up to head to Mr. C's friend's hut. As a Lisu hill tribesman, Mr. C's friend's hut is, well . . . on a hill. So, we climbed. And climbed. And climbed, as Mr. C ferociously cut our way through the jungle. Once we (finally) made it to the top, we were greeted by absolutely beautiful views of our home for the night, which was surrounded by a field of orange trees.