Escape the hustle and bustle of city life in the stunning Thai countryside
I was in Bangkok and less than enamored. The city is chaotic, so overflowing with skyscrapers and malls that it seems ready to burst. I felt the need to escape, so I headed north toward a city called Chiang Mai. I'd heard there would be waterfalls and elephants in the nearby countryside, and a chance to get at least a little closer to another side of Thailand.
Chiang Mai is a city of about 200,000, a relief compared to Bangkok's 9 million. There are leafy parks, inviting art galleries and little children wandering around in school uniforms. I went with my friend Michal Ruth Penwell, an artist who has lived in Bangkok for years, and we laughed when people said, more than once, that we must be twins. We look nothing alike except that we are both foreigners here.
This is hardly a place, though, where time has stopped. Motorbikes zoom around stuffed with three people apiece, some texting, others reading books. The place is dotted with 7-Elevens, the sidewalks crammed both with backpackers and businesses meant to cater to them.
There is also an abundance of trekking companies in Chiang Mai, all offering what seem like similar packages, so we picked one that was cheap. We signed up for what was described as a two-day, one-night jungle hike. The tour company picked us up in a van in town the next morning. After driving for some time, our driver deposited us in the bend of a hilly road somewhere in the Mae Taeng valley, and we set out with our Thai tour guide.
The tropical woods that we hiked through were loud with shrieking insects, but it was tranquil there all the same. Our guide knew the woods like someone who had been in them his whole life, picking herbs, spotting a stick bug that was all but invisible to me and trying to coax out a tarantula when it ran into its hole. When he wasn't successful, I was not disappointed.
That evening we stayed in a one-room cabin in a hill tribe village, a place with a tiny school, maybe a few dozen houses and not much else. Kids chased each other around their yards while water buffalo meandered on the single street.
In the evening, we built a fire and some of the villagers stopped by to see us — some to sell handmade bracelets or bottled water, but some just to see the "farang," the Thai word for foreigner. The people there spoke a tribal language, not Thai, so our communication was mostly limited to hand signals and smiles. I'd brought pictures of New York, where I live, and passed them around.
The next morning, our guide cooked eggs before we hiked again and cooled off in some amazing waterfalls. Later, a pickup truck took us to the Huay Poeng Elephant Camp, where we rode elephants and bought them bananas, and then to a river where guides rowed us along a lazy stream in bamboo rafts.
I'd do this trip again in a minute, and would go for more than one night if I had the chance. I feel lucky that I went, and was happy to ditch the disorder of the city for the playground of the jungle.
在景色絕佳的泰國鄉間逃離城市喧囂
我人在曼谷，談不上對這個城市有多麼迷戀。這個城市一片混亂，摩天大樓與購物中心多得像是快要爆炸一般。我覺得需要逃離這裡，所以我朝北走，前往一個名為清邁的城市。我聽說這個城市附近的鄉間有著瀑布與大象，讓人至少有機會能親近體驗泰國的另一面。
清邁是一個人口約有廿萬人的城市，比起曼谷的九百萬人，真是讓人感覺鬆了一口氣。城市裡有綠樹成蔭的公園、吸引人參觀的藝廊，還有穿著學校制服到處閒逛的孩童。我與友人麥珂露絲彭威爾一同前往，她是一位在曼谷生活多年的藝術家。過去曾屢次有人說，我們一定是雙胞胎，我們聞言都會大笑。除了我們兩人都是此地的外國人這點外，我們的外表看起來一點都不相像。
這裡談不上是一個時間凝結的地方，乘載三人的摩托車橫衝直撞，其中有人在傳簡訊，還有人在看書。這裡到處可見 7-Eleven 超商，人行道則擠滿了背包客與提供他們服務的攤商。
清邁還有許多家的健行業者，提供的服務似乎都是類似的旅遊套餐行程，因此我們挑選了一家價廉的業者，報名參加名為兩天一夜的叢林健行。旅遊公司第二天早上派了一輛小貨車到城裡來接我們，在開了一段路之後，司機在湄汀谷某處的山路彎道讓我們下車，接著我們隨著泰國導遊動身出發。
我們健行經過的熱帶森林裡，昆蟲尖銳的鳴聲此起彼伏，但仍然保有一股寧靜的感覺。我們的導遊對這片森林知之甚詳，有如他一生都在此度過一般，採摘草藥、發現我幾乎視而不見的竹節蟲、在發現狼蛛躲入洞穴時設法引牠出洞。當他未成功引出狼蛛時，我並不感到失望。
那天晚上，我們住進山間部落村莊中的一間單房木屋，村莊裡只有一間規模很小的學校，或許還有十餘間的房舍，除此之外就沒什麼其他東西了。小孩在家中院子裡互相追逐，水牛就在唯一的街道上漫步。
傍晚時分，我們生起了營火，一些村民跑過來看我們，有些村民向我們兜售手工製的手鐲或瓶裝水，也有些村民只想來看看「farang」（泰語「外國人」之意）。這個地方的人使用的是一種部落語言，而非泰語，所以我們只能靠手勢與微笑溝通。我帶來了家鄉紐約的照片，讓他們彼此互相傳看。
第二天早上，導遊煮了雞蛋，我們再次上路，然後在幾個讓人感到驚奇的瀑布附近納涼。一輛小卡車將我們載到「Huay Poeng 大象學校」，我們在那裡騎大象、買香蕉餵牠們吃。接著我們到了一條河邊，導遊划著竹筏載著我們，沿一條水流和緩的小河前進。
我迫不及待地想再作此行，而且如果有機會的話，我會安排一晚以上的行程。我慶幸去了一趟清邁，且對於拋下城市的混亂，改投向叢林遊樂場的懷抱，感到非常開心。
全通翻譯引用 http://chinapost.com.tw/guidepost/topics/default.asp?id=3908&pre=1&sub=7
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