Me Jane, you Tarzan

‘One costs about 300,000 ฿’, Nueng said and pointed at his chest. ‘So that’s 600,000 ฿ for two. And down – that’s between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 Thai baht.’(To give you an idea: 100,000 baht is about 2000 euros). We were on a trekking in the north of Thailand and sat down after dinner, talking to our guide. I asked him about the lady boys in Thailand. ‘So why do so many people get operated – apparently it’s not that cheap’, I wondered. ‘I don’t know’, Nueng said and as an example he mentioned Julie, the owner of the guesthouse where we stayed in Chiang Mai. She obviously – low voice, fake boobs – used to be a man. ‘I know she had the operations, but we don’t talk about that in Thai culture.’Back to the trekking. It wasn’t quite as hard as the one we did in Nepal but it was a whole different kind of trekking and we had a lot of fun making our way through the jungle. We rode elephants, crossed streams and rivers, went bamboo – and wild water rafting. We saw loads of banana trees, ate omelets out of banana leafs (made by our guide) and each night cooked dinner the old fashioned way – on a self made fire in a big metal pot. We slept in bamboo houses in Lahu tribe villages – with no electricity. The Lahu are originally from China and Tibet. They live from growing corn, rice and opium. The men are hunters. We saw their little kids climbing in trees like monkeys and running through the jungle like little Tarzans. The village we stayed in the second night didn’t have a shower and we had to wash ourselves in the nearby waterfall. So yeah, it was a real jungle experience. The next plan is getting into Laos. We’re taking a bus to the border tomorrow and hope we can catch a boat there to Luang Prabang. If not we’re screwed because our visa stamp is only valid until the 19th.