Tarantula Encounter

We made it back to Chiang Rai this morning by pick-up truck.  Our three nights in an Akha village were eventful and informative. The night we arrived we took another evening jungle walk (you'd think we'd have learned a lesson about this) and on our way back to the village in semi darkness stumbled upon a man.  He pointed in the direction of a bamboo hut on the hill and said the words "whiskey", "die" and "come" then made a motion as if to slit his own throat.  We interpreted this as "Come drink whiskey or I will slit your throat", or "Come drink until you die at my place".  We thought it was best to check things out. 
Within minutes we found ourselves seated in a circle of drunk Akha people laughing and eating several delicious looking dishes.  They welcomed us, filled our glasses to the brim with whiskey (and kept filling..and filling) and brought us plates of food.  We tasted it all before asking what it was.  Probably a smart move.  Most of it was pork with pieces of bone and fat that had been boiled or fried.  The one dish I had a hard time stomaching was the raw pork in a blood broth.  I ate some..but didn't go back for more.  It was all very tasty.  With a little investigative work we discovered that we had actually been invited to a wedding by the man on the street.  His slitting throat motion had been to tell us that a pig had been slaughtered for the occasion. 
During the festivities I looked over to find Nathan in a total panic.  He was whacking his own leg frantically.  When his fit stopped a gigantic spider..tarantula..popped out of the leg of his shorts..dead.  In the frenzy he had scared the poor guy into taking a bite out of his thigh.  Its a popular myth that a tarantula bite is dangerous..its like a bee sting.  Though I did NOT mention this directly following the incident.  I let it play out to see how it would unfold.  Nathan held up the carcass in the fire light and asked a Thai man sitting across from us if it was dangerous.  "Ahh..yes!  Throw it into the bushes!"  At this point I had to laugh..Nathan followed with "It BIT me!"  The man didn't seem too concerned, just empathetic.  He mimed pain with gritted teeth, then shrugged his shoulders and went back to drinking his whiskey. 

We did a lot of walking in the jungle to different Akha and Lahu villages.  Over the course of our month in Thailand there have been several incidents where Nathan is berated by a Thai person for making me carry our backpack.  I have put aside my personal feelings about equally dividing the burden of carrying a bag to protect Nathan's image.  I selflessly let him do it all the time.  On one particular hike he was very grateful for this.  We passed about ten military men carrying AK-47s in the jungle.  Nathan was hiking about a hundred feet in front of me and met them first.  Had I been schlepping the backpack behind him he might have been shot.

Over the last twenty years the King of Thailand has done a lot of work with different hill tribes to try and eliminate the growth, sale and use of opium.  Many of the villages used to grow opium as a means of survival and were crippled by their own use of the drug.  On our last trek we were told that it was rarely grown anymore.  This trek was a little closer to..in fact, IN the golden triangle.  I was bargaining for a traditional Akha pipe for my younger brother and was shocked when the woman selling it told me that for an extra 20 Baht she'd throw in a little opium.   Not exactly the kind of transaction I was looking for. 

Next stop Laos!  We are headed for the border this afternoon. 

For travelers:
We stayed at the Akha River House in Chiang Rai.  This is a guesthouse owned and run completely by the Akha hill tribe.  They run a truck from the River House to the Hill House every evening around 4:30.  The accommodation is not top of the line in either location, and if you have a fear of spiders you should prepare yourself..for 250 Baht you can get a private room in either spot.  The scenery and hiking make up for the mediocre food and deteriorating structures.