Trekking and living with the Hilltribe people

oOur surprise visitor with our food supplies.
Morning coffee in bamboo cups by the campfire and river...yes that's me in the hat!
Beers on the veranda of our hut.
Amazing hillside view
Our first night stay village, the government supplies them with solar panels for lighting their homes.

Now started the real roughing it part. Backpacks filled with a few essential items for the next few days, and yes it's chilly in those hills! Had to wear pants, long sleeved shirts, fleece jackets and even socks at night! Somehow I don't think I'm going to get much sympathy....
We headed out on the trail early morning to enjoy some waterfalls, amazing scenery of rolling hills and lush green forest. Stopped in a village for lunch and a rest and saw how happy and simply the people lived. Talked with a young man who was given a scholarship to go to school and become the future village doctor. Very rare for these people to travel and get an education, he was a brilliant young man the village is very lucky as right now they have no doctor.
We were told my our tour company not to hand out things or even sweets to the children as this promotes begging and they don't want that to become part of their culture. Makes sense, they are all so happy now just running and playing much different than the begging children in the streets of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, it's very sad how they are taught so young. If you wish to donate they much prefer you give cash to the schools or the villages and they will put the money to good use for everyone. Continued on our hike until we ended up at the village of about 126 people and 26 families called Ban Yafu. Had a beer on our veranda and dinner on a bamboo mat on the hut floor. Woke up early the next day to the most amazing alarm clock with sounds of pigs grunting, roosters crowing, puppies yapping, chickens clucking and little children singing all at the same time right outside our hut! Just laid there and listened for a the longest time to the sounds of the village.
Next day we hiked on and stopped in a village for lunch and watched the people playing what we call boccie ball. Very reserved and didn't seem too excited to see us but one little girl looked over at me and smiled and offered me a cookie, that was so sweet. Arrived at our next village that consisted of a few huts and a family of a husband, wife and their grown son along side the river.
We were relaxing on our new veranda, having a well deserved beer and the most amazing site to suddenly see was a man riding up the river thru the bushes on an elephant delivering our food supplies! Luckily I had my camera on hand for this!