Tuesday Soppong Mega Mall

As I mentioned in a previous post, Soppong is a bit of a one horse town (and we're staying eight kilometers down the road in an even smaller settlement - does that make it a one goat town?), but once a week the tiny village comes alive with the Tuesday market.

This is a genuine market, and you can simply amble at your own pace and interact with the many ethnic minorities all congregating here once a week after arduous journeys from the high mountains surrounding the town.

Although you would think that a market day such as this would be a popular time for tourists to visit Soppong, you will still be hard pressed, even in peak season, to bump into another westerner.

A definite overload of the senses.....for Shirley's anyway - dried fish and me? ....not so much.

It was refreshing to go somewhere where the traditions, whether they be clothing or, like the women above, the powdered faces (protection from the sun), are genuine and not simply to 'dress up' for tourists.

There were so many stalls - and this was our chance to stock up on some great fruit - dragon fruit, mangosteens, wax apples. After a few days of mostly noodle soup and fried rice and other great treats, we are definitely in need of some fibre.

I almost tried this lady's noodle soup (which looked delicious) but I just couldn't go for it. While the broth was definitely coming from a steaming and boiling cauldron, everything else seemed to just be sitting there for lord knows how long (well it was 10 am, so clearly not too long) - but I just wasn't sure when it had been cooked. It's early in the trip and I haven't got the iron stomach yet - but dang, it looked tasty.

C'mon mister, buy some of my onions and greens. Buddy, I would if I could. Seriously. I was just thrilled to be standing there, to be honest. This was real.

These vendors were lined up along the street for about half a kilometer - we just took the kids for a walk and tried our best to show them things which they might not see in Canada (apart from the whole thing, of course).

We eventually found some handcrafted bracelets for the kids to buy and send back to friends in Canada. We were tempted to start negotiating - it's in Shirley's DNA, after all - but we toned it down and basically gave them what they asked. This was not the time to play hard ball.

While some guys fantasize about being seated next to a gorgeous woman on a long flight, my travel dreams entail hitching a ride on a beer truck - this Chang Beer delivery truck looked like the holy grail!!

Back at the Cave Lodge it was 'chill time' before lunch - seriously, this is a place in which you can really lose track of time.

And the kids agree too

They very rarely ask "what can we do, now?", which usually roughly translates into "can we play video games now?, but are content to swing, play ping pong, cuddle the dogs, and play in the river. In other words, there's plenty to do, it's just a matter of enjoying the simple things.

Time to fuel up for our afternoon trek - during which we hoped to visit a hill tribe village.

It started out pretty well, but the 'easy trail' proved to be anything but well marked.

And as stunning as the scenery is, you can imagine it would be pretty easy to get dangerously lost here - the jungle is thick and somewhat disorienting.

We even resorted to taking pictures like these at certain landmarks to help us find our way back if we got lost. - we actually ended up using them, flipping through the digital camera several times.

We had a great trek but eventually gave up on finding the hill tribe village (Ban Muang Phaem). We weren't willing to chance getting lost in these hills - I think we'll just get a guide on Thursday and do a proper and less stressful hike. It's funny, most guesthouses in Asia will 'push' tours on you, but folks at the Cave Lodge said we could easily do this on our own - maybe they were right, but I think being with the kids makes us a little less prone to taking risks.

So I guess you'll see the rest of this hill tribe trek adventure in two days.