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Bamboo Hut
it was lovely the way the light played throught the wall in the bamboo huts. Well we arrived back in Thailand after the slow boat from hell ! well to be honest it wasnt that bad, joe and robbie got it worse for leaving the day before us, as their boat was full and they could'nt move. (the boat ride takes 2 days ! and you cannot cross the border till the third day!) anyway it wasnt too bad we just ripped up a few of the chairs and lay on the deck for most of it, playing cards etc.
Anyway we are back in Thailand at the moment, we are in Chiang Mai up in the north, and so far we have been loving it. We met up again with joe and robbie (who no doubt we will hook up again with before oz) and played with them for a few days. Chiang Mai was pretty cool and laid back, we have been taking it nice and easy for the first few days and then we went jungle trecking (more in next paragraph). Anyway we caught a Thai boking fight on Monday last which was pretty cool. It does look like a pretty vicious fight but to be honest most everyone in the
Muay Thai
ring side seats were cool. ring was taking it easy enough, no one got really hurt and there were only 2 knockouts during the whole thing. what was cool was that we got ring side seats, with a table so they were just bringin us beers the whole time and we didnt have to move. Anyway check out the pics below etc.
So yeah we went jungle trecking 3 days and 2 nights. We were part of a small enought group which was good, there were five of us all together Me, Larry, Bobby (english) and his gorlfriend Lydia (english) and Lee (a canadian guy). The guys turned out to be really cool and we all had a great time together, so we were lucky to have a good group.
The trecking itenary was this ......
day 1 treck for around 3 or so hours up throught the jungle and stay over night with a hill tribe.
day 2 treck throught the jungle for about 3 hours or so past a couple of waterfalls, swim a bit, along the river and stay overnight at a camp beside the river.
day 3 treck for just under an hour down hill to
Rain coat
we bought these the nght before in 7 eleven before we left. cheap as $hit, and for a reason, anyway kept us relativly dry, but looked redicelous ! an elephant camp, ride an elephant then white water raft for about an hour and then bamboo raft for another hours before getting the jeep home.
Jungle trecking is easily one of the best things we have done on this trip. We had some reservations of what to expect, cause its a popular tourist thing to do. We thought that the trecking would not be that full on, and that the villagers woukd be like selling t-shirts and shit, but we were wrong. The first days trecking was really full on, as in it was vedrtical for most of the way. We had to cross a few rivers too. What was really coo too was the fact that as we started to treck it pissed down rain. we had so cheap as $hit rain mac's which just about saved us from a total soaking, but it did make the trail pretty tough going after. When we got up to the village, it was pretty basic. out bamboo hut was just on the periphery of the village and we were not messin with their day to day routines and stuff. Our guisde gave us the heads up on how not
to piss off the locals and told use to be careful taking pictures etc. and told us where we were not allowed to go. We had a cooler box with beers and cokes in the hut but no electricity. Everything was but candle light, torch and campfire. When we got up the the hut, we were all gagging for a shower, even the hose of cold water we had was welcomed. Anyway that night we hung around the hut stayed up playing cards and stuff and had dinner. After dinner some locals came up to visit us and they sang us some local songs etc. around the camp fire. then they asked us to sing ... to which we all looked at each other with embarrasment. anyway being a good irish man i decide to treat them to a nice irish song and take a bullet for the team (so at least we didnt look like arseholes for not joining in. So anyway i ended up singind 'the fields of Athenry'. I gave it me all anyway, but it was funny every time i finished the corus they thought i was finished ..... i even went as far as the
Village
top of the village from our hut's deck third verse ! anyway it had to be done (in my head i sounded fantasitc!)
For some reason i had a cracking headache all night and all through the night, id say i caught maby 2 hours if that, the way me head was sitting on the cushion was probably the issue. anyway the cocks started to crow at around 4-5am and me head was lifted off a me so i got up so kinda sunrise, or just after. ws glad i did i sat on out decking taking some pain killers and it was beautiful out. There was a mist over the whole top of the mountain, so i just sat there for an hour or so, then i went back inside and lay down for a while. anyway sensing a good photo opportunity, i got up and pissed about around the village for a while tyring to be as incinspicous as i could for an hour. So i got a few good pics of the locals doing their morning routines and since no one else was up and about it felt kinda special.
So anyway later that day we went trecking throught trhe jungle down towards
the river, alot of it was down hill, so it was a bit better on the legs, but the trecking was excellent. right throught the dense jungle along local trails and stuff, felt at times kinda like predator or something ! we crossed the river loads of time, across fallen logs etc. and throught the stream at times, would be real easy is you were not careful to break a leg of mess yourself up pretty seroiusly, so ya have to be sensible all the time. Was great too to be able to pick fruit straight from the trees (especiall lycheees as their me favourite fruit). So anyway we stopped a a waterfall g0ot in so a well deserved dip and later trecked on to our camp in the jungle. We slept in a bamboo hut i say hut cuase it has wall, granted the walls are about a meter high, but there is not much gable at all, where we were sleeping you could see the stars through the mosquito net. kinda got used to sleeping out doors at that stage. Anyway earliers that night we again played cards and stuff.
S right then the last day. We
Village Energy.
To help the Vilagerg the Thai government gave them solar panels to hook up to their huts. It powers their lights at night and they can get say 2-3 hours of tv with it aswell. Part of the reason the government gave them the panels is to preserve their way of life a little. if they didnt have the amenity of electricity they would probably leave. had a small treck down the mountain to the elephant camp. we rode the elephants for about an hour (which was good as they look after them alot better than in vietnam. they allow them to breed etc. which is good.) and then we went white water rafting. The rafting was really good, we hit a few sweet rapids which hopped the boat all over the place and yeah it was really good. Then we went bamboo rafting which was boring, as we just floated down stream. anyway after that we wen thome and mended our wounds, put in a load of stuff to be washed and went to an irish pub for dinner. Honeslty we couldnt have eaten another bowl of noodles or rice. Anyway me appetite came bath in ful force last night as i ate a whole rack of bbq spare ribs, a beef and guiness pie and chips to start. I must have looked like a real pig. Anyway it was lovely.
Other than that Nothing really more to say. Remember you can catch Lauras blog on www.travelblog.org/bloggers/larros. And please leave me some comments as they are always appreicated.
over and out
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AL
non-member comment
Predator!
Ror, Still having a great time there I see! Can just imagine you stalking through the jungle ala Schwartzennegar! All finished up here, had finals yesterday. Got shafted on my job offer, suggested that I go work for Buro-Happold as an access consultant! Bastards!. Anyway, BBQ at the bartlett tonight, remember what happened to me last year? ;) Keep the blogs coming. Always like reading them Best ALN