Treking away

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I recently got back from a trek into the hills surrounding Chaing Mai. It was a 3-day, 2 night adventure. It was a lot of fun! The whole group really bonded together, and we had a great time!

It was a bit wierd in that I was the oldest person on the tour. I suppose as I get on in years, that experience will happen more and more.

In any case, I'll get a full description of the events soon. For now, I'll just upload some photos.

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Photos

Tougher than it looks!
These kids were an absolute blast! Some of the people in the group had the foresight to bring toys. Pictured here, we see the Kiwi(ess) Amy helping a youngin' blow up a ballon. This kid was the super-star salesman. The group of us began his college tution fund by buying a load of bracelets and necklaces.

Free Falling
Here is Nick (the other half of the Kiwi equation) in mid flight.

Tougher than it looks! (Part II)
Here Caroline searches her soul to see if she can bring herself to leap from the rock that the rest of us did. She didn't succomb to peer presure in the end, and decided that humans were not meant to fly.

Quite contemplation
Elizabeth sits and ponders the nature of realtiy. Or maybe she is thinking about that mystical Israeli boy that she met on the bus ride up to Chaing Mai. Who knows? In any case, I liked the shot. The water is actually only about a foot under her.

Our fearless leader
This is Com (you know, like the internet. www.com). This guy was amazing. Always had a smile, and a thing or two to say about whatever plant we happened to see. He is originally from Burma, was once a monk (but decided that he wanted "boom-boom" again, so he became a teacher. Of Buddhist teachings. To prisoners. Now he is a tour guide. Seems like an obvious career path to me.

More kids, more ballons
The ballons were a big hit! I think one of the highlights of the trip so far was when we all played "don't let the ballon hit the ground" with the whole village of kids. At one point, I was playing 5 simultaneous games with 5 different kids.

Some of the 14
Here is the group of us eating a fabulous Sweet & Sour dish that Com whipped up for us.

Not just a walk through the park
We were doing some pretty hard-core walking here. I am always amazed at the lack of waivers that I have to sign for doing these kinds of things.

American Idol - Thai Style
Part of the Festivities for Chinese New Year. A bunch of kid in some sort of contest. As English-only speakers, we have no idea what the contest is about, or what the criteria is for judging. However, we do know that these are the finalists. The winners ended up with a gift-certificate for about $100 to some kind of shop. I figured it was either for a mechanic or a toy-shop. Probably the mechanic - why would kids go to a toy shop?

No way!
I couldn't believe these guys... More Chinese new year fun!

Comments

[anonymous]

What beautiful essence you have captured in the picturess...
Like your lunch photo. You seems to be having the time of your life, eating your lunch with your hands and in the nature. :D Though my favourite is "salesman hard at work". My heart nearly broke when i saw that picture. And thank you for teaching me a good point. That is to bring some packets of balloons for the kids if going to poverty-stricken country. - amy aka bettyboo

[anonymous]

Chiang Mai
Did you spend time in the underground night market? There are some wonderful artists there every night. - Dona, your mom's neighbor