Chiang Mai Day Trek

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The elephant ride was slow and bumpy. We got roped in to buying bunches of bananas to feed our elephant....it's the only way we could get it to move! It would raise its stinky trunk up over its head to where we were perched and blow air on us 'till we bought another bunch. They can eat around 250kg of bananas a day, so we had no fear of over feeding it.
We drove further into the mountains to a small Karan Hill Tribe Village. An old woman sat weaving, her teeth blackened from chewing beetle nut. Little chickens roamed free and a giant fat pig slept in the shade.

We walked from here over the ridge, across bamboo bridges and stony creeks and further into the jungle.

Eventually we came across a huge waterfall which was rather brown at the bottom so we chose not to dive in to the murky depths.

We walked further until we reached another village of a different tribe. Not too sure about the authenticity of this one however, the village was mostly empty and the people that were there had thrown the original dress over top of some western clothing..... A bit of a show for the tourists me thinks!

Lunch was served luke-warm just to get those bacteria really humming along, none the less we scoffed it down as we were all starving from the trek.

The highlight of the day was the bamboo rafting. Perched aboard a few sticks of bamboo strapped together, we spent good hour peacefully floating, crashing, bumping and weaving down the shallow brown river. Past elephants and their babies bathing and little homes perched over the water.
Craig was our pole-man aft of the raft, I'm not sure if he really helped or was just there for show, he seems to think he did a pretty good job. I think he did well not to fall in, unlike the other group with us.
At one point Craig was asked to sit down, just before we flew over a waterfall...the whole raft submerged a foot below the water with us madly clinging to what we could. I laughed out loud, loving every moment.

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Photos

Mmmmm, Cold lunch!
Surprisingly delicious...or maybe we were just starving.