Jungle Trekking

We leave Chang Mai and head to a wee local random market full of random stuff like pigs heads and an elephant dandering about. Quite surreal. Off to the elephant camp for an hours stroll. I share an elephant with Peaches (the man formally known as Pierce - renamed by Doh). Theres a digger near where we are and 3 of the beasts start to growl, seems as if they were going to charge the digger, with the only loser in all this being us!! The guides slap the elephants pretty hard to stop them. We got to sit on their head, class! We go on to some caves for some lunch. There's thousands of bats and all I can think about is Fear and Loathing all the way!! we're dropped off and Phil's left his shoes sitting at the guest house so he's to struggle on in his sandles - Doh! We walk through the Paddy fields for an hour by which time I've sweated about 3 pints. An hour or so later we arrive in the tiny village for the night and its not even 5 mins before the locals (Karen tribe) are up trying to punt us stuff. The hut is class, totally made of bamboo, with a hose pipe for a shower and a hole in the ground for a bog. They have some cold Chang ready for us. I have a few and off to bed. The lads polish off 48 beer by which tmie one of the villagers is up to complain about the noise....not good!!

Day 2

I'm awake before dawn with the cockrils making loads of noise and the villages powdering the rice for the day - loud as!! We spend an hour in one of the locals houses and watchnig the rice getting pounded. We start the trek and Emmet is throwing up every half hour. Sarah's exams results are out today and there's no mobile signal for a day or two yet - poor girl. Peaches is still officially meant to be at work and he can't ring them either. Doh tells the German girls the bad news from the footy, so spirits aren't sky high. We trek on for 3 hours. Phil is in front by himself so he sits and calls the monkeys and waits for the call back - "Tuk tuk 50 baht" he was sayin with the reply "Your out of yer tree!!" We all catch up and Doh starts digging at a hole, out comes a tarantula and he's pissing it off so the fangs come out. Mad man. We stop for lunch and the girls have been getting attacked by leeches!! Off again for another 2 hours to the next camp and into the river for some swimming - no leeches here though!! Didn't want a Stand By Me incident!! This time the camp isn't anywhere near a village, thew must have learned from the night before. We join Doh and his mates in the kitchen hut and Phil is probing for a smkoe of the "local tabacco" but Doh is having none of it!!

Day 3

Doh and the boys are up early to make some bamboo rafts - 30 mins a raft isn't bad!! Me, Phil, Sarah, Adele and Doh are on one raft. 5 mins in and we're one raft down - Peaches, Jenny, Chantelle and Janina get stuck. The raft nearly breaks and they're almost swept away. Must have been the highlight for me - felt like Indiana Jones! We walk a bit and get picked up to go to Doi Inthanon National Park. We're meant to go to the top but the clouds mean we can't see squat!! We stop at Mae Klang waterfall - 750m high which puts Gleno's to shame Ryan. We're back to the guest house not before Doh sleeps on my shoulder on the way back!!

Sarah gets her results, just missin a first, so we're all on the rampage tonight. Theres a couple of raggae bars nearby and some stupid falang (white foriegner) tries his hand and quickly dies on his arse. The singer is trying to get rid of him with not much luck, he can't take a hint. The next song the band plays is "I shot the sherrif" which is promptly changed to "I shot the tourist." Time to move. Next bar was meant to have closed but they have a hiden bar just incase the police come round!! Everyone is wrecked by 3.30 so we roll home with Adele falling asleep on the street, Phil passing out and Sarah trying to lock me in a cupboard. Its like being back in student halls all over!!

Update again in a couple of weeks folks. Heading to Laos soon

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