I'm not a celebrity but ive been to the jungle !!!!!!

---

So off I went backpack stuffed with clean clothes and toilteries for my 2 day 1 night trek in the jungle, there were 12 of us all together - french, dutch, german, slovacian .... and me. 6 of us were lone travellers the rest were in couples. They were all in their late 20's or early 30's except for one guy who was older but didn't really talk to anyone.

Anyway, off we trucked in a big jeep type van on the rockiest road ever. Our first port of call was the local police station to give in photocopies of our pasports, in case we got lost or worse they'd know who to contact !!! After about an hour we got out and suitably applied out suntan cream and insect repelant and started our first treck - at the time I thought it was reasonably difficlult but today I realise it was a stroll in the park ! anyway 1 1/2 hours later we arrived at the waterfalls for our lunch break, we had chicken fried rice then it was off again to our hilltribe village that was to be out home overnight. Along the way we saw huge termite mounds that were about 3ft high, and have zillions of termites inside. Then we came across a terantula den - YES a terantula !!! he didn't appear to be home thank god !!!

After about an hours treking I was flagging and finding the foothold hard, clibing up its knackering but if your coming down a hill its dead scarey as the ground is extreeeemly uneven and slippery, there was a guide at the front and one a the back, and bless him the guy at the back offered to take my backpack for me as he could see I was getting exhaused. It was easier after that and only 30 mis later we arrived at out village.

Its amazing, these refugee villages, in the middle of nowhere, on a mountain ... EXTREEMLY basic to say the least, but it was a great feeling to have reached the village. we were shown our bedroom for the night. It was a hut about 20ft x 15ft up on stilts with the beds about 3ft off the ground, I say beds in the loosest of terms. Basicly it was one wooden floor with mozzie nets over one inch mattereses - so there we were all togehter like brownie / scout camp all 12 of us in the same hut.

I took pics of the toilet and bathroom and I think they can tell more than me describing !!!

Then we walked around the village and saw all the people and children and their various animals - pigs, chickens, cats and dogs oh yes and a rooster that started the whole cock-a-doodle-doo nonsence when it was pitch black still.

Then it was food time = we all ate at a huge table and were served by our guides who cooked the food outside on a very primative stove .... delicious !!

Then just as in the films we sat around the fire and he told us stories about the tribes people and we has a little magic show .... then it was dancing time ....... to be honest everyone was absolutaly exhaused so we had a quick boogie woogie for about 10 mins then went to bed. Our guide was so cold he wore a balaclava to keep warm ............

We all decided to stay smelly and avoid the bathroom, (who could blame us) and crawled into bed ........ there wasn't a door to shut so it was all very open plan !! I had all my clothes on, my sleeping bag and 5 blankets (its goddam freezing at night in the mountains) and slept for about 2 hours I recon ..... what with the cold and being so uncomfortable very few of us slept properly. then the damn cockeral started his squarking which started every other cockerel for miles around !

So up for breakfast - again unwashed but brushed my teeth outside and spat on the ground 😊
we had a great breakfast together with a pig (we named him Barbeque) cats, dogs and chickens all running around the table ........... they all got lots of tit bits so they were very happy.

We then had a 3 and 1/2 hour trek that was EXTREEMLY tough - one hill took over 1 hour to walk up, at a 45 degree angle on really really uneven torain. I found a stick to use which was great - and every so often I'd have a little slip and slide and I'd hear "be carefull Karen" in either a Thai, french, dutch, german or Slovacian accent !!! then we arrived at a waterfall for lunch , we were all starving !! the water in the waterfall was ice cold and I mean ice cold so I just dangled my feet in - eventhough I was boiling hot it was just toooooo cold for me .... and at least half of the group agreed !!!

After our noodles for dinner off we treked again but this time it was for a mere 1 and 1/2 hours with only a couple of little hills ...... bliss 😊 and about 10 mins b4 the end I slipped properly and landed on my backside, obviously no damage there !!!

Then it was our elephant ride .... now as most of you know I didn't want to have a tourist ride using a seat, but it was all part of the trip and I spoke to the guide about how the elephants were treated and they all seemed ok, so anyway I did it and it was really funny. A couple of the elephants were cheeky and going "off road" and the faces on the two guys that were being taken off was a picture !!

My elephant was called Sylvia and she was 50 and a mother of 2. She was gorgeous and behaved impecably for us. Then we went on a bamboo raft river ride - dead funny, you sit on the raft thats about 2 inches underwater before you get on, so your soaking from the offset ..... then we rode down the river and every so often our "raft driver" would shout out "crocodile !!!" and start hitting the waterwith his oar .... soaking us in the process , then the tiniest of rapids (I very nearly fell out, Iuckily was pulled back by french Luke !!!)

Then a ride home on a truck, oh yeah the guide said he had a special seat for me to sit in, it was the front seat ... well I say seat but there was very little cushioning on the seat, it was like sitting on a metal plate, but I was suitably gratefull as he was being so kind ...... all along the trek he kept on checking I was ok.

so .......... I was smelly, hungry and knackered - and wouldn't of missed it for the world .... it was amazing....... really amazing.

its 11.45 pm now and I can hardly see the screen properly , so I'm off to bed now

again thanks for all your messages

love from karen xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

---

Comments

[angecad]

oh karen
so wish i was there with u! u know me i would have laughed my socks off at you slipping down the slippery slopes! u really are having your life experiences lol! see you on Wed (weather permitting) your friend ange xx