Baggins vs Prickley Heat

So we decided to take an extra day to recover from al the partying and travelling from the South - that and this wicked stomach ache I had to deal with the last 2 days. There must of been something on that train because Cathie and Katie (another katie) got these bumps on their hands they had to take antibiotics to get rid of. Another reason to go 1st class to avoid all the peasants and their SARS hens and goats in 3rd class j/k. I am just so glad they gave me their medication for my stomach because I was about to crap out my spleen.

So the day started late and I was convinced to go with them to the silver factory where they showed you how they made silver. I should of known coming from 2 girls that this trip wasn't about seeing the thai ppl and culture b/c it was pretty much a jewelry store. So I get duped into spending 1/2 the damn day shopping basically and katie doesn't even buy anything while anna is drooling over every single piece of jewelry. I end up buying 2 rings go figure, so after a few more stores we decided to head back, well more like I forced them to take me back. I should of trusted my instinct and went with cathy and the other katie instead to the orchid farm but oh well, I did buy two cool rings =)

We went back to SK Guesthouse and I signed up for another 2 nights and 3 day Trek. During the orientation meeting we met who we would be treking with and I wasn't too impressed - it was a much smaller group then my first trek with 15 ppl, this time it was only 6 in total and the 3 were from France. I remember the last french dude, I smoked him in the head and these guys seems pretty snotty.

Another lesson to be taught to me - every durian looks the same but they each taste differently. I was told by a local back in Phi Phi and this was true for my new french friends. Mark, Lucy and Sean were all from France and for the next 3 days they would teach me french and gave me a first hand lesson in the culture of France, which is ironic because it made me want to move to Montreal. I don't know what it is with this trip but it has driven me to think about Montreal alot.

Day 1: We wake up early and gear up for the Trek, there was an accident at the other guesthouse hosting another trek so we inherited a couple from Italy. So now there is 8 of us. the first day of the Trek sucked ass b/c it was basically treking through someones farm and smelling elephant ass all day b/c we had to to trek behind these elephants. I am regretting I signed up for this but hey I am gettign free french lessons...ahh Nick da mere...anyways travelling with the French, I couldn't help thinking about the conversation me and Griff had back in Phi Phi after watching the Beach and how we needed a french girl in our group. French girls have some serious funk happening - I don't know what it is but they know how to dress and that killer accent can send a guy into shock. So I am trying hard not to hit on the French girl too much but it didn't matter b/c her english was so bad, Mark had to be in everyone of our conversation b/c he basicaly was the tranlator. Day 1 of the Trek was lame but it made up for it at night. We got settled in and this time it wasn't the house of ass because everyone wore sandles and no socks thank God.

Day 1: We wake up early and gear up for the Trek, there was an accident at the other guesthouse hosting another trek so we inherited a couple from Italy. So now there is 8 of us. the first day of the Trek sucked ass b/c it was basically treking through someones farm and smelling elephant ass all day b/c we had to to trek behind these elephants. I am regretting I signed up for this but hey I am gettign free french lessons...ahh Nick da mere...anyways travelling with the French, I couldn't help thinking about the conversation me and Griff had back in Phi Phi after watching the Beach and how we needed a french girl in our group. French girls have some serious funk happening - I don't know what it is but they know how to dress and that killer accent can send a guy into shock. So I am trying hard not to hit on the French girl too much but it didn't matter b/c her english was so bad, Mark had to be in everyone of our conversation b/c he basicaly was the tranlator. Day 1 of the Trek was lame but it made up for it at night.

Had a pretty interesting evening b/c it turned out our guide Pinoy was part haka decendant and apparently knew quite abit about hakka culture. I remember my grandma who had passed away was part hakka and I never had a chance to ask her about it and it was great I had someone tell me about it first hand. Apparently they are very superstiteous and the tribe follows a shaman who basically controls the village. And if you had any imperfections at birth, the shaman would kill you...Pinoy told me about old vietnam and the local tribes and thai custom and laws. The night was capped off by the village ppl giving performing a tribal dance for us but that got all weird when one of the local girl toke a liking to me and just stared at me the entire dance. Talk about losing my balls, b/c I felt pretty uncomfortable while everyone else is busting my chops.

I got to know anna better on this trek, she's from australia and quite hardcore - well it was her that asked to try some opium so mark and katie wanted some too. I had to remove myself from the group, I don't need anymore bad habits,that and they didn't have any syringes for me =)

DAY 2.

And thent here was 6 - the two Italians left the group because the signed up for 1 day only.

Everyone woke up late b/c they did opium last night and it was just me and the roosters at 6:30AM. I love these quiet times to myself and my thought is completely clear. I never toke a likening to reading books and one major reason was because I never could concentrate more then 10 minutes without my mind wondering off - i blame it to A.D.D but this trip has really given me some focus. I find I can actaully pick up a book and read it like it was intended without spacing off. Thanks Griff for Mystic River.

Day 2 of the Trek would prove to be a challenge. It's really hot and humid and the first half we trekked without our bags so we are gunning through everything. We got to a waterfall which was just awesome and I decided to jump in and do a Zest fully clean commercial while Katie is filming it with my camera. The French by now think I'm crazy but whatever....

2nd half of the trek the day got hotter and the sun is in full strength. Trying hard not to pass out but what made it even worst was the 2nd half was straight up and down and just for kicks they decided to give us back our backpacks, so now we had an extra 10 lbs. Yeah I know 10 lbs isn't awhole lot but in this humidity you might as well give me a charlie horse and put roller blades on me. It toke a good 1 hour to get use to this new weight but after that I was in a zone - just listening to my own breathing and trying to take a sip of my water bottle on the move without falling off the side of the hill.

I am so glad I stole some bananas off these trees we had passed by earlier b/c my leg would of just cramped up. We finally make it to way point 2, the Hanna village - unlike the first village who believes in spirits sorta like first nation ppl, this village was christian. The 2nd night would prove to suck big camel balls compared to the first village.

I am hanging by a thread, probably because my body has been such a bietch laying on the beach for the past 2 weeks prior and probably didn't help with all the residue buckets in me and coming off some food poisoning.

After some food we didn't have awhole lot to do. No entertainment and no lesson on Haka custom this time around - and better yet no light or how they call it a torch over here. I remember I was such an immigrant the first trek trying to find an actually torch but it was actually a flash light. Anyways we sat around in the dark and talked and got more french lessons until Pinoy thought it was a good idea to hang with the local village ppl and join them in prayer as they prayed for a better harvest. All I can think of is damn i'm going to hell if I step into this make shift church b/c I had stolen a banana off one of the farmers the day before. So I decided against it and we all went back - the night was uneventful as the only interesting thing was trying to avoid this maingie dog that smelled worst then thailand sewer water b/c of some skin disease it had in the dark and of course the dog was black as well so it was like a land mine waiting for some poor sap to just brush up against it and smelled like crap the rest of the night.

Of course, murphy's law, when you think things can't get any worst it will - all the pillows they gave us was so dirty, like it wasn't washed for so many years. I had ran our of clean clothes and had to use my dirty shorts from trekking as a pillow sheet. So it was either that or take my chance with the pillow with years of dead skin cells from other trekers that had used the same pillow. Even then I can still smell the pillow so I toke it up another level and toke my wet towel, so great, now I am putting my head on some wet dirty trekking shorts that smells abit like ass with dead skin cells. Ah course the night wasn't complete without a wedding celebration near by and get this, they are playing techno and pretty crappy techno too. It brought me back to the times when I lived on top of Club Elite in gas town and just to add insult to injury these dogs are fighting with each other all night. I am about to lose it and kill Charles who is next to me that kept sighing every 10 minutes. Oh Charles is Sean but I called him Sean to piss him off b/c he thinks my pronounciation sucks when I say charles...

Well the next day everyone is one huge box of krusty doughut. I guess I have to back up the story abit b/c this leads to my next great experience in this village of hell....I wake up super early as usual and thought ah this is great I get to enjoy the morning to myself. This was great up until I had the 6th sense I am being watched. It turned out, these old ladies are peeking through these holes in the fence waiting for everyoen to wake up so they can sell us stuff. Okay I am getting creeped out...i am tryign to read mystic river but about to go crazy b/c I know I am beign watched. Finally the rest of the krusty doughnuts wake up and we had some breakfast, but just to add to the entertainment about 8 tribal ladies came out of no where and started setting shop around our table. I am blown away b/c we are trying to have breakfast and it turned out that lady who have been staring at me through the peep hole was probably just a bloody scout and now the army is in full force. It was pretty hard havign breakfast b/c literally we were completely surrounded by them trying to sell us tribal jewelry. I am joking to the rest of the group, okay we stay together and fight by two's. It was chaos, I don't even know if i even ate anything for breakfast b/c I feel like i'm tweaking out from a bad trip.

So we finally leave the house of hell and the rest of the trip seemed alot better now that I am not part of the X-file/Freddy experience.

Final leg of the trip: Bamboo war rafting.

So this simple rafting trip down the stream turned into an all out war between 5 rafts. I had to admit it was pretty fun getting all the aggression out...we didn't even try to enjoy the scenerio as we played pirate and I jumped from raft to raft causing so much shyte. Pushing and dueling with everyone - after all that is said and done, we got 2 place due to the fact our skipper who is only 14 was jsut awesome...i heckled everyone down the stream yelling out that's right, 1st round draft pick baby!!! pointing to our young superstar guiding us down the river. You would of been proud Griffen, our little Iggy. The stupid french toke 1st just b/c they stole one of our bamboo poles so we were pretty handicapped but I did manage to tackle sean and suplexed him into the water. I take that anyday.....

Well I got more to write but katie is rushing me over here to get off....I'll end off this email as the trek was fun and interesting.

Next Post: Back into Chang Mai and some kickboxing.......