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Published: February 7th 2009
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Jungle trek
Rice fields Wednesday, February 4th, 2009 We headed into the hills 90mins drive from Chiang Mai for a three day trek in the jungle to meet the hill tribes, do bamboo rafting and ride an Indian elephant! The rafting was great. The "pilot" stood at the front steering with a bamboo pole while we stood or sat along the length of the raft.
We then hiked up the hills into the jungle. It was quite a climb. One of the french girls was sick so Talita encouraged a slower pace with more rests since the guide up front didn't understand anything about a good pace for sustained climbing.
Camp was right next to a gorgeous waterfall and we all went in for a "shower" in the freezing water. The hut is open at both ends and has a roof made from big leaves. The guide offered Ferdi some cobra soup. It tasted like fish. We had a couple of beers and a good chat around the fire. The french girls could understand very little english (which left them on the outskirts of the group) so Talita went out of her way to include them. Very nice of her! We slept on a raised
Jungle trek
Break at a stream platform with grass mats as a "mattress". It got freezing cold during the night and the grass mats was really hard. Ofcourse we had left our self-inflating mattresses at the hotel with the rest of our luggage so we had another hard night ahead of us!
Today's highlights:
1. Bamboo rafting down a jungle river
2. Showering beneath the waterfall
3. Sitting around the fire with good company
Thursday, February 5th, 2009 In the morning we had to say goodbye to Mike and the 3 french girls. They only did the 2 day trek so they had to go back. We also discovered that the resident rat chowed through a part of our vanity bag during the night (probably after some of Talita's cream). We had a good hike and a great lunch break. We then proceeded to a hill tribe village where we would spend the night. We had a great dinner (spicy fried pumpkin & tofu) and sat around the fire where the children came to sing songs for small coins. When we got to bed we realized that someone had rifled through our bags and that some money was missing. It wasn't a lot, just
enough so we couldn't pay for the beer we consumed that night. Bummer!
Today's highlights:
1. Talita enjoyed great coffee from a bamboo cup
2. Visited a village school with about 5 kids
3. Staying in a small villiage filled with kids, cats, dogs, pigs and chickens
Friday, February 6th, 2009 While we were having coffee and tea this morning the villagers slaughtered a very small chicken. There was hardly any meat on it! They also knew nothing about the missing money. Go figure! Someone also went through Siubhan's bag. There was also money missing from their wallet but they weren't sure how much. The theft left us with a bit of a yucky feeling. We left the village and had a nice cold swim in a pool.
At the end of the hike we got to ride an Indian elephant called Seabreeze through the jungle. It's a seriously bumpy ride and Talita was permanently on the verge of falling off! Seabreeze kept blowing dust up at us and as we crossed the river he gave us a free shower!
We headed back to Chiang Mai for a real shower followed by some laundry. Boooooring! We were both
very tired and looked forward to having a good sleep on our soft bed! In the evening we went to the Chiang Mai Flower Festival, got some pizza, saw hundreds of gorgeous flowers and amazing bonsai trees. We found some strawberries dipped in what looked like sugar but had a strange spicy bite to it. The pizza made us hungry so we left the main strip and found a quaint café in a small side street where we got some beer and food.
Today's highlights:
1. Indian elephant adventure ride in the jungle
2. Hot shower back at the hotel
3. Bonsai display at the flower show
4. Quaint roadside café with Chang Beer special
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alex
non-member comment
Hi
Hi Ferdi and Talita Your journey so far looks great, something I am sure you have always dreamed of. Have any of the tribes which you have shared meals with etc eaten dog - seriously - my cousin has been working in South Korea for Siemens and he was saying that they sell dog meat like our butchers would sell normal meat. Enjoy and ciao Alex