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Published: February 24th 2006
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And so it begins
The start of our first 3 hour jungle trek Hey you guys,
Got back from Trekking in the Jungle yesterday, it was absolutely awesome. We booked it through our hostel and set off on the morning of 17th February and stayed the night in the Jungle on 17th and 18th, before coming back to the hostel at 5pm on the 19th.
There were 10 of us on the trek, aswell as our guide and another guy that helped navigate us. Our group was a mixed bunch of various nationalities: Me, Will and Jonny (England), Matt and Sheridan (Australia), Astrid and Evelyn (Holland), Alexandra (Germany), Jonathan and Sandra (Sweden). We were all between the ages of 20-25 so we had a lot in common, everyone was really interested about how life was like in each of our countries. Our guide was called "Dang" and he comes from one of the Hill Tribes that live in the Jungle.
We were driven in an open-air Truck typed mobile to the Jungle which was about two hours away from Chiang Mai. As soon as we arrived at the first village all of the villagers started trying to flog us various souvenirs- they may be primitive but they have enough business nouse
General Nice View
We were getting pretty high up in the hills by this point to spot a "rich" tourist when they see one! After a look through the village we set off for the hills and began the arduous 3 hour trek to our camp (The scenery was pretty breathtaking but when your carrying a backpack in the baking sun it can sometimes be taken for granted) We had plenty of breaks along the way though so it was OK, everyone was loving my electric fan/torch combo that i bought for about 2quid in England! Much of the walking we were doing was uphill and he guide was absolutely essential for navigating us, some of the drops could've been a bit scary otherwise!
After 3 hours of stop-start trekking we eventually came out of the jungle terrain into a wide open space which turned out to be our camp for the night (Basically a large wooden hut with room for us to sleep in) There was a beautiful stream running along side it which we were all able to wash in (Very important!) There were a few people who lived at the camp and they helped Dang prepare our dinner (Rice, Vegetables, Pork). There was no electricity so when it got dark we
Base camp for the first night
The bamboo in the water is used to filter all of the muck out of it so it's clean enough to wash in. got a great campfire going and were all just chatting until around midnight, the skys were so clear that you could see all the stars- it was a good night.
The sleeping was quite broken up but everybody seemed to sleep relatively ok (The cockerel seemed to be going of every five miutes from about 5 in the morning!). The night was really cold actually, fortunately we were advised to bring a jumper.
Day two started with breakfast of toast and jam- Woo hoo, i couldn't be bothered with much more rice. We then went riding on Elephants for about 1.5 hours, that was brilliant- Two people to an elephant and we took turns between sitting on the seat on the elephants back and actually just riding "bareback" (Take note Cookmeister!) The elephants skin is so hard and coarse. Me and Will's elephant was crazy, it kept going off course to rip great bits of shoots off the bamboo trees, which are everywhere. After the elephant ride we had a small trek on foot until we eventually reached a waterfall, which looked so appealing in the heat. We all mucked around in the water for a while before
Chilled out elephant
Our elephant was at the front and kept stopping and ripping out massive branches from bamboo trees and spraying water. continuing our trek until we found another small stream where we stopped for lunch. Lunch was a bit special, we had noodle soup, which doesn't sound speicial but the way it was made was pretty unorthadox. Dang made a fire and used hollow bamboo shoots stuffed with banana leaves, water and noodles to cook the soup. We ate the soup out of bowls made from bamboo- It was really nice, especially with the chili powder. It must have took about an hour for the food to be prepared but it was worth the wait.
We trekked for another couple of hours before we reached the village where we stopped for the night. The trekking on day 2 was so good, because there wasn't so many open-air parts to it where we felt the full force of the sun. It really did feel like we were in deepest jungle (probably because we were?!?). The village where we were sleeping had a population of around 250. Apparently this hill tribe were mainly Christian and had only lived there for around 50 years. The night we were there was relatively quiet because a lot of the youngsters were at some religious ceremony
Elephant riding
View from on top of our elephant. out of the village. There were chickens and various livestock running amok all over the lace, it was so chaotic. The shower was fenced off but everyone could see your head while you were showering. It is notable that this village, although primtive, did have solar powered electricity and some huts even had satellite dishes?!?!?!? We were treated really well and they made us a nice dinner of rice, potatoes, vegetables, pineapples, chicken.
The night time saw the villagers perform a dance for us around the fire, perhaps it was traditional but it just looked like they were about a step away from doing the hokey cokey to me. Had some really good chats that night with the Swedish couple, i thought they were mid-20s but they tutned out to be 20 and 21?! Imagine my shock when at about 10pm i started hearing a familiar sound coming from one of the huts in the disance.... I couldn't believe it, they were watchng Liverpool vs Man Utd in the flaming jungle?!? I thought it would be a bit cheeky walking into some villagers house to watch the game so i resisted the temptation-I found out that we won though
Don't go chasing Waterfalls
Approcahing the waterfall where we showered after the elephant ride from Dang the next day though.
That night had the roosters going absolutely mental the whole time, managed to get a bit of sleep though. The final day was prety laid back, a small trek followed by some bamboo rafting down a lazy river- its a hard life! We did bump into a German Missionary in the village who had been visiting the hill tribes fr 30 years, teaching them about Christianity and such like. We got the truck back to Chiang Mai for about 5pm, we all felt so scratty (Jonny loved it!) from the lack of a proper shower, trekking in the heat, through all the trees it was good to get back to the hostel and have a proper shower and a change of clothes.
That night me Will and Jonny explored the Sunday Market in Chiang Mai, it was massive and had all sorts of good stuff to buy, i couldn't be bothered carrying it for the next 8 months though. Went out that night till bout 7am the next morning-I love Chiang Mai! (Spotted the Sweedish couple in some random bar at 5am- they were talking to a ladyboy!?!?!)
Overall the trek
Dang preparing lunch
Making noodle soup mid-jungle was definitely the highlight of the trip so far, especially day 2 with the Elephants and Waterfall. We met some really cool people aswell, we might bump into Astrid, Evelyn, Sandra and Jonathan in Laos and we'l defo get in touch with Matt and Sheridan when we get to Melbourne (Where they live). All in all life is still sweet. we'r probably getting a bus into Laos tomorrow. Take care
Mike
PS Saw Alan Davies of Jonathan Creek Fame at the market in Chiang Mai-Tried to prompt him into some banter but i just got an "alright"- 1st celeb spotted!
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Catherine Smith
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Work, Work and more Work
Sounds pretty amazing Mike. Hope you didn't see any of the nasty things in the jungle....I certainly would have thought twice about going. I suppose when you come back home, it will be rice and noodles with everything from now on eh? We were wondering if you'd heard the Liverpool score, but I am surprised you didn't gate crash and get to watch it live, that must have taken a lot of doing. Enjoy yourselves in Laos. Speak to you soon. Love Mam