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Published: August 28th 2008
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Today we set off on our 2 days,one night trek which we had booked as an organised tour. We set off in the morning in a back of a truck. In our group were also 2 Dutch guys, 2 German girls and an Argentinian guy with his mother. All of them spoke really good English which was handy and was the language they used when communicating with each other. On the way we stopped at a market where our guide brought the food which we would be eating for the next couple of days.
Our first activity was elephant riding. Dom and I both sat on the same elephant in a seat on its back. Our feet rested on the elephants back which was strange because his skin was very rough and it had quite thick hairs all over it. we had a guy sitting on the elephants head directing him as to where to go which was just as well because our elephant chose to take a slightly different and more difficult route than all of the others through the jungle. We were taken on a circular path which was very much aimed at tourists but we were the
only ones there at the time so it was good. The ride lasted for just under an hour which was long enough because the seats on the back werent very comfortable and it also made you feel quite travel sick because you moved so much with every step they took. The path included several steep ups and downs which were a little hairy! The route finished with a brief section where the elephants walked through a river. Definitely worth doing!
From here on we had some lunch and drove on a bit further to start the trek. We started the trek at a waterfall where we had a quick swim to cool down. The beginning of the trek was very hard as it was quite steeply uphill and the heat was immense! Our guide was very good, he also spoke good English and pointed out various things to us such as a plant which moved when you touched it and a plant which if you snapped the stem and blew through the hole you made bubbles, crazy! We also saw several buffalo, both white and black sparking several broken English chants of Buffalo Soldier! As we were trekking a
spider landed on our guide, he then picked it up by one of its legs and showed it to us. Its was approx 5 inches big, it was black with yellow and blue on its legs and body. It made me cringe!! As someone asked if it was poisonous the spider ejected a yellow liquid and answered our question! From here on in I was very aware of all the bugs and insects! Every spiders web we walked past had an enormous spider on it. Everytime you walked through a web and you felt the web on you you just had to cross your fingers that there wasnt an angry spider elsewhere on your body!
Every now and then we though we heard a triclking of water but as you searched around you found no water but an army of ants tightly packed in a long long line about 2 inches wide. Due to the sheer volume of them you could hear actually hear the vibrations as they passed over different leaves etc. The sounds of the jungle were all quite strange, it was never quiet. There were loads of crickets and cicadas all making slightly different sounds.
I was starting to really suffer with the heat after about 1 and half hours but luckily we stopped to have a drink and a rest. We stopped next to a tiered paddy field, just like you see in the pictures, but I was really here! Afterwards we carried on walking up the hill. We reached a truck at the start of a track which had apparently got stuck because of all the rain and they asked us if we could all jump in the back because they needed it to have more weight for more friction and more grip. None of us were convinced that it was going to help but we all jumped in and he started the engine up. Next thing we knew we were being thrown around here there and everywhere in the back of this truck as we pelted at a ridiculous speed up the hillside. There were nine of us in the back and unfortuantely I was near the back so I got thrown around a bit more than Dom and several times nearly went over the side. The guys sat right at the back were hanging on for dear life to make sure
they didnt end up on the ground. It was a very bumpy ride and only once did some of the guys have to jump out to push. It was amazing how we managed make it up some of the steep slopes! The one bonus was that it made our over an hour trek after the break into a short stroll down the hill into the villiage at the end.
We were staying overnight at our guides family house. It was in a small village in the jungle. All ofthe houses were made of wood and corregated iron and were all self sufficient. They were built on stilts into the hillside and underneath is where all the animals were kept. Each family had chickens and boars, all of which appeared to have babies, some of the boars were tiny! Most families also hads a dog and a cat. In the house we were staying in what was a bit like a barn, we had a blanket to sleep on whih was not comfortable and fly sheets over the top. Everything in the house wasmade of wood. The table and chairs were like q picnic bench. the sideof the house was
open and there was a shelf running along it which was where all the kitchen stuff was cooked. They cooked us a huge meal over a fire which was tasty. It rained very hard but it was quite relaxing. We went to bed pretty early because there wasnt much to do once it had got drak. For a while we sat around and tried to guess the song as our guide played his quitar. it wasnt easy because oneof his strings was broken, he only appeared to know one chord which he varied the speed of and he only knew a few words of the songs he chose to sing, it was quite entertaining though!
We were woken up quite early in the morning by the children who were awake at 4am, i guess because they went to bed when it was dark and they got up when it was light. All of the others in our group were doing a three day tour so after breakfast we headed off on another trek. This was better because it was downhill but we had to be very carful as it was slippy from all the rain the night before. On
the way down we met up with another group who were also heading towards the same place as us. Although it was downhill it was still hard work because of the heat and it was even more hummid today. We got to the place where we had lunch. We then wen to the river where we did our rafting on bamboo rafts. Dom wne on the back of the raft and steered us away from the banks while i sat in the middleand got a wet bum! It was good fun and we ended up going quicker than anyone else and overtaking everyone. There were a coupleof mild rapids where we got very wet! On the way down i only saw what i thought was one lizard in the rocks. It was red with blue spots. From here we went back to our truck and headed back to our Guest House in Chiang Mai.
It was a great experience and nice to get away from the towns and see how the villages in the jungle live!
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Dom Rach
Dom and Rachael
Photos and blog
Sorry we are so behind on the blog. We have been writing a diary so we just need to transfer it to the net! We also have loads and loads of photos so hopefully we will upload some soon, keep your comments coming! xx