Jungle Trek Day 1

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We got picked up at around 9:30 and brought to the main office to drop off our bags. It seemed we were the first ones to get picked up and we had the best bartering skills because the guide told us not to tell anyone how much we paid "they pay more price." We jumped in the back of the pickup truck expecting to pick up a couple more people (they sit about 8 people semi comfortably). Turns out after we dropped off our big bags we would be travelling with 11 people and the drive was over an hour. It was steaming hot and we were squished in the back of a pickup with a canopy so needless to say it was not fun.

When we got to the start of the trek we had a quick meal and then set off. We had asked for the more strenuous and remote trek. Well when we saw 3 older people wiu walking poles and two others who were smoking and out of shape we knew we were going to be out of luck at least for he strenuous part. Our guide was pretty funny and had some quirky sayings "oh my bhudda" and "James bond tomorrow never dies (for James)" were his two most used I think. We ended up walking for only a couple of hours at a "leisurely" pace. There was no wildlife and the trail we used was really well trodden. Hopefully the village that night would be nice.

Well it turned out to be nice, ... Nice a modern. Most of the villagers were driving brand new trucks and we were only about 15 minute drive from the town where we started the trek 😞. We spent some of he nght around a fire with some locals and our guide and then crashed for he night. We slept on
pallets on a big bamboo hut.

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