Three Day Treck Chiang Mai


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Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang Mai
December 17th 2012
Published: December 17th 2012
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Were back from our three day treck 😊 it was amazing!! Before I start though, I forgot to mention that on that day we got mopeds and rode up the mountain, we stopped off at a really nice waterfall and while we were there we noticed a little shop with bowls of insects on the table top. So decided it would be a good idea to try some!.. BLURGH!

I tried one that looked like a thin widgety grupb which I thought looked quite cripsy and nice but when I bit into it the taste was revolting and it was all liquidy inside and I was nearly sick! Sean had a mini grasshopper which didnt seem so bad because he said it just tasted dry and dusty and our friend JOsh tried a HUGE cockroach but only managed to bite it in half and spit it out because it was too big. YUCK! Wont be doing that again!

Anyway.. back to the treck!

So we got picked up at half 9 and 14 of us were packed into this tuk tuk/van that should only really have probably carried about 8 comfortably! Luckily Sean and I got in the front which wasnt so packed but we still had to share a seat between us which wasnt very comfy. Anyway we arrived a couple of hours at an Elephant park where we had some lunch and then had an hour Elephant treck through some extremely steep jungle tracks and through the forests. At one point an elephant from a nearby field that was with a baby came charging out over to us with the baby and one of the Elephant keepers had to jump off of the elephants we were on to the other elephants back to try and take control of it! I was so scared as we were right by a massive steep cliff and if it had bumped into the Elephant we were on we would have fallen over the edge! Luckily it all calmed down tough and we carried on with the treck. Before we got on them we all bought a massive bunch of bananas fro 20baht each and were able to field the elephants as they went around on the walk. Ours was so greedy he would stop and raise his trunk back over his head over and over again for more bananas haha. The only thing I didnt like was that we wernt sitting directly on the Elephants heads, we were on benches across their backs which wasnt so good. I wanted to go to another Elephant park where its more of a rescue center but its sooo expensive but its all to do with the elephants and you get to wash them and climb them and spend the whole day there. It was still amazing to be so close to such a huuuge friendly giant though.

After than we had a 'two' hour treck to our camp where we would have dinner and spend the night. When we first read the itinerary I imagined it would be quite tame.. as it never mentioned that you would need a certiajn level of fitness to even make it to the first camp. OH MY GOD was I wrong. The two hour treck turned out to be 3 and a half hours ALL UP HILL. But when I say hills I mean more like vertical mountains! And to make things even harder the two guides we had were pretty much sprinting through the jungle and I was leading the way of our group trying to keep up with the guide, it was crazy. Not only that, some of the paths were about a foot wide with vertical drops into forest and god knows what sorts of animals and spiders. At one point we were walking up a really steep bit for about half an hour just going round and around the mountain, and on the left were hundreds of MASSIVE spider webs with huge spiders on all of the webs. It was a bit creepy but made the climb a bit more interesting. We arrived at a little village and had a rest where there was an amazing view and the cutest little puppies ever so I had fun just playing with them for a while. Then it was another 20 or so minutes to our Hill Tribe Village called 'Lahu Village' where we stayed for the night.

As soon as we arrived all the local little children came running over saying hello and shaking all of our hands, they were so sweet. We were told the phrase to say hello, which also means thankyou, goodbye and sorry :S That could get quite confusing! haha. Then we were shown the place where we would be staying for the night. It was a little hut made out of bamboo right on the edge of the hill side with the most incredible views out over the mountains around. We setlled in and a few of us had a little explore and then the sun went down and we had a nice big meal. The stars were soo bright and you could see millions as we were in the middle of nowere with no pollution to ruin the sky. We were out there for ages just looking at them. A fire was lit and a few people attempted to play the guitar but werent very good so that was short lived. After the long day I had no idea what the time was as it gets dark so early and there was no electricity but I was already so tired and it turned out to be 8pm!! Amazing what a difference having lights on around you makes. Went to bed soon after and had the worst nights sleep ever as a coupld of french guys stayed up until 2 gettng really drunk and being sooo loud.

Next day we had pretty much a full day of trecking with visiting 3 waterfalls inbetween, but it was much easier as we were going downhill most of the way as there was nowhere to go uphill anyfurther. Jumped in a waterfall and had a yummy lunch at another and when we got to the last waterfall we notices a little tiny 'shop' with a 7 eleven sign hand written on a bit of card above the table ahaha. It was ridiculous. Definitely the most remote 7 eleven in the whole of Thailand! Bought a couple of snickers to restore energy supplies and then continued our treck to our next camp for the night. This was one also amazing. Another bamboo hut right by the river. We had dinner and they started a big camp fire and I made friends with the two resident cats who literally wouldnt leave me alone the whole time we were there. At one point both of them climbed onto my lap together for a cuddle!! Had another quite early night as it was picth black and again there was no electricity, just a couple of candles on the table. In the middle of the night one of the cats managed to climb under
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most specific discount sign ever!! haha
our mosquito net and get under my duvet with me!!! Just what Toby used to do 😊 So I let her stay there as it was freeezing at night! Had to have my whole head under the cover both nights as it would get so cold.

In the morning I found out that after we had gone to bed there had been a snake that got into the camp and both the guides started freaking out and one of them grabbed a massive plank of wood and beat it to death. Afterwards everyone had asked what it was and he said it was a 'poisonous jumping snake.. very dangerous' :O scary! Glad I hadnt been awake for that I would have been awake all night! There was also a massive spider right outside our net which had got into someone elses net and they had killed it. Yuuck! Luckily all that got into ours was a cute little cat 😊

Today we had a short treck to further down the river where we did white water rafting and bamboo rafting which was really fun and then had lunch and got a lift back to Chiang Mai. It was such a good trip, and amazing value for money! The whole thing cost us 1500 baht which is 30 pounds! We came back to where we booked it, collected our big bags we left in their storage room and checked into a cheap hostel across the road. The whole time we were away on the treck, us and another English guy were talking about what food we would love right now and just day dreaming about food in general so tonight we are going to treat ourselves to a massive english meal :D CANT WAIT! Going to get an earlyish night as tomorrow we are catching a bus at 7.30 to a place called Pai which is further up north and apparently really nice. Will spend a couple of days there and then were heading down to Bangkok to meet Zoe!


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the bugs we ate yuckkyyyyy


18th December 2012

Great photos! Love the one of you sitting on the Elephant holding the biggest bunch of Green bananas ever! Very random ha ha ha ha
19th December 2012

Elephant ride
I know they were so heavy and I had to have them on my knee because I couldnt hold them as we had no bar to stop us falling off of the elephant so I was gripping on and they have bruised my legs haha

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