Not so much a Trek, as a hike...
So We DID catch the last night of
festivities from the full moon Festival in Chang Mai. So
flippin cool. There were tons of people out celebrating with fireworks and setting out those boat things into the river. I guess by doing that you absolve yourself from worries and bad things. I set one in the river, yeah, so I got that going for me (
daluna dalung gunga, Hey Lama!).
We hung out with this guy we met from New Castle that night, he was
also coming on the first night of our 'trek' with us.
Matt-he will be visiting SF in March :). Everyone was letting off the
hot air balloon things and craziness everywhere. So we went out had some fun then headed home to get sleep for the big trek..
So we headed out and had 14
people in our group. All really nice. A couple from Australia, A couple from England-Jenny and Andy, Finnish couple, German couple, a guy from LA (weirdo), Italian guy, A guy from Mexico City, Matt, me and Dan. We started out on our bamboo raft ride. It was awesome, there I was hip deep, sitting on the raft with a guy leading, Dan steering, and a couple more guys floating down the river. We got to one point on the river where the was a bit of a rapid, we went for it. I almost feel off, the dude behind me fell foward, cracked his eye open , and Dan and Matt almost fell off as well!Then, we got stuck in between rocks! The guide did a little rocky rock back and forth, then we were free. Ends up we were the ONLY ones who stayed on at that point, everyone else got off , and walked around it! Wimps! We got a picture talken, but it is a photo, so you no see. So, we walked for a while longer than
got to a beautiful waterfall, which you could under and walk right through!
(mark that off my list of things to do) So after that on to our home for the night. We
didn't really stay with 'a hill tribe' per say. Yes the live on a hill, and I guess could be considered a 'tribe'. but whatever. We all slept in a dorm style hut. We had a delicious dinner made by our wonderful guide Tu, and ate family style, on the floor of a open air hut-overlooking the valleys below. Very cool. Than we had many a Chang beer, some rum, and a little local
tobacco-literally-wrapped in a banana leaf and all....:) Than set in for a cold sleep for the night.
Day 2
We all got up a little stiff and cold from the night. We separated into our groups and the one nighters headed back down to do an 'elephant trek' and we headed on up the mountain. We hiked for about 2 hours ( i thought my heart would explode at one point, and my lungs implode-thanks Marlboro!) Than stopped for lunch at a 'village' and rested for a bit. Than onward to our next camp. It was located next to a rice paddy on a hillside, just steps from another waterfall, which we all gladly (even Dan) too a wash in and headed back to the camp fire for another night of rum, Chang and tabacy. So clear! We saw so many stars. Call me an idiot, but I wasn't sure Id be able to the Orion, Cassiopeia etc here, but I could, and it made me happy.
Day 3
Up again early, breaky than off for our trip down the mountain. we cruised until we got to a swimming hole. There we jumped in and to our surprise there was a little waterfall/rapid/waterslide. A few people went down. Than Dan. And hell, even though I was scared, me too. Holy crap talk about a nose douche! I got stuck under the water for a minute, and got pretty scared. But i made it out alive and when i came up Dan and another guy were coming over to get me. But I made it, and it was really fun. But I was done after that :) So we headed onward still, to the infamous 'Elephant trek'...So, let me tell you, had to be the saddest experience ever. They were all scared up, had chains on them and looked just sad. I know I'm smiling in these pictures, but only because that's what they train us to do from a young age-camera=smile. The only cool part of this loop around the park, while the guide hits and yells at these poor beautiful creatures was that you could buy bags of bamboo and banana's and feed them. That was kinda cool. At least you could do for the poor guys..
SO once home we headed to the showers, than to the night market for some shopping, a thai massage (10$ for and hour with tip) than sleepy on another hard mattress. Nothing but good times..
Matt-he will be visiting SF in March :). Everyone was letting off the hot air balloon things and craziness everywhere. So we went out had some fun then headed home to get sleep for the big trek..
2 comments:
maybe you could kiss an elephant for me...that would be super!
LOVING the shout out to Caddyshack! NICE TOUCH!
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