When we got to chaing mai, we found it very difficult to keep our money in our pockets! Everything is just spend spend! On the second day Dan did a cooking course which sounded great! And also means lots of lovely Thai curries for me when we start to cook for ourselves again!
We met two really nice people in our hostel called Claire and Ed who were doing a 3 day hill tribe trek the next day so we decided to tag along, we spent that evening getting to know them, shopping for supplies and eating pancakes of course! Claire and Ed had been traveling in India and Nepal and had done a 12 day trek to base camp on Everest, as you can imagine I was nervous about my abilities!
The next day we set off and picked up our fellow trekkers there was 11 of us. Me Dan, Claire, Ed, Emily, Jamie-Lee, Mat, Rodney, Jane, Justin, Anton and of course our legend of a tour guide......Woody! We all got along very well cramped into the back of a little taxi! We stopped at a market on the way to the jungle to get supplies and necessities like pretty fabric water containers! Some of us fell for it but me and Dan stayed strong and resisted the urge!
We arrived at an elephant camp at around mid day and enjoyed our first part of the trip, an hour long elephant ride across steep, muddy terrain. Then we went on on foot up the mountain which in all honesty was the hardest thing I have done! Everyone was so fit and fast and left me behind, I really thought that I would give up but Dan kept me going. When we got to the top everybody was really supportive and impressed when they found out about my hip!
We were going to be sleeping at the red Laho tribe village, Woody taught us to say “a boy jah” for hello and thank you, the tribe migrated from Burma and don’t have Thailand visas so don’t really belong anywhere. They used to survive by selling opium but the king came and cut down all their crops so the result to giving travelers massages and selling hand made trinkets. It seems like a nice way of life and the village is well made. Our hut was just to the side of the village and we could see the opposing black laho tribe across the other side of the mountain. A few of us went to see the sun set which was so beautiful (see the photos) while Woody cooked dinner by candle light. He is a great cook and kept us all well fed!
We spent the evening sat round the fire playing games and solving Woody’s endless magic tricks and puzzles. One of the tribe men joined us but didn’t say a word just sat there smoking opium with a big smile on his face!
The next day it was all down hill which was better then up hill but still challenging and everyone’s legs hurt by the end of it. We went to two beautiful waterfalls for a swim and met a cute little tribal girl who was fascinated by our digital cameras and sunglasses. It was a real reality check. On the last stretch it got really slippery and me, Anton and Woody fell in the river. We then trekked down to our camp which was looked after by two tribe women who didn’t speak a word the whole time but cooked us dinner, served us drinks and snacks and kept the fire going all night. We all sat round and go very drunk telling jokes, drinking games and listening to Rodney’s legendary stories. It was a really great night!
After, not much sleep we got up and set off for the rafting centre which was just down the valley a little way. We walked out of the dense jungle into an opening where there were cows grazing and the tallest trees I had ever seen! We spent about an hour white water rafting which was so much fun but not too hard going so we all decided to jump out and float for a bit. We got back in just in time for a real level 3 experience! After this the river settled and we were tolled to get onto bamboo rafts and float the rest of the way. We all we stood balancing on these 5 men rafts trying not to fall off and we got the most legendary photo of Dan, who had just fallen in pulling on the back of the boat so that it sank and we all fell down.!
That was the end of our trip but we are all staying in touch and some of us are even meeting up for New Years Eve….. Can’t wait!
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