Middle of the jungle

Our next leg of the journey took a while as we had to go North and East and then take a taxi South on some of the most windy, mountainous roads for 4 hours more. This ride was crazy because the taxi was loaded up with huge bags of rice where our feet would normally go and then the only place we could put our feet was jammed full with loads of people. Just when everyone got out at a Karen Refugee village and we got to stretch our legs, it started to rain and the rain flaps on the taxi wouldn't tie down. It got really cold and dark and foggy from low lying clouds so visibility was poor, but our driver just cained it. It was a very pretty area though. We organised to do a trek with an English speaking guide who was a Karen from Burma. Karen people are a large minority in Burma and have been fighting for independence for 60 years. Our first day we rafted down the Umpang river for 4 hours which was relaxing and beautiful. Then we hiked in the rain for a couple more hours. Luckily we had bought matching ponchos in different colours that made us sweat so much, it was wetter inside our ponchos than out in the rain. We had to camp in the National Park that night, but the guides didn't seem to want to get the tents wet so we camped under a shelter - with a cement floor. It's ok though because we took valium so we could pretend we were sleeping in a bed instead of on rock! In the morning we walked to the biggest waterfall in Thailand and were allowed to jump from one of the lower falls. I decided that seeing as I had done other things that scared the crap out of me in Thailand - why stop now. I jumped nervously and didn't land properly so it felt like I had been spanked! We learnt a lot from our guide who was funny and informed. As we hiked he would point things out and clear paths for us. As we were handed our lunch (which had been in their packs for both the days) we noticed that ants had got into our food. Dave got most of them in his, but that's cause he's evil and deserved to eat ants. We also got to see some Karen villages and a lady weaving old school style. Unfortunately we didn't get to see many of the animals that Asia's biggest jungle houses like: tigers, rhinos, tapiers, elephants etc etc There were many other types of treks we could have done, but we chose the shortest and cheapest.

Ben

Chelise and I jumping off her first waterfall

Dave the rape victim in the hot spring

Dave, Ben and Cocoa "our Guide"

Karen lady weaving a bag

The 3 of us

Us at Thialands biggest waterfall

Waterfall

Waterfalls we floated by