Trekking begins!
Trip Start
Nov 07, 2009
1
7
35
Trip End
Dec 12, 2009
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Friday, November 13, 2009
Today was our trekking day. We had met all the guys the night before in the bar downstairs and they all appeared to be really friendly and a great laugh so we had high hopes. We had packed the bear minimum as carrying too much stuff in the jungle would not have been a great idea! When we left we first stopped off at the tourist police who checked that everyone was accounted for before we started our trek as apparently there are always a few people who go missing! It was nice to see that the police did take an active interest in our safety although this was balanced out by the journey to the trekking sight which we undertook in a glorified pickup truck with bench seats in the back. I held on tight but in reality it was fairly safe.
We initially stopped off at a small market town where we could get everything we required for the journey including toilet paper and any food and water we needed. As i eat on a regular basis i stocked up on food and water as i wasn't expecting any 7/11s in the jungle. Personally I think i've spotted a gap in the market but i'll keep that one to myself.
The first stop was at the elephant trekking area. We parked up and walked the short distance to the elephants. The views were great and the elephants looked in good shape and fed well (which i discovered later). Rumit and I shared an elephant, sounds like we ate it, but we actually rode it and as we were of a similar weight the whole thing seemed really stable. We began our trek and initially stopped off to get some bananas for the elephant, at which point, a baby elephant saw its opportunity to go for the bananas on our seat and in the process molested Rumit, covering him with a combination of water, mud and saliva. Our elephant was younger than the rest and was a typical stroppy teenager constantly demanding food before moving anywhere. After he chucked off the handler from around his neck, he was repremanded almost savagely by a couple of hard hits to the head with a small hammer! It seemed to work as the elephant behaved a lot better after that. The handler had guts though, i wouldn't have hit the elephant as one move by Dumbo and he could have easily crushed the handler! After about 30 minutes on the elephant, numerous demands for food, one water stop (where we were soaked) and a couple of elephant sneezes it was time to go off to lunch. Not being a much of a Thai food expert i found the food really good and although i'm normally careful eating in roadside restaurants i knew i was going to need some decent food for the trek and damn was i right!
The trek wasn't initially too hard and the first stop was at a small village clearly designed so we could buy some things. Apparently it was the hub of the village but looked more like an easy way of getting more money out of us! Not many people bought though as the thought of carrying around a scarf or other clothing on a two day trek didn't really appeal!
The trek was definately not for the faint hearted. After 2 hours of hardcore climbing and no stopping Maria was really struggling. To be honest, i think most people were struggling by this point as the humidity was intense and the heat even hotter than the previous days. The next 3 hours consisted of starting and stopping while people recovered from the heat.
Rumit and I took a bit longer to get ready for one departure and found ourselves with a paddy field between us and the group. Needless to say it didn't go smoothly, the path between the fields is less than a foot wide and i managed to loose my footing a fall 7 foot down into another paddy field. Rumit faired little better and we climbed out of the field with numerous cuts and covered in mud. Looking back it was hilarious but at the time it was slightly different!
We eventually reached the camp after 4 hours of hard core trekking and were fairly exhausted. However, the jungle had one last unwanted surprise for us waiting around the corner. There in front of us was probably the largest spider i have ever seen outside of a zoo/film. This bugger was massive and unbeknown to it, seriously (and pardon my french) shit me up! I had visions of this monster climbing over me during the night. I joked i would probably die but in reality i don't think it was too far from the truth!!
Once we had settled down we went down to a lovely waterfall at the bottom of the valley and happened to bump into James and Alex again. They were on the second day of their trek and had a further day to go. The next 30 mins consisted of jumping into the cold waters or having the water massage our back while we relaxed in the water. It was such a relief to be cool after so many hours in the sun.
That evening we had a great meal cooked by our guide Jackie and sat round the camp fire and chat. The stars were absolutely amazing and as we were in the southern hemisphere there were thousands of different constellations that in the north we never get to see. Saw a couple of shooting stars before going to bed around 11pm in what ended a great day and best day so far.
