Trekking, Bamboo rafting and massages
Trip Start
Nov 07, 2009
1
8
35
Trip End
Dec 12, 2009
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Saturday, November 14, 2009
After breakfast our crew less Maria decided to make our way on our last day trekking. The weather was even hotter than yesterday and comprised of a couple of meaty climbs as well as a lot of steep decents. Most people found themselves working up more of a sweat going down hill than up as we were constantly holding ourselves back from just falling down the side of the hill. We went through a lot more villages this time and also through wheat fields being cut by locals. Hot and tired but having had a great time we got to the van and were taken to lunch where we met up with Maria. The food, simple thai dishes, was great as before and afterwards we were taken to the bamboo rafting 5 minutes down the road.
Like most things the bamboo rafting wasn't particularly professional but you come to expect that in Thailand and as the water was fairly tame there was no danger of anyone drowning. I was with Martin and Yoyo the couple from Denmark on the raft, Rumit was with the Brazilian duo. Flavio managed to get the oar stuck in the sand which dragged him off the raft and into the water. The resulting oar then ended up taking eveyone out on our boat that was following behind. I managed to just grab the oar and pull it out of the sand while simultaniously jumping over it. Typically every missed my acrobatics as everyone was laughing at Flavio who was trying to get back on the raft. The rest of the journey consisted of various people boarding other rafts, crashing into each other, trying to tip over others rafts and generally being a rafting menace. It was great fun!
Once over we headed back to the guesthouse in Chiang Mai, got washed and headed out to the night market where we had some food. We also decided to endulge in a bit of fish therapy, no not fish and chips, but a fish massage! Little sucker fish nibble away on the old skin on your feet in what is effectively a fish tank. At first you can't help but laugh hysterically as its like the most intense tickle ever but once you get used to it its quite enjoyable.
Afterwards we decided to go for a traditional thai massage. For little over 2 pounds we had an hour massage which Rumit definately appreciated. It wasn't as firm as i was expecting but maybe it was because i could tell what was coming next. Rumit was next to me and was about two minutes ahead of me so i had more fun watching the expressions on his face rather than the actual massage! He looked in pain for a good 75% of the time despite the small size of his massuse. My massuse on the other hand was slight bigger, ok well actually around 2 to 3 times bigger and at times i did fear for my life. I resigned myself to the fact that one small mistake by her and i'd be in a lot of pain, probably for life. However, she done me proud and was very gentle.
