Hi ho, a trekking we shall go!
Trip Start
Sep 07, 2004
1
27
53
Trip End
Aug 15, 2005
Chiang Mai,
Thailand
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Up at 8am and gone by 10, off we all were to a jungle in the north east. 13 of us in total; 2 Dutch, 2 Scots, 2 Irish, 1 American and 6 English
1st Day Trekking
. We all quickly became friends in the back of the 4 by 4 on the 2 hour journey. First up we had a 1 and a 1/2 hour elephant trek. Then began the 4 hour steep trek up the mountain to a tribal village. We arrived at dusk feeling absolutely knackered, all of us were filthy and soaked in sweat. Onge - our guide, started a fire as it gets really cold in the night and we all set up our beds in the dormatory hut for the night, which consisted of a bamboo floor with a mat, mosquito nes and 4 blankets each. That night we drank a few cans of beer that were kindly supplied in a cool box, played the Scots at Backgammon, and chatted and laughed the night away. As you can imagine, a load of westerners sleeping on a very hard and bumpy floor with dozens of cockerells cock-a-doodle-do'ing from 3am onwards we had very little sleep. But after a quick breakfast of eggs, toast and umpteen cups of coffee we were on our way again. Luckily I hadn't been the only person in the group who had spent the last few months smoking 20 a day, drinking too much and doing no exersise, so I wasn't the only one lagging behind, coughing and wheezing! For lunch we stopped off at another mountain tribal villiage to eat salty noodle soup and stock up on water. Then after another couple of hours we arrived at a waterfall next to our hut for the night. After a few hours of splashing around and cooling off we had dinner, played games and sampled some of the local wares and contributed to the local community until we all retired to a much comfier bed for the night
Arriving at lunch stop 2nd day trek
.On our 3rd and last day in the jungle we had a short trek and then went white water and bamboo rafting for a few hours. Unfortunately the river was really shallow so the white water rafting was a bit on the dull side and I think our guy at the back steering was a bit of a novice so we kept getting stuck in between the rocks!!
We all had a wicked time and would recommend it to anyone who comes to Chang Mai. The best thing was that we all got on so well and spent a lot of the time laughing. That night we all went to the Riverside resturant back in Chang Mai, and the night ended at about 5am back at the guest house after a few drinking card games and some monkey impressions (supplied by myself.
Today we're off to Loas. First we get a bus to the boarder and stay overnight there. Then the next morning we get on a slow boat to Luang Prabang which takes about 2 days!! Apparently it's a beautifull journey down the Mekong River though. The only bad thing is that for the last 2 months Rich and I have made a promise to give up the cigarettes as soon as we cross the boarder into Loas, and I'm envisaging a few bad-tempered arguments over the next few weeks, but no pain no gain! Wish us luck!
