Highlight - Trekking in Chiang Mai
Our plan when we arrived in Chiang Mai was to spend a couple of days kicking back and just taking some down time. It had seemed pretty much non stop since we had started our travels so we figured we deserved it. How plans change!! Within 10 minutes of checking in we had booked ourselves on to a 3 day trek leaving the next morning. They weren't pushy but the trek sounded perfect for what we wanted to do, and it turned out great!!!
There were 6 of us on the trek. Deborah and I were joined by Phil, Emma, Will and Helen. The other four knew each other but it didn't feel like two seperate groups and we had a great couple of days trekking through the jungle's of Northern Thailand. Nuu, our guide was from the Karen tribe where we spent our first night and he was great at pointing out things you would otherwise miss or have no clue were even there.
On day one we trekked for around 3 or 4 hours stopping occasionaly to see waterfalls, snakes, views, catch our breath or for Nuu to show us a trick with some leaf that made special tea or strange popping sounds.
The first night in the village was really nice. We had some nice food cooked by the tribe - Deborah and I had decided to stay veggie but with my notorious cast iron stomach I eventually succumbed to the dark side and tucked away some chicken too. Then we all sat around a camp fire downing a few cans of Chang and getting to know our fellow trekkers. Unfortunately a couple of the guys weren't too well that night which led to a pretty restless night for all. To their credit they avoided the temptation to head back to Chiang Mai and we all headed off the following morning for another 3 or 4 hours trekking.
Day 2 was again lots of stunning views - if I could, I would have stopped every 10 feet to take another picture but that would have driven everyone nuts!! After a spot of lunch we then did and an hour and a half's elephant riding along the bottom of a valley. This was great though we managed to get the most fearful elephant in history. He backed away from water buffalo which is maybe acceptable as they do at least have large horns but when he got scared of frogs I figured there was something a bit wrong!! Good job he didn't look down and see his own reflection in the water!!!
Two more fell ill (including myself) that night and one was bordering... how on earth Deborah, with notably the weakest stomach known to man, was the only one unaffected I don't know but then maybe that veggie pact was now showing it's wisdom!!! The good thing was that even though most of us fell ill we all still had a great time and we still had a day left.
It ended up being another restless night, I actually spent 4 or 5 hours sleeping on the bamboo terrace in front of a firepit listening to the sounds of the jungle at night. Other than the frequent visits to the bathroom (aka a hole in the ground) it was an interesting and memorable night even though I didn't manage to sleep more that an hour all night!! With the nearest man made light probably over 20km away it's amazing how many stars you can see in the sky - certainly more than my attempts in Clapham!
Thankfully, day 3 was very relaxed. Nuu and members of the Lahu tribe we were staying with hand built a bamboo raft and we set off for a couple of hours drifting along with the river. Most of it was pretty calm with the odd bits of white water. It's a stunning way to see the jungle and I was happy not to be trekking to much at that point.
It was an excellent 3 days and so far, for me, definitely the top highlight. We made some new friends, saw some pretty spectacular views and couldn't have felt further away from life back in London. Plus, getting ill and not eating for a couple of days can only mean good news for the belt notch count!
There were 6 of us on the trek. Deborah and I were joined by Phil, Emma, Will and Helen. The other four knew each other but it didn't feel like two seperate groups and we had a great couple of days trekking through the jungle's of Northern Thailand. Nuu, our guide was from the Karen tribe where we spent our first night and he was great at pointing out things you would otherwise miss or have no clue were even there.
On day one we trekked for around 3 or 4 hours stopping occasionaly to see waterfalls, snakes, views, catch our breath or for Nuu to show us a trick with some leaf that made special tea or strange popping sounds.
The first night in the village was really nice. We had some nice food cooked by the tribe - Deborah and I had decided to stay veggie but with my notorious cast iron stomach I eventually succumbed to the dark side and tucked away some chicken too. Then we all sat around a camp fire downing a few cans of Chang and getting to know our fellow trekkers. Unfortunately a couple of the guys weren't too well that night which led to a pretty restless night for all. To their credit they avoided the temptation to head back to Chiang Mai and we all headed off the following morning for another 3 or 4 hours trekking.
Day 2 was again lots of stunning views - if I could, I would have stopped every 10 feet to take another picture but that would have driven everyone nuts!! After a spot of lunch we then did and an hour and a half's elephant riding along the bottom of a valley. This was great though we managed to get the most fearful elephant in history. He backed away from water buffalo which is maybe acceptable as they do at least have large horns but when he got scared of frogs I figured there was something a bit wrong!! Good job he didn't look down and see his own reflection in the water!!!
Two more fell ill (including myself) that night and one was bordering... how on earth Deborah, with notably the weakest stomach known to man, was the only one unaffected I don't know but then maybe that veggie pact was now showing it's wisdom!!! The good thing was that even though most of us fell ill we all still had a great time and we still had a day left.
It ended up being another restless night, I actually spent 4 or 5 hours sleeping on the bamboo terrace in front of a firepit listening to the sounds of the jungle at night. Other than the frequent visits to the bathroom (aka a hole in the ground) it was an interesting and memorable night even though I didn't manage to sleep more that an hour all night!! With the nearest man made light probably over 20km away it's amazing how many stars you can see in the sky - certainly more than my attempts in Clapham!
Thankfully, day 3 was very relaxed. Nuu and members of the Lahu tribe we were staying with hand built a bamboo raft and we set off for a couple of hours drifting along with the river. Most of it was pretty calm with the odd bits of white water. It's a stunning way to see the jungle and I was happy not to be trekking to much at that point.
It was an excellent 3 days and so far, for me, definitely the top highlight. We made some new friends, saw some pretty spectacular views and couldn't have felt further away from life back in London. Plus, getting ill and not eating for a couple of days can only mean good news for the belt notch count!
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