Day 18: First Day of Jungle Trekking

In the morning we packed our stuff into plastic bags and put our backpacks and bags into the storage room at the hotel. We were given a voucher for breakfast at the hotel so had eggs and toast with juice and milk and tea. Pickup was meant to be at 9.30 but was 1hr10mins late...apparently they had already been to the tourist police to show their passports before picking us up! The reason why they were late is because apparently there was confusion about who was meant to pick us up :S We were given a small rucksack each- they smelt sooooo bad, had buckles instead of zips, the straps were tied on and they were stained with damp. They were smallish but luckilly all of our stuff could fit into them. When they finally came to pick us up we got into the packed open backed van with a roof but there wasn't enough room for us both so Hazel sat in the front and fell asleep. There were 12 of us in total...2 Koreans, 3 irish, 2 welsh, 3 german and us 2 english. We travelled for an hour stopping on the way to get ice cream and for a 3baht toilet break. There were women selling a water bottle holder so bought one of those as we were looking for one to bring out here but couldnt find any! We carried onto the elephant place where we had chicken fried rice for lunch then went on a 30 min elephant trek up and down some really steep paths and by a river. Our elephant was the naughty one of the group and kept going off course to find food and kept stopping like he refused to walk...he even growled! Who knew elephants could growl? He also farted on the man that was walking behind us telling him to walk and splattered him with poo hahaa. he didnt look impressed. After the trek we bought a photo of us on the elephant and were given bamboo walking sticks then started our 'exercise' aka the 3 hour trek from hell. We have never sweated that much in our lives!!! It put our fitness to the test and revealed that it wasnt that great.. the group had to motivate eachother looads as we were close to giving up so many times and literally wanted to just sit and not move again ha. We trekked for 1.5 hours to a waterfall where we 'showered' - we kept our clothes on and stood under the waterfall. It was so cold but felt AMAZING. We bought more water and continued for another 1.5 hours up the biggest and steepest paths and over rocks and through streams and rivers. Some of the pathways were only a foot wide right next to a sheer drop down the mountain!It was covered by trees though which didnt make it seem as scary but if you slipped and fell there wasn't really any way of saving you so we were very very careful! Our legs turned to jelly and we got a bit shaky so scoffed a bag of crisps on the next break. It was like walking up really big stairs non stop for ages. Luckily we did get given a break every now and then but they never seemed long enough. It finally levelled off a bit when we got to the top and it cooled down and the sun was starting to set. The view was awesome. We walked another 20 mins through corn fields round a massive path to get to the bamboo hut which was pretty big and quite far off the ground. It was definately worth all the effort in the end and had a chilled evening. We cleaned ourselves up a bit and Bryony had a 'shower' pouring buckets over her head and hazel helped wash her hair. The water was freeeezing as it was in a giant bucket and the sun had started going down but it was still warm in the evening. There was a little girl around who kept making everyone laugh with armpit farts and her fighting with her younger friend. A woman came with a basket of bracelets so a few people bought one and Hazel got a nice blue one.We ate loads of food when it came out as we were really hungry and the food was reaaally good - bean sprout curry and red curry with rice. Our tour guide 'moonshine' kept saying "Ohhhh my Buddha!" instead of oh my god haha. They started a fire in the living/dining area and a man came from the village with his guitar and we all sat around the fire singing songs and fighting off a cockroach which ran around in the fire and a moth decided to commit suicide by walking and drowning in candle wax. We sat watching some shooting stars for a bit...never seen so many stars in the sky! We went to bed at about 10pm but Bryony didnt get to sleep until about 6.30 am as it was soo uncomfortable and it was freezing.

Day 19: 2nd day of trek.

Got up about 8.30 am as Moonshine shouted MORNING EVERYBODY. BREAKFAST IS READY. We had 2 boiled eggs and toast with jam and tea. We got ready and walked around to the village for a bit but was mainly just more bamboo huts. Moonshine asked if we wanted the hard route which took less time or an easier route that took a bit longer and everyone shouted EASYY and then he said fast or slow and everyone shouted SLOW. On the way down we walked down the road for a bit and a man on a moped came. naturally everyone moved to the side of the road but it turned out he wanted to go down the side because there was a massive trough in the middle. We walked for 45 mins to a village where we had chicken noodles/soupy stuff for lunch which was really yummy too. On the way we saw a massive ex-tree which looked like it had been hit by lightening. A man was using a slingshot and stones to hit some bottles and some people had a go at that..harder than he made it look. We walked another 45mins to a waterfall where we stayed until 1.30. We sat in the water for a bit then it started to rain a bit so we got out to waterproof our bags but then it stopped after a few mins so we sat and sunbathed for a bit and went to the bottom of the river and sat there. We walked another 45 mins to a bigger waterfall and the German guys stood under it and their pants nearly fell down as it was really strong! We got into the water for a bit but it sterted to rain again so we left and within 5 m ins it was torrential rain so we put on our sexy ponchos and it coevered our bags too which was good. We crossed the river a few times on logs and wooden planks. All day there had been ladders, massive steps up to our shoulders, narrow paths on the sides of cliffs, steep drops, bamboo everywhere and we had to climb over and under logs..it was like a massive obstacle course! We also saw some of the really loud bugs which sound like electricity and a boiling kettle. We walked for another 5 mins and got to our bamboo hut by the waterfall at 4.50pm. We dried off and got changed but it was still pretty chilly. We had soup for starter and a curry for main. Sat talking by the fire and went to bed at 9.45pm. Slept well that night as took an extra blanket and wore 2 tops.

Day 20: last day of trek.

Got up 8.30 again and had same for breakfast. Hazel had a shower which was a cold water shower with the ants but didnt involve a bucket. left the hut at 10.30 and walked for an hour. Hazel slipped down a rock on the way and a man helped her up who seemed to come out of nowhere but had apparently been following us since the last village. We walked to the rafting centre. Got kitted up with lifejackets and helmets and finally got rid of our smelly backpacks and put them on the back of a van along with our shoes. Hazel got her bum cheek cleaned with antiseptic and iodine and had a gauze patch taped on it.There were 6 in a raft, 2 guys had to go at the front because men are strong. We only had 1 member of staff this time and had a proper briefing before we got onto the boat...but couldnt hear any of it! got the main jist by the actions though. Started down the river which was alot rougher than last time. We kept doing highfives with our paddles and swapping places with the other raft. there were only our 2 groups this time instead of loads which was nice. We got halfway through the course and went down what looked like a small dip but turned out to be huge and we went down sideways. Bryony and the Korean guy fell into the river! Bryony lost her paddle but we saw it near the side. She had to get dragged into the boat because it was really hard to get in ha. we retrieved the paddle and carried on. There were some really calm bits where the water wasnt bumpy at all but then Punn (the staff man) said there was a big bit coming up and we thought he meant a waterfall so everyone started getting nervous! We got to it and it was a long stretch of really rough patches and lots of rocks..we were going really fast and paddling still then bounced off of one rock and then got wedged between 2 others, our raft in a v shape with me and Hazel stuck in the middle of the fold. Punn told us to all go to the end of the boat and he got onto the rock and spent a good few mins pushing and pulling to get us off as the others passed us. We carried on to the bamboo rafting place where we got off of the white water raft directly onto the bamboo raft. we left our helmets,paddles and life jackets on the raft. As soon as we stepped onto the bamboo raft it went down into the water. there were all 6 of us on one and we were literally sat so our legs were underwater..it was really brown. Fabian was at the front so had to steer and move the raft witha massive stick..a bit like punting. Hazel managed to get a fish stuck on her hand and freaked out because she couldnt get it off...it was a sucky fish like at the fish spas ha so I flicked it off. When it got near the end Punn told us to stand up one at a time so the front 3 including Hazel did and I was sat up to my chest in the water! I stood up too but everyone was nearly falling in because it was so low so we sat down for a few mins then it was time to get off. We had lunch at the place then went to the wobbly bridge. We were on the bridge watching these 3 small boys running to the middle and jumping into the river which was only up to their chest deep and they kept going and going. After about 15 mins a man said there were too many people on the bridge and it might break so we all got off sharpish. We got picked up at 2pm and travelled back to the hotel. we arrived at 4 and took our bags out of storage and checked in to a room. We showered and washed our hair...felt so good to have hot water and a proper toilet and a clean floor (well until we walked on it ha). We put our clothes into laundry as its all muddy, wet or smelly. Deffo need to crack out the vanish oxy action when we get home!

We went on the internet for a bit then headed into town to try and find a restaurant to eat at. We both fancied some nice carbonara but there were hardly any restaurants around for about 20 mins...completely the opposite to Bangkok and Phuket where theres food everywhere you look. We walked through the night market and found a German restaurant which was a reasonable price. we ate italian in a german restaurant in Thailand...why not?! Was very good I have to say. We then carried on walking and decided we would try to find the old town by walking...even though we didnt have a map. we got to a crossroads and turned left as thats where the most amount of people seemed to be going and coming from. Halfway down the road we asked a passing couple if that was the right way and it was so we carried on until we got to the big gates to the old town. We were meant to be meeting the others at a Bar called John's Place which was a 3 storey bar with a terrace on the top. We had no idea where it was but walked to the left towards some building with neon lights and we found it! Hazel bought a chocolate banana pancake on the way. We went to the top terrace and saw everyone sitting in the corner and talked for a few hours. We then went to find somewhere else so went for a walk and found an irish bar and people got cocktails and played pool...the cocktails weren't right though because someone ordered sex on the beach and it tasted like after 8 mints and was bluey green :S the bar was run mainly by ladyboys too. We then went to an area of alot of bars under cover and found a boxing ring so had some photos there. Then a ladyboy bar started playing YMCA and dancing so we joined in and went to sit there. At the end a ladyboy started talking to us and said she had a boyfriend...not really sure how that one works..

We then started walking to find somewhere else as everywhere was closing..it was about 1.30 but on the way a group of 10 people asked us where we were going and if we knew of any clubs or places that were open so we walked back to John's place and that was still open. sat there for a bit and went back about 3ish and everyone else stayed a bit longer. Went back by tuktuk, we haggled the price down a bit then went straight to sleep.

Day 21: Flight of the Gibbon and Sunday Market

Woke up 7.30 and Hazel felt sick :( it was pouring with rain. Alarm was set for 8.30 so slept until then. Hazel was sick. Got ready and went to breakfast and confirmed our return flights. Left for flight of the Gibbon at 10.15 nd got there 11.45ish. It was still pouring with rain but it kept getting lighter and heavier. We had to wait around for a bit then got kitted up with a harness and helmet and got into the minibus which took us to the starting point. We walked down the hill a bit to the first zipline where we got a breifing, still pouring with rain. our ponchos smelt really badly of damp so we didnt wear them, and we were soaked within a few seconds of being outside..it was still pretty warm though. We were with a french family that lives in the US so the kids sounded american but were really fluent in french and kept switching between languages. We went on the longest zipline in the world which was 900m and there were some other pretty long ones and a Tarzan/superman swing. There were something like 39 different stations and we had to walk up the mountain for a while to get to the biggest one..it was really slippery from the rain and muddy with loads of puddles so we got really mucky. There was a big queue when we got to the top so they gave us some water and stood under a tree for a bit more shelter where we saw a wild gibbon sat on a branch! It looked pretty bored though but it did move so we know it was real haha. Apparently we were really lucky to see one.That was the only thing the rain was good for i think. We got loads of photos as we went around and a few videos. At the last station we were lowered from near the top of a huuuuge tree..about 50m from the floor.The minibus took us back to the office where we had lunch about 4.30. We bought a t-shirt to change into...a L and XL so they were long enough for dresses and got changed on the minibus on the way back. We had bikinis on underneath so it wasnt tooo bad.Hazel started feeling ill again but we had the sandwich bags at the ready just in case! We got back about 5ish and showered to get warm and get rid of all of the mud. We collected our clean laundry which we got really excited about...havent had clean clothes in a while! Booked a taxi to the airport for the next morning at 8.30 then got a taxi to the sunday market....still raining. It rained all evening without stopping once and the roads were getting flooded. the market had some nice things but the first thing we bought was an umbrella! we saw the German boys from the trek so went and said hi then hung round with them for a bit. Hazel decided to go back to sleep after a while as she still didnt feel good so i stayed with the guys for a bit until about 9.30. The market was meant to be there until midnight but most of it was gone by 10.30 so i got a tuktuk back to the hotel and started packing ready to leave the next day. Then handwashed the clothes from that day to get rid of the smell....our shoes smelt sooo bad like poo...even though it was just mud so used the hose zapper in the bathroom,chasing the shoes around trying to clean them a bit. It got most of the mud off but the smell was still horrendous! washing machine is needed desperately.