Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Grant and Linz's Big Adventure
Hey peeps, am a worried about the pressure of writing one of these entries as Grant keeps saying I am better at this stuff but I just read his and laughed a lot (well it was describing some stuff that was kinda amusing!) so I hope I am up to standard.
So we went on a 3 day trek in the mountains about 2 hours outside Chiang Mai on Saturday and only just got back to civilization about an hour ago. It was actually the hardest and most physical thing I have ever done in my life... for big strong Grant it was a walk in the park... no totally joking, it involved trekking to the max, for 4 or 5 hours at a time up and down mounains that are vertical, so even he struggled, although he won't admit it. It is soooo humid that you nearly drown in your own sweat and I am quite scared to put the pictures on the site as I look like old dog. Grant just looks the same however, except for the Hitler haircut, ooh and also the beard, which I must say is coming on a treat.
Part of why it was so hard for me however (not just because I am unfit biffer) is that I have been bitten by mozzies and bed buds about 6 million (not even exaggerating) times on my legs and feet and the bites have become infected. On the first night of ther trek they swelled up into huge, and I mean absolutely gigantic, like marbles - eeuchk - pus filled lumps. We thought we would have to go back to Chiang Mai for some kind of treatment (which would have meant a 3 hour uphill trek with no guide) but one of the other girls in our group had some bandages so we managed to bandage them up and I gritted my teeth and got on with it... bet u can't wait for the photos - some great shots of the leg!!
So, starting from the beginning of the trip, after a visit to a waterfall in the mountains which we had a swim in we set off on our first trek... this was about 12km of mostly uphill scaryness. At one point I nearly collapsed from exhaustion, little did I know this was nothing compared to what we would undertake the following day. It was in proper jungle with no path, you just trek through bushes and across rivers etc and have absolutely no idea what could jump out and eat you.
We arrived at the tribal village at about 4pm which is where we were to spend our first night - this was a completely amazing exerience, they live like u imagine people did about 1000 years ago. A lot of the people there (only 30 lived in the first one we went to) have never left so have never seen cars or any type of technology - they definately haven't ever met a plumber who could maybe introduce them to a fully working toilet. The only way to get to the villages is to trek and it is at least 3 hours had walking to any kind of modern civilization. I could honestly talk forever about what it was like in the village and how much we learned (our guide is from a village himself and is a textbook of knowledge on Thai tribes), but I can't fit it all on the page!
So after a sleepless night sleeping on a wooden floor we got up to find my leg had swollen up like an elephant foot. However we decided to go the 5 hour trek anyway as the thought of an elephant camp at the end of it was amazing. So, the exhaustion sets in once again as we climb these ridiculously high mountains... won't go into too much detail again but needless to say I actually nearly died from exhaustion this time but we made it all the same, Grant ended up carrying my rucksack for me - what a hero!! I actually cried tears of relief/joy when we arrived as I couldn't even imagine that I could have done the trek, especially with my foot and leg disease but we made it - hurrah!!! The elephant camp is completely remote in the jungle too and the only way to get there is to trek, about 4 hours we did but it was totally worth it. The elephants just roam around and bathe in the river and u feed them bananas. We had a ride for about an hour - completely exhilerating - and ended up at another village. This one had 40 huts, so considered quite big. We had lovely shower on arrival in tin hut with trough and a bucket. You basically just chuck freezing cold water over yourself, which I was kinda scared about, ecpecially as the walls of the 'shower hut' were falling down and the floor was made of mud, but it was AMAZING, and so good to get even a little bit clean.
So, today we woke up at the village (seems so wierd now) and rafted on a bamboo raft (literally 15 bits of stick tied together with some reed type bits from a tree) for about 2 hours down the Mae Tong river. The raft sits just under the water so u get soaked as u sit down. 2 Thai guys stand at the front and back and just guide it with bamboo sticks - quite scary but loads of fun as the river was the fullest it has been for months so the rapids were absolutely crazy. We were doing this at 9am this morning and saying how wierd that we would usually be on way to work at this time but instead we were gripping on to bamboo sticks in middle of a jungle on a river with snakes in it!!! Had to kind of forget about the wildlife that might have been lurking beneath us and just take in the amazing mountain scenery and waterfalls we were sailing past.
Back at hotel in Chiang Mai now and all in all it has been an amazing 3 days, and in fact an amazing week (overuse of word 'amazing' I think, need to use thesaurus next time) Can't quite believe it has only been a week tho, seems so much longer as we have packed so much in. So, until next time byeeeeee...
Linz x
p.s will upadate on beard watch next time too...
- comments