Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Dan&LJ RTW
"You're kidding me....I'm supposed to climb up it's leg!!!!????"
PAI
Our arrival in Pai was filled with excitement after a breathtaking 3 hour drive through the mountains. The village/town of Pai is a small, but well developed mountain settlement and one of the main centres of the north, for trekking, rafting and all manner of other extreme sports. We decided for the duration of our stay we would become hard core action travellers & fully immerse ourselves in whatever death defying activities we could get our hands on.
The first of which was bamboo rafting!!!! Hardcore to the hilt!!!!!!
What would ordinarily be a calm, lazy and serene float down a peaceful river, observing village life and local wildlife, became more of a white knuckle experience due to the "expertise" of the guest oarsman at the rear of the raft, i.e. Danny Raw. On numerous occasions we plunged headlong into trees and outcroppings on the river edges, soaking everybody on board in the process.
After a couple of hours at floating down stream at a more than leisurely pace we were all ready to disembark the bamboo raft and head to the nearby elephant camp for a fun filled afternoon astride a couple of the beasts.
Now, on signing up for the elephant safari, nobody mentioned that the only way to mount an elephant was to climb up the animal's leg whilst grappling onto one of its ears as your only support! On lj's first attempt, after half climbing up the poor animal's leg and grabbing hard onto its ear, the stupid creature than stood up at full height, leaving lj quite simply dangling from the ear with a long drop back down to earth - great. Natalie, not happy about climbing up the leg, instead embarked on a more than perilous journey up its trunk, ending up astride it's head back to front! So before we had even left the safety of the elephant enclosure we had already encountered 2 near casualty experiences. "Onward to the jungle" we chant in unison.
We don't want to sound wimpish, but 2 hours of straddling an elephant with no seat or harness can take its toll on even the fittest of people. Every step the elephant takes is a challenge to remain seated and it's a hell of a drop should you fall. Add to this the steep inclines & drops that the trek entailed, the 35 degree heat & the foliage that kept becoming caught up between Dan's freakily long toes, its safe to say our bodies had a workout.
After over an hour 'on board' we were becoming a little more familiar with the animals movements and we're all having fun as we approached a river crossing. Great we all thought, how cool is this??
Mid way across the river our elephant handlers decided to instruct the beasts to lay down and bathe......with us still on their backs and still gripping on for dear life. Needless to say, we all went in. If this wasn't enough our mounts were also instructed to repeatedly spray us with their trunks. All this would have been more fun had we not seen the elephant that Natalie and Daniel were sat upon fully 'toilet' at some length in the river only minutes before. It was clearly evident that the elephant handlers were having more fun than us at this stage, as every attempt to re-mount became a success, we were no sooner dis-mounted with annoying ease. We both took it then as a challenge to stay on the animal for as long as possible in 'bucking bronco' style. More than half an hour was spent frolicking in the river with these wonderfully enormous animals, time enough for lj to be fully smacked in the face by a ginormous flapping elephant ear and Daniel to perform the most perfect comic backward roll from an elephant possibly ever seen - we commend you.
The next morning, seeing as though the previous day was so relaxing we thought we'd embark on something a little more strenuous. White water rafting on the River Pai.
With crash helmets and life jackets secured we boarded our vessel and paddled out into the abyss. The first half of the morning was spent pleasantly getting used to the rowing instructions and of the river's twists and turns, but we still ended up in a river strewn bush after our dumb ass instructor forgot his left from his right. This didn't fill us with much confidence on the slow stretch of river as we had been told that after lunch, we would be really tested - terrific.
We were all looking towards Mr. Daniel Denton's 5 times white water rafting experience to guide us through the rapids, he was immediately appointed as front rower for extra power as we fastly approached our first grade 4 rapid, the remaining 3 novices were put at the back and just told to "Row faster!" Imagine our surprise at the first full on drop into open splurging water when Mr. Denton swiftly joined us at the back.....on his back, legs kicking, beetle fashion. Every attempt to re-surface proved fruitless as another wild wave would simultaneously knock him back down. All rowing from our boat ceased as we attempted to stop the laughter.
We encountered 3 or 4 rapids of this ilk in total and fortunately we all managed miraculously to stay on board. As we were both first timers, it was a fantastic experience, we both loved it and we will definitely be doing it again.
Our final day in Pai was spent partly upon Hawk 3 - the best machine yet. Mainly for the boys benefits, but for a couple of hours we all headed out into the breathtakingly magnificent surroundings trying to take it all in and reminding ourselves that we are actually here and it's not just a dream. After a few hours altogether, the boys then headed out on their own for some serious high speed hawking. The mountain roads around Pai are perfect for a bike and any other vehicles are rarely ever seen. We spiraled the mountains through the mist, crossing rivers and riding through rain, steam & sunshine until we both realised we had better turn back, if we ever wanted to find our way back in the daylight.
Meanwhile back in Pai at a certain little spa resort, the girls were indulging in their own form of therapy in the form of a full body salt scrub, full body mud wrap, full body aromatherapy massage, a traditional warm mineral bath and a full body moisturize - unspeakable, pure, unadulterated bliss. Perhaps the best 3 hours ever spent.
We were all disappointed to be leaving Pai as it had so far been a highlight of the trip for us all. But, time as ever waits for no one and we still had serious miles of the country to cover in our last week together.
Next stop, the remote north eastern town of Nan.
Our next update will be along shortly.
For now, ta-ra x
- comments