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So after Billy scored a 'perfect 10' with his 'brilliant diving' we decided to get ready and go explore the town for something to eat, which isn't hard to find with all the local stands on every street corner! In Bangkok we'd booked onto a 3 day trek in Chiang Mai jungle, so with that the following day we went back to our guesthouse for an early night ready for I'm a celebrity get me out of here! Up early we met the rest of our group who seemed like a right laugh already, and soon we were on our way in a 4x4 with just a bag of necessities for company!
Our group consisted of 4 girls and 4 lads... 2 of the girls, Debra & Sonja, were from Spain who knew very little English. 2 of the lads, Joe & Hemad, were from the USA, who luckily did speak a little bit of Spanish! Daniel was our fellow Brit (Scouse) on the trek, and Sanne was from the Netherlands. No sooner had we started our trek were we greeted by the beautiful scenery as we walked into the jungle. After an hour of hard walking we came across a small river that ran down through the jungle.. a mini waterfall.. we stopped there for about 30 minutes where we had our first taste of jungle food and it was AMAZING..... egg fried rice in the shape of a pyramid wrapped up in a massive leaf.
After a few more hours of treacherous walking we arrived at what can only be described as natural beauty in the shape of a massive waterfall, where we got into our swimmers and took a well deserved dunk. If you stood around for long enough you'd get a free jungle foot massage by all the local fish! We were lucky enough to walk through a local school where a much deserved rest was taken... although the lads probably wore themselves out even more by taking on the children at a game of football! It's safe to say the children weren't at all camera shy as they were more than happy to see themselves on the screen. Abit (alot) more walking and we reached our shelter for the night..... a wooden hut to sleep in, and a wooden shack to poo in, no electricity and lots of bugs for friends.
It was pretty awesome to be sat round a campfire in the middle of the jungle, looking at the midnight sky and watching shooting stars with a really fun bunch of fellow travellers. Cooking frog on a campfire was good, but not as tasty as the fresh grub we were lucky enough to have cooked for us by the locals and our guide. The second day however was an absolute nightmare and we are still paying for it now, as we walked up, down, up, down, down, up and some more down, a little bit more up, and a little bit more down. OW! It was all made worth it though when we reached our next bit of shelter, which was next to a loud fast flowing river. This was to be our bath! We had another fun evening sat around the campfire, playing card games, drinking and I also kicked Billy's ass at snap.... 10-0! We woke up early next morning as it was fairly hard to sleep cos of the noise of the river, and we had breakfast and one last dip in the river before heading off for our last hour of trekking and lots of falling.
We were picked up by a local 4x4 which took us to our first activity of the day which was bamboo rafting. This consists of 4 people sitting on a raft, with a local at the front trying to steer it! We just drifted down the river, taking in the scenery and getting splashed by local children playing in the river... not to mention having to duck every 100m where branches almost knocked Daniel off the raft! This was a brilliant experience and we would recommend it to anybody. However, the second part of the day was having a ride on an elephant....... we don't really want to write too much about this other than to say the elephants were mistreated and if they don't do as they are told they get beaten. The elephants that aren't being ridden are chained up and look like they were going insane as they had barely a metre of chain. Had we known what this was going to be like we wouldn't have taken part in it, as we both felt very sad to see such a beautiful creature suffer that way. Back in the 4X4 we were taken back to our guesthouse and glad to have a wash in the swimming pool!
- comments
chrissy Wow honey sounds like your having so much fun makes me feel how i wish i was young again lol !!! its pretty much the same here , we are all podding along, this week we are all going to the holiday inn with the members so lets hope that will go alrite & they all enjoy thereselves , i am now doing your job cleaning the corridor bet you dont miss doing that !!! Well off out to lunch today so best be moving my bum , take care of each other & its so nice catching up with your blog loads of love chrissy xxxx
Georgina Nicole - I'm seriously considering getting on a plane after reading your blog updates! :) Luckily, I have a new job (!) to keep me exciting and in the UK for a while. It sounds like you're having an incredible time. I felt the same about the elephants in Thailand - it was cruel, but in a way I suppose it's all part of the experience - seeing the REAL country. The treks in Asia are always hard work but SO worth it, so I can imagine your camera is full of great photos, and I look forward to hearing more in your next entries. Keep having fun you two. G xxxx
Hemad Fadaifar Nic & Billy! What a great piece, loved it! Check out my piece on Thailand; I think some parts will sound strangely familiar ;) http://hellogreatness.com/2013/11/16/how-to-live-a-lifetime-in-just-30-days-my-trip-to-thailand/