Jungle Trek
Finallw we were both well, and we could do the trek. We caught our early morning lift and headed
up towards the mountains. Along with us,
there where another 10 people, 6 from Holland, 2 English, 2 Germans. We all got on well, the guys from Holland
seemed really cool and chilled, and got mine and Ems silly innuendo humour ;-)
Before we could start the trek we had to do the customary
hours of just sitting around doing nothing while we waited for… not really
sure. But eventually we set off with the
sun beating down on our backs, rice paddies stretching of in the distance and
the giant jungle mountains stretching into the horizon. Our guide Maxi, a 35 year old from the North
of Thailand, worked doing the treks and also training with the Elephants in the
camp that we would pass through. He had
great laid back attitude, an easy infectious smile, as we went along our
journey he would stop and point out local plants and what they would be called,
herbs, fruit what types we could eat. He
also showed us what looked like just long blades of thick grass, if you grabbed
it each side of the stem and pulled down quick it would shoot the stem flying
into the sky.
Our first day on the trek was spent on a constant uphill
track zigzagging through the jungle, though sweltering heat, to the point at
one stage it looked like I had just taken a jump in a pool as I was totally
drenched!!
As we continued along the
trek Maxi would fashion various items from local foliage and bamboo ranging
from hand fans, hats made from giant leaves, glasses and small rings made from
bamboo!!
We spent all day trekking and finally reached our destination a hill
tribe village as the sun was setting, and shortly after the heavens opened up
with a torrential downpour which would continue on and off all night (unheard
of during this time of year).
During the evening after we had dinner, Maxi came and
chatted to us about the next day’s activity at the elephant camp, knowing that
there would be question about the treatment of the elephants. We were told that even though they would be
chained up at times this was for safety reasons while they were being fed; as
awesome as these animals are they still do weigh in at several tonnes and a
stampede rushing for feeding time would be impossible to control. A German couple from another group, where
worried about them having to carry tourists around, which Maxi pointed out the
weight of carrying a person was equivalent to us carrying a small
rucksack. After chatting over a fire for
a while longer we headed to bed for one of the worst night’s sleep so far. The mattress and bedding did not look like it
had been changed or cleaned in a long time so we both slept fully clothed… oh
well at least we had a dry place to sleep… sort off ;-)
