Tuesday 24th November
After one of our earliest starts so far, we checked out of dodgy hostel and headed over to the lovely BMP hostel to meet up with our tour group and get on the way.
We were split into two trucks for the journey to the mountains, our truck included the english guys from the previous evening (now to be known as Ian, Mark and Gibbo), the french girls Sabrina and Sabrina (later to be known as Banana and Coconut) and the italian couple Filipo and Elizabeth. Just half of our amazing group for the 3 days.
We headed off deep into the jungle to our starting point, somewhere deep in the mountainous jungle, about an hour and a half drive north west of Chiang Mai. And boy was it hot and different when we got there. Chris being Chris, thought he would try to pack light and decided not to take flip flops with him. Big mistake! The first hour of walking was all through the low river. So barefoot, Chris walked on. The water was lovely and warm, a surprise to us all!
We stopped for lunch after the hour of walking through the streams in the first hill tribe resident. Lunch seemed ok, but we were all starving from walking and didnt care, except Chris who was being fussy as ever!
In the afternoon we continued on for another 3 hours with various stops and lots of chatting. Getting to know our fellow walkers and the guides and also learning about our current environment. Dont worry, Naomi ask questions a plenty as usual!
We finally made it to a waterfall that was 5 minutes from the village we were sleeping in over night. We were told that there were no showers in the village and that this was the only one, so all the lads jumped in to the girls dismay, as none of them were suitably dressed for it! Only to find out 10 minutes later that there was a shower, but all the boys were happy.
Anyways, back to the walk. The last 5 minutes of walking had to harder than any we had done all day. A sheer mountain side with little steps built into the side of it. Even the fittest of us struggled! But the sight that was there for us when we got to the top was just superb……. our bed and food for the night (see the pic below!)
The Karen tribe village and Chris looking happy at the end of the climb lol!
The food to our amazement was unbelievably good. They provided us at every evening meal with choices of main course, but you could have as much or as little as you wanted. And all traditional thai meals by candlelight as there was no electricity in the mountains (except for the electricity that ran the TV for the tribe lol).
So we ate well and then made our way to the camp fire as the evening grew colder. It all seemed very strange as we were all ready for bed by about 7.30pm but we struggled on…… Chang beer being our friend. Most of us were in bed by 10pm! There were 4 young chaps who decided to show us all how it was done and proceeded to continue on into the wee hours of the night. Singing, dancing, trekking into the forest to set up camp, catch frogs and eat them as a midnight snack…… Much the annoyance of the rest of us, Chris, Ian, Gibbo and Mark all came back, fell fast asleep in our uncomfortable beds and kept us all awake by snoring lol! Mark also managed to start the love/hate relationship with the Sabrinas by jumping through the window as he couldnt find the door at 3am and landing on one of the them!!! But all in all, an enjoyable night for everyone.
Until the next day………….. hehe
Dinner by candlelight and our main courses
Fun and entertainment around the campfire with friends
Midnight snack of frog (if you are faint-hearted do not enlarge)
The evidence of the previous night and the culprits!!! ;)
Wednesday 25th November
Everyone woke up in good spirits, whether hungover or just tired from the previous days trekking. It had been a cold night, so we were all happy to see the sun shining and bringing heat (maybe a little too much for 9.30am).
We had breakfast of toast, tea, coffee and fruit…. how very jungle lol! There was even strawberry jam made by the locals! Almost as good as Mummy Feast’s but not quite ;)
And so without further ado, we continued on into the mountain range. Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot. Then suddenly, one of the guides finds a tarantula! Now bearing in mind a few of the group are afraid of spiders, what could you possibly do with a tarantula that is nestled in its hole? How about dig it up, cut its fangs off and take it as an appetizer for lunch! And thats exactly what they did. I think even the manliest of men were quivering in their boots lol!
By midday, we had got very deep and very high into the mountain range. When we got glimpses of the views, they were spectacular.
The group had a real rapport by now. Even if you didnt speak the language of someone, everyone seemed to get by. Hand signals, or shouting with a funny accent in Chris’s case! Our pit stops became mind games, where the guides would give us a logic puzzle to complete by the time the break was up. Fortunately, Filipo the Italian had a maths teacher for a mother, who had done most of the puzzles on him as a child, but he didnt give too many away!
The group trying to figure out yet another puzzle, while the guides Ooh and Joshua watch on :)
After another couple of hours walk, this time with a steep decline, even tho we were still very high up, we finally made it to the next village for noodle soup and tarantula lunch, which Mark and Ian were very brave to try!
The Karen village and the toilet, how very 5 star!!!
The view from the village and Chris having a cleanse in the passing stream
Jay Jay and Ooh cooking lunch and Mark sampling the tarantula much to Gibbo’s disgust!!!
After a very nice lunch and a long and well deserved rest, we headed on to our final resting point, some sleeping huts that are set in the most idyllic place ever, next to a massive waterfall!!!
We all eagerly trotted on, in particular the girls and they did not get the previous evening’s waterfall experience! Spirits were high as we passed through one of the bigger Karen tribe villages and we all partook in a wee spot of footie with the local school children (yes the hill tribes are encouraged to be educated Father, and its all government paid, including lunch and uniform!).
Sabrina Coconut showing off her French National skills and the rest getting involved too.
Half an hour later, the sound in the air changed as the rushing of a serious waterfall could be heard. Just around the corner was our bed and food for the night, and oh what a sight it was. In all our lives, nothing could have been more surreal than spending the evening next to such a beautiful scene. A thundering waterfall, with mad amounts of water falling every second. Incredible.
We all took no time whatsoever in picking our huts for the night and getting into the waterfall for a well deserved shower!
The bridge to get into the village and our hut/bed for the night
The waterfall from the huge cave inside it
Having to shout over the noise and Chris enjoying a power shower 
Chris doing his laundry in the waterfall!
The evening was another fun filled evening of good food, great company and even better magic tricks that the guides had learnt from David Copperfield 2 weeks before on the same trek! We were all mesmerised!
And pudding being devoured by Chris (it was delicious)
Thursday 26th November
And so the most exciting day was upon us. After a morning of very tired walking (lack of sleep and Chang beer were not helping!) and it all being mainly downhill through some beautiful landscape….. we were slowly getting closer to the elephant trek and the bamboo rafting. Everyone was getting very excited. Only thing was, the closer were to the fun stuff, we all knew the closer we were getting to the trek being over. Something none of us wanted.
So lunch was over, and we all piled into the trucks, in our bathers, ready for our bamboo rafting. Now we dont have any pictures ourselves of the rafting, however we are hoping to get some from our friends. We spent an hour going down a quite peaceful, but at times quite quick, and at other times just plain funny river. Chris was left in charge of steering the back end of mine, Mark and Gibbo’s raft, we also had a guide. There was lots of splashing, lots of jumping between rafts…… it all got a little serious when Chris got cramp in his funny leg and fell off the raft and we nearly lost him to a rock in one of the quick bits. Chris managed to be nice and competitive as usual and tried to get as many people wet as poss and knock as many people into the water as poss! Nothing changes lol!
We all dried up after the rafting, piled back into the trucks and headed off to the elephants…… Naomi was super excited!
When we got there, there were about 8 adult elephants waiting to take us out, but with no guides. So we sat around for a while in the heat. But it was worth it. We were taken up in the hills (which were very steep) and taken on a trail with the elephants. They were so graceful and elegant and slow. Something so totally unexpected from such large animals. They were also incredibly greedy as some of the pictures will show!
Tight squeeze
This was one of the greatest experiences of both of our lives while meeting some fantastic lifelong friends!
Thank you to all those who made it so special for us, you know who you are :)
Love
Chris and Naomi xxx
