Jungle Trekking

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Chiang Mai is definitely more chilled out than Bangkok, we almost found ourselves a bit bored. So we decided to do a trek up into the mountains in a place called Pai. We would get to go elephant trekking, Bamboo rafting and trekking through the jungle so we decided to go for it!

We were joined by a group of about 9. Three South Africans, two German brothers, two Canadians and a German and Spanish Couple. It was a great group and I'm definitely gonna miss those guys. We were all told to pack light so armed with only a small backpack and a sleeping bag we all set off for three days of trekking!

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Now I've go to say trekking was definitely one of the hardest things I've ever done! I must have come close to giving up at least ten times! We would set off early and walk for hours up and down hills, through the jungle and through rivers! I actually broke my sandal the first day of the trip! Thank god I had some celetape; I kept on having to strap my sandal to my foot every half hour which definitely didn't make things any easier. Some of the views we got to see were extraordinary. We got to swim under a water fall and visit two different mountain villages! We also got to visit a school up in the mountains. As you walked out of the school you looked out on a valley with jungle ever side and a river right through the middle. The local school kids kept on grabbing our arms and although I'm sure similar groups pass through the same village quite regularly it felt like one of those clips you see on red nose day when some sort of celebrity is pledging for a new school in some remote part of the world. Definitely an experience I will never forget.

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Each night on the trek the locals would put on some sort of entertainment, the first night we had a group of local children singing to us and there was a guitar available so me Dave and Matt thought it was a good opportunity to take rock and roll to whole new level and do a cover of free love on the free love free way! (Song from the office).

The evenings on the trek were definitely my favorite part of the trip, not just because we were able to relax after a long day of trekking but it was a good opportunity to talk to the other members of the group. It was really chilled out, everyone would sit round the fire chatting and after several beers and for some members of the group, several smokes of Opium. The conversation would inevitably move onto religion and politics and with it being such an international group there were definitely some strong views on both subjects. At the end of the first night we decided to go spider hunting, I was horrified to find that the whole area is covered in spiders! And these spiders were huge; they were so big that you could actually see the light reflecting from their eyes! I didn't sleep well that night!

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Another highlight of the trek was the elephant trekking, we got to ride an elephant through the jungle in a big group. There were definitely some scary moments when the elephant I was on would stand right on the edge of this vertical drop and lean out to grab a branch. I couldn't help but think, if this elephant slips I'm a gonna! Especially since the baby elephants who were also on the trek kept insisting on trying to head but the bigger elephants. It was amazing, although I was terrified and had had no confidence in the elephants balance, they just seemed too ignore the bombardment of head buts and glide through the jungle in complete control of every move. It was definitely the highlight of the trip so far!

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On the last days of the trek we all got in groups of three and attempted to steer a bamboo raft through the river. After the two days of trekking this was not easy, and for some reason me Dave and Matt were absolutely useless. We got over taken twice and were all an absolute mess by the end of it! I some how managed to hurt both my knees, Dave could barely move and ended up just lying flat on the raft and Matt ended up with blisters on his hands from trying to steer. We were a right state. Especially when Dave's pole managed to get stuck between two rocks and he proceeded to close line the rest of us into the water! After two hours of bamboo rafting we managed to pick up more injuries between us than the rest of the group put together.

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The worse part was when we finally finished and the rest of the group looked at us with amazement because somehow they had all enjoyed a nice relaxing afternoon bamboo rafting down a river! And we looked like we had just been attacked by crocodiles! Luckily for us the trek had finished and we took a mini van back to Chiang Mai. The whole group had to then go there separate ways and we all agreed to meet up at the full moon party in Ko PhanGan.

On our last day in Chiang Mai it was the king of Thailand’s birthday so for the first time since we arrived in Chiang Mai the city was thriving. Everyone was wearing the king’s colour which is yellow and the locals were letting off a kind of floating candle which rises up into the sky and fly’s across the city. There were hundreds of them, definitely a sight I will never forget! The same can be said for the elephants which line the streets of Chiang Mai, they stand outside the bars with their owners and pose for pictures, its one of the strangest things your ever see. Its definetly not something you see everyday.