by Real Traveler Soph
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The Moment i've been Waiting for

From My Journey begins in Chiang Mai, Thailand on Dec 05 '07

This entry is about:

cultural immersion, trek, waterfall

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No sooner than the guide told us we could swim the Russians already took their clothes off and jumped in, I mean all their clothes.

The next day I was making my trip for a little morning trekking and what a day it was. Packed full of fun, a few giggles and heart filling amazement. Despite having the strangest group, which was built of just seven people, including me, five were Russian and one Japanese teacher. The Japanese guy was lovely but shy at speaking English, bless him. The Russians however spoke good English but were reluctant to speak it, strange, not my cup of tea I’m afraid, more on them later.

So we took our long trip North of Chiang Mai where we were first to walk to a little village. The Natives wear rings around there necks to make their necks longer, as they believe that it makes them more beautiful; to me it just looked painful, the rings weigh about 5kg and every five years they put more on, starting from when the girls are as young as three years old. Surely there must be health issues surrounding this. After this mini village visit which sent many thoughts running around my head we headed off for lunch and after that the best experience of the whole day and even trip, something I had been waiting for.

I finished lunch early and as the Russians did not want to speak looking only at you in a weird sort of disgusted stroke envious look I decided to look around, and there they were. At first I heard the large splashes of water as if the giant rocks were being thrown into the shallow stream but then I saw them, just coming around the corner, my favourite animal, and the elephant.

I've dreamt of this moment ever since I was little; with posters of elephants instead of Take That lining my wall. One of the first books I ever bought was 'The Sacred Elephant'. Of course I’ve seen them in the zoo but it wasn't the same. I couldn't believe my eyes as they stepped up onto the bank at which I was standing. They seemed to be well looked after, the first thing I looked for and we'd seen their camp, vast fields and mountains of which they had full access to. So I was amicably content. I sat and watched as others continued chatting, mesmerized by their huge clumpy feet, their long trunks, their flapping ears but most of their eyelashes which not even an Irishman could compete with.

I could have just watched them all day, eating bananas and bamboo and throwing dust over themselves because they were itchy, something Bon used to do after we gave her a wasteful bath. I picked my favourite out, a boyster, cheeky little fella, who still had his tusks, be was called Bunai (please don't quote me on the spelling), it means 'little crap', I think similar to cheeky monkey. I asked to go on him and my wish was his command.

Now I’m not going to lie, despite feeling so at home with these beautiful animals I was scared, especially as I picked Bunai who didn't want to do anything thing he was told to do, wobbling when we were going up and down steep banks, but you get used to it. I gave him a pat every now and again, really more like a slap as their skin is so tough, unable to keep my hands off him.

The hour trip was soon over it was never going to be enough and up until the very last minute I sat and watched them. A couple of shouts of my name later I was brought to attention and followed the rest of the group as we made our way to the waterfall.

The group was not united so I decided to sit in front with the driver and guide where we shared a few giggles.

We soon arrived at the waterfall another little trek later we were at the top, beautiful mini waterfall with a small pool to cool off in. No sooner than the guide told us we could swim the Russians already took their clothes off and jumped in, I mean all their clothes. The poor Japanese guy didn't know where to look. At this point I decided not to get in, letting the shade cool me instead. It appeared that the Russians wanted to stay naked as well, so they did, much to the pleasure of the Thai guides.

The last trip was the bamboo rafting and a lovely cruise down the river, the sun setting behind us with the views of the elephants grazing on the mountains in front.

A lovely day, but at the end, when we finally reached Chiang Mai I did have a moment of worry, whether I had let my trust barrier down just a little too much..........

Now let me try and explain my anguish to you as best as I can on very little sleep and vocab. We arrived where I was supposed to be picked up to take me to the bus station, as that evening I was supposed to go to Bangkok. It was now 7pm, I had to leave at eight and there was no lovely lady waiting for me at the office, no bag, no tickets, no nothing. Oh lord what had I done. The guide and driver were lovely, ringing the lady, who told them that she had taken the bag with her and we had to make our way to her guesthouse. Emm, it all sounded a little bit suspect, and after a few more backing out of dead ends, turning around in alley ways my worry monitor was getting dangerously high. My worldly possessions were in this bag, including the necessities to get me home, my ticket and my passport. After Vietnam and a roller coaster of things going wrong my panic was about to kick in. It was at this moment when the other guys in the back, still waiting to go home started to complain I saw the little smiley face of the travel agent. Alleluia! I had interrupted their family dinner which I felt awful about, but they were so welcoming that it was obvious that it wasn't an issue. They showed me in, let me use their shower. I met her little monster and her husband, an Irish guy who I was wrapped in conversation for a dangerous amount of time, (seen as it was now coming on to half eight). We spoke about London, where he lived for over twenty years. I could have stayed another night with that family, just talking but Bangkok was calling and I quickly made my way to the Tuk tuk waiting outside. They bode me farewell and asked me to come back soon. Now all I had to do was to get through the next ten hours.

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