After being dropped off at the bottom of a mountain, we got our packs off the roof, loaded up on sunscreen and bugspray and then followed Chai through the wilderness. At first we walked along this really nice stream where it was relatively cool. Chia pointed out different parasite plants attached to trees and a honey bee nest (I looked from afar) as well a little spiders here and there. We crossed several bridges that reminded me of the ones we crossed in BC when my Katima-group went to visit the hermit. They were made of a couple logs haphazardly pushed together. Some were just single logs. Good thing I liked beam in gymnastics.

We walked through these amazing rice fields. It was much hotter here with the sun beating right down on us, but we were still all very enthusiastics about our adventure. Rice season is about to begin when the rain starts and then it will last for several months. Chai said that after rice season, the tribes people have a "very long vacation" with lots of rice to eat if they have a good harvest. They have a lot of interesting rituals and traditions, including a chicken sacrifice by their field to please the spirits for healthy crops.

We stopped at several bamboo huts along the way, and in one village I got to try the rice preparation gadget. its basically pounds the rice to get rid of the shells and less-edible components. It was pretty cool. I only did it for a short time and I was pooped! i don't know how these women of the tribes can manage doing it all day!

We learned about traditional dress of the Karen Tribe. If a woman is wearing smethign similar to a white dress, then she is unmarried. Most women are married by age 20 (Chai said "Age 30, too old. Not get married"). Women wearing colourful two-piece outfits are married. There are elaborate marriage traditions as well. It is custom for the girl to ask the man's family for permission to marry their son. If this is a go, then they must walk a giant pig around the girl's village three times. The female must kill the pig for a feast, but leave the head because it has to be brought to the man's family to be eaten.

After a good 7-8km of walking our group, exhausted, arrived at a Karen Hilltribe village where we would stay up the mountain in a bamboo hut for the night. We "showered" using a bucket of water and a pot to pour it on us and got out of our sweaty clothes for yummy traditional food. It wasn't all spicy, which was good for me!

We got to go visit a man in the village in his home (taking off all our shoes at the door, of course!) and sat around his cooking fire. I can't remember his name, but he was 23, married with two kids (he wants 10!) and is a farmer. He made us bamboo tea (served in bamboo cups!) and passed around some rice whiskey (really gross, btw). Not too much later they passed around some Thai Hill Tribe Delicacies...its what I like to call Rat-on-a-stick. It was BBQed over the fire. I was being so hardcore that I ate a bit of the tail (it was too burnt to really taste it) and some of the leg. It didn't taste that bad! Simpson pretty much ate the whole thing. Hahah.

After that, we went back to our hut, chatted around the fire, watched the distant lightening storm over the mountains and then went to bed. We woke up the next morning to the sound of exotic birds. It was the coldest i've been since I got here, but it was a nice change from the brutal heat we've been getting used to. One of the guys, Tim (from buffalo) and I played with the kids for a little bit and we got to shoot from their slingshot while they tried on our sunglasses. Tim gave them mini Snickers Bars, but they weren't sure what to do with it. Once they figured out how to open it and that  it was food they were all smiles!

 We started day two's 15km hike with a giant mountain. The first of  four greulling inclines that day. It was hard work, but i was surprised that my asthma and my back never acted up at all. At the top of the mountain, Chai called across the mountains and we heard a Gibbon (some sort of primate) call back! If going up the mountain was hard, going down was difficult too because our legs felt like jello and it started to give me beautiful blisters on my heals.

Eventually we made it to the elepants. There was only three of them, so our group had to split up so that only 6 went at a time. Simpson and I decided eat lunch and cool off in the river first. We got to feed the elephants bananas, which was funny because they are so curious and their trunks are moving around looking for food and sniffing us. Finally, Simpson and i got on our elephant, the smallest one at age 8 (the oldest one was in its 50's). He was really hysterical because he had attitude! He would rip entire branches off trees and hold it in his trunk and then swing it back to hit the top of his head (and sometimes us!). When he other two elephants stopped to eat some bamboo, our elephant would try to steal it from their mounths instead of getting his own! He also would headbutt the elephant infront of us when we got stuck in a "traffic jam". We concluded that the elephant liked us best because we helped him get the bugs off off him. Hahah.


Overall the elephant riding was a cool experience. I'm glad I did it. I'm not sure if I'd do it again on a trek or not. I would rather visit elephants at the conservatory, but we don't have enough time to make it there. Maybe one day....

We hiked for what seemed like forever. It was the hardest thing I've done for awhile. I'm pretty sure I sweat out 20 pounds. When we finally made it to the rafting camp, we all pretty much just crashed. We washed in the river and then chilled out by the fire for a long time. We swapped stories, told jokes, played guitar and sang songs. Some of you will be proud to hear I serenaded our group with my guitar and vocal talents by singing some Harry and the Potters. They were all VERY impressed. 

In the middle of the night Simpson and I were woken up by the people next to us because they had been invaded by an ant colony! Awesome! I love Thailand. If that had been me, I'd have been very freaked out.

We ate breakfast in the morning and then put on our bathing suit because we were going bamboo rafting!!! This was my favourite part of the trek. The rafts had been handmade the night before. They were long enough for five people to be on each one. I chose a spot in the middle and up at the front, Chai had a long stick to help steer the raft and so did Guido, the dutch man who was behind me. We went along the river where it was nice and cool. We spotted some water buffalo and some weird swimming bugs (I wasn't so much a fan of those). We went down rapids and sometimes we got stuck, but that was part of the game! At one point, Chai and guido steered us right in a bush/trees and it all happened so fast that the girl in front of me, Linda (from Holland as well) and I had to clumsily jump/fall overboard to avoid injury! I was pretty hysterical. The rapids were my favourite part because you got to go so fast and we broke off part of our boat once because we were givin'er so hard. Just floating along was nice too though.

Sadly, it came to an end and we had to hike up one more mountain to our pick-up point.The Truck came to get up, we piled and and away we drove.

The roads were incredibly dusty and so my grey shirt was brown by the time we stopped for lunch. After some soup, we piled back on for another 2 hours uphill in pouring rain (it comes so fast!) to Doi Inthanon, the highest point in Thailand. I tried to sleep on the truck, but between my aching muscles and the bumpy, curvy roads, it was a hopeless task.

Finally at the top, the view was stunning. There were two temples with observatories over the surrounding mountains. This is the kind of thing I cannot describe.

We took off from there to see some BEAUTIFUL waterfalls. They cascaded off so many different rocks at different levels. We went close to the bottom and a few of us swam at the bottom and cleaned off and went on a water-fall current ride. It was pretty rad. I've always wanted to swim under a waterfall.

That was pretty much the end of the trek. We drove back to Chiang Mai from there. Our trekking group decided that we would swap photos that night and then head out for dinner to celebrate Valor's (from Washington) birthday! We cleaned up some and then head out. I tried a Long Island Iced Tea. Which is most definately watered down (I mean reeeeeaaaaaaaalllllly) in Thunder Bay, because I couldn't even drink it. Simpson manged with it alright, though. Hahah. Simpson and I attempted a pitiful game at pool while singing along to some quality tunes before we headed over to another touristy bar with live music.

Sven, Kimmy, and the Thunderbay kids... this one is for you::: MO-HI-TOE!!  Yes, thats right, Simpson and I finally tried the infamous Mojito. It was minty.
Not too much later, a plate of meal worms were being passed around... i closed my eyes and ate it. Not bad, but never again. Then, there was a plate of giant crickets. I thought there was NO way I would do it. they looked so gross and creepy. Simpson ripped the legs, wings and head off for me. ... and then i ate it. EWWW. I didn't like that one at all. SO GROSSSSSSS. NEVER EVER will I eat another one. But at least i can say I've eaten them.

I was so tired that night, I crashed pretty quick. Yesterday we mosied around town, ate some delicious pumpkin soup and a grilled ham/cheese/spinach sandwhich, booked a ticket through the guest house to get across into Laos,  and then hit up the night market. We got some icecream too!!

Today has been pretty much the same. We're going to the night market again because I want a pretty skirt. I also really need to get another shirt. 3 tanks tops and one t-shirt = not enough.

Holy. That was long. I hope everything is going well at home!
My next update will be from Laos!!