Ok, so let’s see where I left off. We were headed out on our 3 day/2night safari trek. To backtrack, it is really hard to decide on which trek to book. I would say the majority of people show up to Chiang Mai, check out their options and then book their trek. There is a large population of people traveling for months at a time, and they have the luxury of being more flexible with times, etc. Jealous! So, this is what I was most worried about when planning the trip. We had such a short time there we wanted to make sure we were headed out on the right one. I had been joking with many that we would not return because we had booked the “budget” trek. $50 for both of us for 3 days! It’s crazy!
Well, to make a long story short, we booked the right one. We could not have been with a better group! The tour company picked us up at our hotel, we picked another couple up at their hotel, and then we set off to meet up with the rest of our group at a local market to get our supplies for dinner, breakfast, etc. And, then we were off! All in all, there were 12 people on the trek and 3 guides…2 Brits, 2 French, 2 Germans, 2 Austrians, 1 Finnish, 1 Japanese, and us. We were a great mix and had so much fun exchanging stories. I’m not going to lie, the trek started off incredibly rough…just imagine walking on a stairstepper (if those still exist), at the highest level, for 5 hours. Yes, this is how I was feeling. We headed up a waterfall first, and went for a bit of a swim. That was one of our highlights for sure. The power of the falls was crazy, and I could barely hold on. After that we set off on the stairstepper again…we were the sweatiest, most dirty people I had ever seen.
And, oh, I forgot! Before we made it to the beginning of our walk, we stopped along the way to take a brief ride on an elephant through the jungle and down through a river. I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this, because I have a strong belief that elephants belong in the wild. But, the outfit we used seemed to be very nice to the elephants, and gave them lots of space. So, I decided to be ok with it for the time being. It was more fun than I was expecting. As we walked with him, there were stops along the way where we could purchase bananas to feed him. Don’t even think about giving your elephant just one banana…he would eat 4-6 at a time. I guess in a day they eat about 200 kilos worth of food. We had fun walking with him, and Greg even sat on his head for a bit.
Ok, so to get back to trekking. It was so hard! We were so sweaty, and I wasn’t even carrying our pack! Greg was my hero! We only had one small backpack so we packed our things in it, and he carried it the whole time. I would say day 1 was 80% uphill. We were relieved when we finally made it to the village we were to stay in that night. The accommodations were basic, and a sight to be seen. But, it didn’t matter, there was a cold shower and no more hills to be walked over for a bit. That night was one of my favorites. We had a great meal, sat around telling stories, and one of the guides played the guitar. To top it all off, he even played “Country Roads” without me requesting it! Somewhere during the evening, I ate a cricket. Greg ate handfuls of crickets…I ate only one. Eating bugs here is a normal occurance. They season them and fry them up! When in Rome, I guess.
Sleeping that night was not so good…there was a thunderstorm, pigs squeeling, locusts buzzing, and the village rooster crows at 3am. So, day 2 was a little tough, but luckily mostly downhill. We made it through hiking, and ended the day with a bamboo rafting trip down a river. At this point, Greg and I were the only 2 to continue on for one more day. Everyone else had signed up for the 2 day/1 night trip. So, in the end, Greg and I decided to cut our trek short one day. We had honestly had so much fun with the group, plus we and all of our belongings were soaked from the thunderstorm, so we decided our trek was over as well.
We returned to Chiang Mai, moved our flights to the islands up, and are currently residing in our bungalow on the beach! More to come…
Ok, so to get back to trekking. It was so hard! We were so sweaty, and I wasn’t even carrying our pack! Greg was my hero! We only had one small backpack so we packed our things in it, and he carried it the whole time. I would say day 1 was 80% uphill. We were relieved when we finally made it to the village we were to stay in that night. The accommodations were basic, and a sight to be seen. But, it didn’t matter, there was a cold shower and no more hills to be walked over for a bit. That night was one of my favorites. We had a great meal, sat around telling stories, and one of the guides played the guitar. To top it all off, he even played “Country Roads” without me requesting it! Somewhere during the evening, I ate a cricket. Greg ate handfuls of crickets…I ate only one. Eating bugs here is a normal occurance. They season them and fry them up! When in Rome, I guess.
Sleeping that night was not so good…there was a thunderstorm, pigs squeeling, locusts buzzing, and the village rooster crows at 3am. So, day 2 was a little tough, but luckily mostly downhill. We made it through hiking, and ended the day with a bamboo rafting trip down a river. At this point, Greg and I were the only 2 to continue on for one more day. Everyone else had signed up for the 2 day/1 night trip. So, in the end, Greg and I decided to cut our trek short one day. We had honestly had so much fun with the group, plus we and all of our belongings were soaked from the thunderstorm, so we decided our trek was over as well.
We returned to Chiang Mai, moved our flights to the islands up, and are currently residing in our bungalow on the beach! More to come…
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