The night before we left, it was suggested and decided that instead of just hanging around Chiang Mai all weekend, we would embark on a 3-day trek through northern Thailand. This organized trek consisted of hiking, bamboo rafting, elephant rides, and two nights staying in local villages. We took the overnight bus on Wednesday night and arrived Thursday morning to begin. It was six of us and one guide, Toto.
It started with a very long truck ride into the mountain wilderness. It was winding and bumpy, and we occupied ourselves by singing the entire time (this will be critical later). That afternoon we hiked up a mountain and to a small waterfall, then down to the village for the night.
The village was small, simple, and apparently traditional. We were immediately bombarded with kids who enjoyed playing with our cameras and looking at pictures. After dinner, they sang songs for us, and Toto made us sing for them as well. It was disasterous. We had no idea what to do, and we wound up picking the most ridiculous songs (including Build Me Up Buttercup, Hark the Sound (heck yes), and some Backstreet Boys). We kept thinking we were done, and then Toto would say "one more farang [foreigner] song!" When we later asked him about it, he said that he doesn't normally make his trekkers sing, but our singing in the truck had prompted it. What a racket.
We slept in a bamboo hut in little pods with mosquito nets (very modest accommodations). There wasn't electricity, and the bathroom facilities consisted of a squat toilet (i.e. bucket) and a small spigot, but the first night wasn't too bad. That night we were awoken around 3am by the loudest roosters that you could ever imagine. They kept crowing, and crowing, and crowing, and I kept thinking "where's the sunrise?" The cacophony continued until the actual sunrise, by which time we were all about ready to strangle the first rooster we saw. Both the villages we stayed at were full of animals - everything from pigs, dogs, and chickens, to cows and buffalo (I think that's what they were).
The next day, the real adventure began. We hiked through the jungle to a river, where we stopped for lunch before our 3 hour bamboo rafting adventure. All the trek brochures advertise bamboo rafting with pictures of very happy travelers wearing life jackets sitting on sturdy rafts and having the times of their lives. These images are not at all accurate. Not only did we have to stand up on the rafts and hold our balance, we also had to steer the rafts down the river with bamboo poles (avoiding the banks, trees, and rocks). It was very Oregon-Trail-esque. After an injury to another rafter forced me to steer the back of the raft, we of course proceeded straight toward a gigantic tree which I didn't even attempt to avoid.
In Oregon Trail, when you hit a tree or a rock, you lose everyone on your journey, but again, this is not realistic. We hit that tree and probably 20-something odd rocks and roots, nearly losing our bags each time, and we still made it down the river. Plus we had to battle bug infestations and a red ant nest on the back of our raft. It was quite an accomplishment. And by the way, the river was pretty shallow (my bamboo steering pole could reach the bottom), so I was able to avoid flipping out the entire time at being on the water.
We were very happy to arrive at the second village with everyone in one piece. It was much like the first. We ate dinner and headed to bed without having to give another performance (thankfully) and hoped to get some sleep in before the next chorus of roosters.
During our hikes, Toto would give us random pieces of fruit or snacks and say something like "it's good for running ... to the bathroom!" I found this joke very funny until that 2nd night, when I found myself actually running to the bathroom. Shortly after going to bed, half of our group came down with the dreaded, infamous food poisoning. I don't really want to talk about it... just imagine the facilities (or lack thereof) described earlier. On one particularly urgent journey, I fell down the steps of the hut, and I now have a football-sized bruise on my leg (as well as 4 other bruises). Needless to say, by the end of the night the roosters were the least of our problems.
The next morning, we skipped hiking and took a truck to meet the others at the elephant camp. We decided that it would be preferable to be sick on an elephant as opposed to sick in a truck, so we rode the elephants anyway. It was actually an incredible experience with amazing scenery... I wish I'd been able to enjoy it more.
We took a truck back to Chaing Mai, and after all the mountain-winding and elephant-riding, I was reduced to staying in bed all night. The following afternoon, we took a bus back to Bangkok and arrived that night, with many of us (uh... mainly me) still sick. I stayed home today and am just now starting to feel better. It's a shame that the trip had to end this way, because the first two days were so amazing. My description hasn't done it justice because I'm forced to summarize and give a weather report. But there were so many more little things that happened that were just incredible. And honestly, there's nothing quite like getting sick in a bamboo hut in the middle of freaking nowhere with minimal facilities and a chorus of roosters cheering you on.
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