Tuesday, April 15, 2008

The Hike: Day 1










I have managed to return from Chiang Mai with all of my bones in an intact condition except a few minor scratches on my legs. No silly falling during the trekking tour and no nasty encounters with stampeding human-buffalo's in Chiang Mai city during the Songkran festival - trust me, I saw quite a few people (including women) with arms and legs covered in elastic bandages and looking like some war veterans. The whole town was going wild...but I will get back to that later. Lets start with the trekking tour while my memories are still fresh.

Day 1
Got picked up from my guesthouse by a man, who turned out to be our guide for the whole 3 days; on the way more people where picked up - I believe we got to be 11 in total for the first night. This is slightly funny - in the previous post I mentioned I figured (as the TravelHub lady told me) the group I'd be joining in on was from Germany and in their early thirties. Well, there was one German student there; basically the folks requesting the hike were exchange students studying in BKK - mainly french, one Canadian, one American and yeah, the infamous German guy. And so not even close to 30! But I was "saved" by additional 2 drop-in's like me :)

Nevertheless, great people and it was entertaining to observe the dynamics of the group and compare their impressions of being stationed in Bangkok. Some love it, some hate it to their guts. The french seemed to seriously suffer from lack of access  to proper cheese and wine (oh those spoiled gourmets :P). Understandable, really. I miss that too. I also got to hear a sentence in the lines of "as long as I make 250 thousand by the time I'm 30, I'll be a happy man". Felt like asking for the Recipe Of Happiness.

As I have mentioned before, this is the time of Songkran/Water Festival - the traditional Thai New Year. The main fun attraction (both for tourists and the locals) is throwing water at everyone - people passing by, moving vehicles  - you name it. Wherever there are people living, "attack stations" in the shape of huge water barrels OR (for the more sophisticated type) water hoses are set up on the roadsides. There is no escaping getting soaked. Especially when the ride is taken in an open-type truck. Well, our guide was prepared - large plastic bags for keeping our backpacks dry. No human-size sacks for us. Get the drift. Two hour long drive later The Hikers where "unloaded" and got to trek for an hour... uphill, naturally. Lunch.

Elephant ride. Apparently em' beasts in Chiang Mai area has a particular skill - spray their own spit all over themselves and whoever happens to be on top. And if some muddy stream happens to be on the route, why not to do the same thing, huh? Elephant saliva - not cool! Mud flying out through the elephants trunk all over me - not cool either :)

Another three hours. Uphill, naturally. Well, the point of the trip was to go to 2 small mountain villages, so it couldn't have been that much of a surprise that the walk will go upwards, but the human mind has it's own mysterious ways of fooling the beholder. Sore muscles kicked in on the 2nd day.

The village was beautiful - great view even though April is not the optimal month for that. The bamboo huts (just like camping, except that one is freed from setting up a tent), home cooked food, beer and guitars - couldn't think of a better way how to end a tiring day. Guitar playing and singing along until early morning hours... hehe, both of the guitars were so out of tune, that Jedi aka Gad eventually refused to play it - hurting ears, you see :)
Obviously we were sending such good 'vibes' throughout the tiny village that another trekking group joined us - quite a crowd in the end. Great, great night. 








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