Jungle Boogie

Well that was fun! Some things weren't as glorious as the tour office made them out to be ,but as we've since learned, that's to be expected. The first day we stopped at a market to grab last minute essentials like water, whiskey and toilet paper (Thailand is one of those "left hand" countries so you kinda gotta carry it around if you plan on lightening the load). Then off we went by "4x4" - read: small pick-up truck, to the elephant tour. The elephants were really cool,but all we did was like an hour circle. Not the trek to a destination we had envisioned. Nonetheless, it was a unique experience. It's pretty cool heading up or down hills on a beast that size. You really feel like you're going to fall off. We got to feed them sugar cane as a treat (for an extra 20 baht) which was cool. The dexterity of their trunks is really cool. Who said the thumb was so hot?
After all the excitement we drove a little further into the jungle to start our trek.
In our little party was our guide Sim, myself, Alison, two girls from Ireland Dee and Maeve as well as Ted and Helen, a couple from England and Wales. The hiking was a great change from the trekking across cities that I have grown so accustomed to. The views were spectacular. In a sense it was similar to home (hard to explain) but instead of evergreens there were banana trees, Teak trees and rice paddies no name just few.There was always a sweet smell emenating in the jungle which was pleasent. Maybe it came from the pineapple plants littering the jungle floor. We didn't see any wildlife other than some interesting bugs... There was probably a dozen waterfalls that we walked by, three of which we stopped at for lunch and a swim. Nothing quite like a waterfall massage... It was really a great adventure. We did sorta feel though that we were being led from hill tribe village to hill tribe village to buy trinkets. It got anoying after a while, but I guess as tourists, we've created a dependency on our dollars. All our meals were taken care of by our chef and guide Sim. They weren't canned beans or bad soup like I'd eat on a camping trip, but noodles ot rice with eggs and different meats for the carnivors. Good living. We even got pancakes on the last day. Sweet! (Incidently, you can buy banana "pancakes" from vendors on the streets. They fry them up right there, smother them in a sugary heavy cream, then add powdered sugar on top. Served hot, it's killer delicious).
Anyway the english couple anounced to us that they were now engaged, so obviously we got into the Thai whiskey. Good times. Ted had popped the big one (question that is) in the back of a Tuk Tuk. That takes guts, either she'll love it or hate it. She loved it. They were only on a 2 day trek, so the next day we said our tearful goodbyes. Two Korean chaps joined us both named Seung, just to make it easy. That's three Seungs I know now. Hat Trick!
The last day we got to do bamboo rafting down the river (WeiWang I think).The raft was 8 or 9 five-inch round lengths of bambo strapped together. it was about 20 feet long though. Cool trip down the river. Very cool actually as I fell in... Oops. That's what happens when I'm steering I guess!
So the jungle was a neat experience. Later that night we made plans with the Irish girls to meet up and celebrate my aging bones. I'll write about that later though.