Trekking in the Jungle

Hello my dearly missed friends and family! It was quite the adjustment getting back to Chiang Mai city after weeks of peaceful solitude. The first week of November is a festival in the city, so rooms were over booked, there were bus loads of people coming into town, fireworks and firecrackers going off every few seconds...it was a shock to say the least. The first night back I lie in bed, hearing all of the madness outside, jumping everytime I heard a bang, it was assuring to know that I would be gone for the next three days on a trekking adventure. The trek was nice, and a welcomed escape from the city (again). Our group started with 8 people, plus 2 tour guides. There were four people in thier early 20's from BC (one a massage therapist at Whister....hmmm), then a couple on their honeymoon from Australia, and an older man from Florida. Our guides, Pi (an alcoholic but very kind and harmless, has 2 wives) and Terry (an 18 year old in med school, spoke only a bit of english, but was full of entertainment). Out of the group, 5 were wearing flip flops...yes, on a hike. The jungle was extremely quiet. The only sound was this insanely loud bug. Very few birds, only the nest of monkeys, and too many spiders for my liking. First we took a bamboo raft down a muddy river, but it was plently of fun. Our first night camping was at this massive waterfall. We had home cooked vegetable soup, with rice and chicken. We then sat around the campfire for a bit and told ghost stories and such. The beds were open air huts, with bamboo "mattresses", sleeping bags and bug nets (good thing since there was this wicked spider outside the hut, and according to Pi it is poisonous). The next morning as we sipped our morning cuppa, we all stared blinklessly at the cooking fire, we had maybe gotten 2 hours of sleep..the waterfall was SO loud, and we were all SO cold. After our breakfast of cold toast with jam and fresh pineapple we left for our hike. The Australian couple and the other american went back, they had only paid for one night camping, and the rest of us continued up the mountain, flip flops and all. We stopped at a second smaller waterfall for lunch, were we showered in the falls and ate noodles in the sun. From there we hiked up to the village Panmo. There are about 60 people living in the village, making up a total of 9 families. They make their living by growing rice, and selling us tourists coke, water and such. For dinner we had tofu and vegetables, and some of the villages rice (for a moment I forgot I was camping). The rice was amazing, a bit sticky, brown and hardy...ah, perfect. I had brought with me an apple, that when I bit into it I was far from satisfied. Pi suggested that I give it to Nah, this 6 year old girl standing by his side. As I felt a bit ashamed handing her this half eaten apple, she willing took it with a grin. Apparently is a special treat to get an apple up in the village. Later we sat around the campfire. Terry trying to teach me Thai, Nah drawing me pictures of flowers and such all while wearing my headlamp, Pi drinking his beer, one of the girls getting a thai massage...all while the full moon cast our shadows over the dancecing flames of our fire. The next morning we once again "enjoyed" our breakfast of toast and pineapple, and headed out of the jungle. We stopped for a ride on the elephants, which I found a bit sad. Mine was the only male of the bunch. His name is Soon Chai, and 20 years old...and quite definant just as any young man is. I arrived back in Chiang Mai, and met up with Lorna again. We were to meet for a vegetarian meal, but settled on festival snacks, and went to this quaint restaurant called the Herb Garden that had nice red wine to cap off the evening. The night was quite intense with the noise of the parade, and performances on the stage (all going on at the same time). It is tradition that during the festival you place flowers (and a wish) in the river, or send a wish off with a balloon (something more like floating lantern). It was truely a beautiful site. The sky was full of these make shift stars, as well as fireworks and a mostly full moon. Now, just to get away from all of these people and all of this noise. Uh, yes, I shall leave for the beaches in the morning!