Pain, Elephants, and Crashing Into Rocks

So our 3 day trek started out easy enough with a moderate hike to a Karren village in the mountains. We were all wearing small backpacks that carried all of our gear. It was hot, and after I made it up a steep hill like a chugging locomotive it was mostly downhill. But, wouldn't you know I slipped and scraped my knee when we were almost to the village. Ruining my only good pair of pants.

The village straddled either side of a stream, and all the houses were made out of wood and on stilts. We showered in the stream under a make-shift bamboo shower. It was really nice sleeping up in the cool mountains. I saw my first stars there and I sighed with relief.

Day 2 of the trek almost killed me. Nothing lets you know you are out of shape like climbing a mountain in extreme heat for 40 minutes. That 40 minutes was part of a 3 hour hike to an elephant camp in the middle of the forest. I thought I was going to pass out and my body would just burst like a bubble leaving my entrails running down the path. But, it was all worth it when we arrived at the secluded elephant camp along a small stream. We rode elephants to the next village on our tour. I was a bit scary because the elephants were going along very narrow paths and up steep inclines. Our next village was much more developed with a large school and many houses had running water. It began to rain later that night so we stayed in our stilted house and played games with our Thai guides. We sat with them later drinking some Thai whiskey and swapping stories about our lives. One of our guides was so funny. He laughed after every sentence. Turns out he was a monk for 16 years, and left to try something new.

The 3rd day which is today. We woke early and took and hand-built bamboo raft down the Mae tang river. We were on it for 3 hours. I was even able to steer it. Mark feel off twice, Omar once, me almost once, but I crashed us into the rocks 2 times and knocked myself down when my pole hit a tree. Sounds like a disaster, but it was a lot of fun. We all had a chance to help push the boat, but I was the only one who played captain. The river was beautiful. It was nice having trees tower over you instead of concrete blocks, and the sounds of birds and the water, not of cars and shouting. Traveling can be very peaceful, and for that I am thankful.