Wow. Got back from the jungle yesterday and it was so different to what i expected. It was so much harder than what we all thought with more walking and the humidity being even worse than in the city!!
On the first day we left Chiang Mai and went straight to an elephant reserve for a trek with them. I had my own elephant because of odd numbers and got to sit on it's neck instead of the little seat they have. That was great fun but i think we all had mixed feelings about the elephants. They used fairly rough force on them to get them to do what they wanted, which i guess they have to do because these elephants were massive and could easily charge out of control. I guess you can't expect a wild elephant to just let some tourist sit on their back and direct them!! We left there to start our walk into the jungle and hiked 2.5 hours in the what seemed like a steem room! So much steeper than i thought as well! We then got to our waterfall for a break which was amazing. Then on to our camp for the night. Traditional thai food cooked for us! and our huts were literally bamboo huts!!
Second day we were told an even bigger walk which they weren't lying about. We set off at 10 and didn't arrive to our stop untill 2. Where we had another waterfall stop and this one was amazing!! Such a big water fall and it turned out to be right by our camp! So after dinner we had a midnight naked shower (all three of us).
Third day was some more trekking followed by some bamboo rafting down a big river still in the heart of the jungle!
All in all we had an amazing time, and i've never sweated as much, not even through my hardest hockey match! Had amazing food to eat, and saw some amazing things. I think the best thing was seeing how the people STILL live in the jungle! It's amazing to think that their are people in england sitting on their arses claiming job seekers allowance and the people out here literally have to deal with what ever....including the jungle!!
Today was our first full day left in Chiang Mai, and we've literally just got back from a Muay Thai kick boxing class! So much fun, and again very sweaty!! It originated from the thai farmers who developed it to protect themselves against the bandits who would come to their farms to steal things! And it's now the biggest sport out here! Might look into a club at uni for when i'm back!!
Tomorrow we're heading back down to bangkok on a night train and then again on another night train down south to the party islands. So after all that detoxing, it's time to hit the islands for a boogy!!
Hope you're all well! XXX