We had an OK night sleep. We kept waking up cold but it was lovely still being able to hear the waterfall!! Everyone else shared the same view on it being cold!! One couple had to be woken at 10am and they had slept much better than anyone! We pottered around taking photos and drinking coffee before we were served breakfast of egg, toast and jam! It was then time to get our bits together and ready to trek. The 2day trekkers said goodbye to the 3 day trekkers and didn't envy them as they had a day of walking ahead of them!
There were 7 2day trekkers so we went with Toon on a much easier walk than yesterday! We followed the river for about 2 hours on some very narrow tracks we passed some lovely waterfalls. We didn't have much time to stop today so few photos were taken! We stopped at a camp beside a small waterfall where we could get in! It was so cold again but very refreshing after walking! The locals were in this one too and some of the children came down to play. They were all so happy and chilled, but then who wouldn't be if you got to play in the river every day!
From there we walked a little further to Toon's home camp. It was a much bigger camp, around 160 people lived there from 3 families. We met his mother who again was very happy despite not having much. We had a chance to mooch around and met a very funny and friendly pig! We also watched two women making patterned scarves. We were then collected in a pick up truck and taken for lunch before heading up to the elephants. We swapped cameras with the kiwi couple and jumped on board! The elephants were beautiful and surprisingly rough to touch! The ride took us up through the wooded area and back round via the river. Our elephant was the only well behaved one! The swedes didn't have a 'driver' as there were 3 of them so the leader walked along side but their elephant kept wandering off for food! We also had a baby with us who kept getting up to mischief! He kept getting in the way of the bigger elephant and throwing dust back! Hehe! There was a stop where you could buy bananas for the elephants and while the 'driver' of the kiwis elephant jumped off to get something, their elephant decided to walk off and leave him there!! The swedes decided to buy their elephant some nana's and while paying he decided to steal some bananas!! Then he got a bit clever and decided that he wouldn't walk unless he had been fed a banana!! It was all very amusing! While walking through the river the baby elephant kept jumping about in the water and just wanted to play! He was very cute!!
After our elephant trekking it was time for bamboo rafting! To start with it was a lovely gentle ride down the river, through a few fast flowing areas and getting stuck on a few rocks until our guide decided to overtake the swedes! It was then couples vs the swedes in a race to see who could get the wettest and who could get away first! There were all sorts of tactics involved and mainly trying to knock the guides off the rafts! It was very amusing and we made a get away when the other guides bamboo stick broke! Hehe! Very enjoyable!
It was then time to say goodbye to Toon and head back to Chiang Mai! We had an hour journey back and then it was time to say our goodbyes and made our way back to the guesthouse for a well earned shower!
We really enjoyed the trek and wish we had time to do 3 days and 2nights. Although it was strenuous to start with, it was well worth it and would have happily stayed longer!
After we went for dinner we popped to Tesco which was about a 10min walk away. We acquired a little friend in the form a of a dog who decided to follow us all the way there, wait for us outside the shop, and then follow us back! It was a tad embarrassing as we got a few dodgy looks along the way! He kept looking out for us though and if we didn't cross the road when he did, he would wait in the road until we had!! He was surprisingly well trained at crossing the road! In the end we lost him when he stopped for a drink in a fountain and we made a quick get away into the guesthouse.