Rumble in the Jungle

After our day of relaxation in Chiang Mai, we woke up the next day ready for some jungle exploration. We were picked up by our tour guides and joined the rest of our group, a couple from Holland and two girls from the Czech Republic. We were loaded into the back of a truck and driven to a market to get supplies for the trip: a flashlight for late night bathroom trips, toilet paper, and tons of water to replace the sweat that was already pouring out of our bodies. We then headed towards the jungle, with one more pit stop at a temple in the mountains holding a giant Buddha overlooking the valley. At this stop we became acquainted with our guides for the next two days, two Thai guys from the area, Bang a mellow man in a straw cone farmers hat, and Tommy the unpredictable one.

We drove pretty far up into the mountains, something I realized later when much of the walking turned out to be downhill. The jungle was lush and green, and full of bird and bug sounds. Unfortunately because of hunting there are no longer any wild monkeys or other exotic animals living in the jungles around Chiang Mai. Nonetheless as we walked Bang would point out different plants and insects and tell us what they could be used for. This was generally followed by Tommy swooping them up and shoving them into his mouth. At one point he stopped me and Justin, grabbed a leaf and let a stream of red ants crawl over his arm. He then picked them off one by one, munching on them like I would enjoy a bag of pretzels. I also saw him eat a variety of plants, and he even let us taste a few more mild ones. After his snack he would fall back behind us in line and break into a jumbled rendition of one of his favorite songs like 'Don't Worry Be Happy'. The walk was broken up into pieces, usually with a break to swim in a refreshingly cool waterfall. The first waterfall was small but powerful and had a place you could slip through like a water slide. We saw the whole range of falls, from small ones like this to a giant one with a big swimming hole at the bottom. We even stopped in a stream at one point and swam right next to some of the local kids.

After our first day of walking we arrived at our camp for the night. It was a collection of straw huts sitting next to some rice paddies in the valley, no electricity, no running water. But there was beer somehow, and despite the ridiculous heat they still made a campfire. The guides cooked up a delicious dinner of veggies, rice, and chicken curry, and afterwards we all gathered around the fire over some beer and Thai moonshine. I could smell the moonshine from 10 feet away so I decided against trying it, but Justin had a few drinks. His face did not make it look delicious. Tommy brought out his guitar and continued to serenade us with his broken English mixed with moonshine induced giggles. Finally we all crawled into our mosquito nets and called it a night.

In the morning a herder had wandered into our camp with his cows, and when I went to pee the cows were surrounding the outhouse.

We ate a nice breakfast and then we set out for a morning of more waterfalls, jungles, and rice paddies. We ate lunch in a restaurant and then went for elephant rides. I always knew elephants were big, but you don't realize just how powerful you are until you are sitting on their backs. To get on the seat we had to climb up a big platform. Justin and I sat on a open seat with no form of seatbelt to hold us in place. Our guide was sitting on the elephants head, not really holding on to anything at all. Every step that the elephant took made us rock back and forth, and I had to hold on tight to stay in my seat. Before the ride we had bought some bananas to feed our elephant, who we dubbed Paul the Pachyderm. Paul would take a step, stop and reach his trunk around waiting patiently for food. We would hand him a banana, and with a flip of the trunk he would store it in a fold and wait for a second treat. If we didn't give him two, he would stubbornly wait. At this rate he quickly ate our entire stock of bananas, and then got mad we were no longer feeding him. He would snort up some dust from the ground, mix it in his snotty nose, and blow it all over us. Luckily at one point we were able to get some more bananas so Paul delivered us safely back to the ground.

The elephant ride was hot, so thankfully afterwards it was time to head to the bamboo raft. The raft was about 8 long bamboo shoots tied together with a guide standing on the front using a long pole to maneuver it down the river. It was so relaxing, just sitting on this raft floating slowly through the water. When we got to the end there were little platforms lining either side of the river. Families were sitting at them having picnics and drinking. Some were playing in the water, and everyone waved and splashed us as we drifted through. Post bamboo raft it was time to return to Chiang Mai and say goodbye to our new friends.