Oh the jungle...

So this weekend could very possibly had one of the best weekends of my life. For those of you who do not know, I went trekking. I went with a tour company called Panda Tours. It lasted all weekend, Friday to Sunday. Friday we had a late start so our itinerary was moved around. So we arrived at a field where we were fed. After, the tour guide, Kay, led the way. Little did we know we would spend the next 5 hours hiking. There was me, 3 Spaniards, 2 Swedes (we called them Mr. and Mrs. Rambo) they looked like they should be on the cover of a fitness magazine, 2 Korean girls, and 1 Canadian guy named Javieer. We hiked through the jungle, walking on logs over huge holes in the ground, very steep terrain, and to a bat cave. The cave was interesting, I didn't see any bats though. We then proceeded another hour and a half up and down to a Hmong village. This is where we spent the night. We stayed at a large hut designated for tourists. The tour guides made us dinner. Oh another tour guide joined us, named Bond. We sat around enjoying the fact that we no longer were carrying backpacks and our feet had no pressure on them. I took some photos of the village and the surrounding nature. After dinner the tour guides played some games with sticks, thinking games with simple solutions. We woke the next morning, ate breakfast and headed off for our first waterfall. Bond, the tour guide was showing off by climbing up the waterfall. You will see in my photos. The next part included going on a ten minute walk to the elephant camp. There, I refused to participate in the riding of the elephants. So I hung out, played Uno with Bond, Kay, and a guy who worked at the camp. I also wandered, found a waterfall, took photos, and played with the elephant that I was supposed to ride. I was dreading the start of hiking again. Little did I know that the next 36 would be the best yet. It began with a steep climb through the jungle. As we hiked, Bond took note when Javieer and I were tired. So he would stop and show us beetles and such. Once we got past the steep stuff, Bond showed us spiders, interesting trees, and a natural swing (see the photos). He led us all the way to a new waterfall. This was the best one. We went behind part of the waterfall. It was simply a nice setting in the sunshine and a pleasant reward after the hot hike. Once we were cooled off we hiked for another 10 minutes to our home for the night. When we arrived the place was a mess, but within the hour someone came and cleaned up. Bond made us noodles for lunch (see the photos). We were greeted by a cute black puppy, who I later found tics on. We arrived around 2, I think. We decided to just hang out for the rest of the day. We hung around, took photos, talked, and cooked dinner. Some village children came to visit and played with our phones and cameras. Overall it was a great day! By night, I went to bed to only be woken by Javieer every few minutes saying " ppssstt... Kali, you awake? Did you hear that?" There were critters about, but we had nets surrounding us. I think it was just the puppy anyway. Instead of consoling him, of course I had to make the situation worse by saying bats and rats were surrounding us. What can I say, it is in my nature to be an ass hole. Once I finally feel asleep, the next morning we woke up, mingled about, the kids came back to hang out, Bond made us french toast, yum. We took off hiking for about an hour to go bathe in a waterfall. This one was nice, but not my favorite. We arrived back at the cabin, and headed down the road to a lunch spot, where we met some Japanese who were taking off on the trek. Oh, while walking down, Bond wanted to show us fighting beetles, so he took off into tall grass. When he came out, his leg was bitten and bleeding! We think by a snake. I was worried but Bond didn't seem to be. He had a snake bite kit. We continued walking, he wasn't as cheerful as he normally is. But he turned out to be okay. We were fed some fried rice, Bond sang Karaoke, and we watched the men's final volleyball Olympic game. After about two hours the rest of our group arrived and we headed off to go white water rafting! We rafted for, 1 hour supposedly, but it felt like 20 minutes. It was a teaser trip, so now I want to go again. We then headed home. I went home showered, and took Javieer out in town. He didn't get a chance to see Chiang Mai, so I offered to show him around. Maggie came with me and we met up with 2 American girls. GOOD WEEKEND!!