Day 5
We got to Chaing Mai after a very long night, at around 5am. Had two moments of sheer panic... Firstly, I was waiting for my bag to be chucked out of the bottom of the bus, however it just didn't come. The bus driver didn't speak English and just shrugged, pointed in the empty hold all and closed the boot. I was absolutely devastated, but then, SO LUCKILY, Kirsty saw it on another mans back, just as he was getting into his taxi! It turned out to be a genuine mistake, our bags did look fairly similar and he was obviously exhausted and delerious from the eleven hour bus journey! Secondly, our minibus never came to pick us up. We were sat at the bus station waiting for an hour, and entually they just asked where we were going and squeezed us on a bus and asked the driver to do a detour. Arrived at a hotel named BMP where all the tours leave from and this is where we would meet our fellow treckers. I can't believe how friendly everyone here is compared to Bangkok. The staff were so lovely and welcoming and also SO interesting! We had a delicious breakfast of omlettes, french toast, eggs, bacon and tea. At this point, I was slightly concerned for my life, knowing I was about to embark on a 40 mile treck with about 40 minutes sleep - I was exhausted. Went for a quick swim and shower to freshen up before the treck.
At 9am we set off, so HOT! I think we were so lucky with the group we were with for the walk. A french lady called Claire-Liz, who was an actress and her brother, Pierre who was a hospital manager. A french couple called Chloé and Matthew. Chloé was so lovely! So talkative and interesting. And the last two, were hilarious - French also.. Two men called Guilliame and Damian. They just smoked weed pretty constantly throughout the whole treck. Within the first ten minutes, I was so uncomfortable. My bites were itching and my bag was so heavy. But in the end I really, really enjoyed it. about half way, we stopped off at a small waterfall for lunch, which was lovely - a vegetable rice wrapped in a leaf. After another four hours of walking, we arrived at the most incredible waterfall I've ever seen! It was huge and so powerful! It was pouring with rain as well which was insane! On the way to the tribal village, we stopped off at a primary school in the middle of the jungle. Very strange, but such cute little Thai childen. Our tour guide - Mr. Sun was hilarious! He is almost exactly like a Thai version of Mr. Chang from The Hangover films! So energetic and eccentric. His stories were great, all lies, but nonetheless hilarious! Finally, we arrived at the Tribal Village. It's a whole other world. No electricity and living in the heart of the jungle. We all chilled and drank and played cards. Dinner was delicious - potato curry. Got to know the rest of our group really well. Spent a lot of time chatting to Claire-Liz. She was apparently quite well-known in France, so was really interesting talking to her about being an actress. Finally went to bed at 6pm as I was absolutely shattered!
I woke up ALOT throught the night, probably because I was sleeping on a wooden floor, and sharing a room with nine other people. Still slept about ten hours though which was amazing! Breakfast was delicious - I was starving. Had eggs on toast with a coffee to keep me going through the day. The treck back out of the jungle wasn't bad at all. Yesterday was quite dangerous - climbing up vertical hills, next to cliffs, when it was muddy and slippy. It didn't rain today too much, so going out was relatively easy. He must have taken us on a shortcut back. Saw some incredible views of the mountains - genuinely takes your breath away. Very annoyed that my camera has run out of battery. at about 12:00 we finally got to the end! I think this has been one of those experiences where I was so miserable and close to tears whilst doing it, however in hindsight it was so memorable and I feel so good for doing it!
When we reached the little town we'd started in, they squeezed about 30 people on the back of a van and took us down to the elephant sanctury. Elephants are amazing! They are so beautiful! Kirsty and I shared an elephant for the journey. We bought some bananas and bamboo shoots to give our elephant throughout the journey, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​which lasted around 45 minutes. It was so fun and relaxing, to just walking throgh the jungle sitting on an elephants back! Our elephant was so cheeky! Once she'd worked out that we had food, she would keep stopping and lifting her trunk up to be fed and would refuse to move until we gave her something! Our tour guide was pretty poor - he kept leaving us alone with the elephants which was quite daunting. We saw a little baby elephant, which was one of the sweetest things I've ever seen. Flossy took some amazing photos. We then walked over a field to the last part of this trip - bamboo water rafting. I was slightly apprehensive about this, as I knew there were horrid things in Thai lakes like water snakes, but it turned out to be so calming and lovely. Jodie did fall in though which was hilarious for us, I don't think she was too impressed. Great experience, but dear god am I looking forward to getting back to the hostel to shower and sleep in a bed!
We got on a tuk tuk to our hostel which we'd booked in Bangkok, called Mojito House. We arrived and we were separated into two rooms. Jodie and I took the private room and Kirsty and Flossy went in the dormitory. The dorm was lovely! It was clean, prettily decorated and lots of fans. They were sharing with eight other girls. However, the private room (or the 'Crack Den') was disgusting. It was a matress on the floor with no bedding, covered in staines. Marks all over the walls and a rusty, old fan that did absolutely nothing. I was so exhausted and desperate for a shower and a bed, I would have been happy with anything. After a nap, we went and wandered in the streets of Chaing Mai to find some dinner. We found a really cute little restaurant on the high street, which was covered in fairy lights, lanterns and trees inside. There was a Thai acoustic band playing while we ate as well which was lovely. Me and flossy shared a mac and cheese, which was delicious! Kirsty and Jodie wanted to go out to the clubs in Chaing Mai, whereas Floss wanted to go home and sleep. I wanted to go back to the hostel but had a fomo (fear of missing out), so ended up going out. I had an amazing night! We started off at a bar called Zoe, which was fun! Loud music and lots of dancing. Met a few people in this bar, that we stayed and talked to for a while. I met a really interesting englishman, who had been living in Chaing Mai for 35 years on his own - he told me some great stories! Kirsty stole a figure from a temple, which is going to bring her the worst karma! We moved on to a club called Spicy - which was fun as well! Definitely going to be feeling worse for wear tomorrow morning!
Today was very unexciting - we're all feeling pretty gross. Floss is feeling super ill, so I went down to the shops to get her some medicine, a yakault and a smoothie. After a few hours she was still feeling poorly, so we went to the Chaing Mai hospital to see if we could get her some anti-biotics. The hospital was great - the nurses were very friendly and professional and Floss was seen very quickly. Being at the hospital took up most of the day, so we got a tuk tuk back to the hostel and went out for a nice meal at the hotel across the road. I had a ham and cheese toastie with salad and chips which was so good! Then we went to an internet cafe and organised travel and accommodation to Pai for tomorrow afternoon. Was so nice to go to bed at a normal time and sleep for more than eight hours! I must have passed out within about 15 minutes!
Woke up after having such a good nights sleep! We got everything packed up and ready to leave Mojito house and checked out. We left our bags there and went on to the main high street to find a laundrette and do all of our disgusting laundry. Left it for the lady for two hours whilst we went to find some lunch. We went to a burrito bar, El Diablos, which was right next door. This was truly one of the most disgusting things I've ever eaten. I shared some nachos with Jodie and I am 95% sure that was not beef or pork in the mince. After we finished 'lunch', we went to a spa to each get a manipedi. It ended up only being Flossy that got hers done, as we were running out of time before the bus came to collect us for Pai. The laundrette we were using also had an internet cafe, so decided to skype Jon. Really, really missing him. 4 o'clock came pretty quickly, so Kirsty and I had to run to the bus stop with all the laundry to make sure we didn't miss our bus.
Day 6
Day 8
Day 7
