Thailand, Days 2 to 4

After taking the train into Chiang Mai we found a place to stay at the Family Trekking Inn. They were very friendly and the high-energy lady at the desk, located on a tiled porch that blurred the distinction between inside and outside, organized our airfare down to the beaches in the south. But first we went on the trek!

The trek was loads of fun and I made friends with a number of other travellers, especially an Italian couple named Stefano and Eliza, two U.K. girls named Laura and Viviane, and an Israeli guy named Noam. For the first day of the trek I called him Norm by mistake. There were many other trekkers there, including some Germans - oops I mean Austrians, I kept calling them German - with whom I bathed naked in the river after a day's trek. The river bath was refreshing, but getting out and standing on the viny, leafy, bushy bank while putting on my shorts I was attacked by an army of mean red ants. Also there was a cricket in my shorts that seriously gave me a surprise. I whipped those shorts off quickly, let me tell you!

But that was day two of the trek - or was it? It's all getting confused and will have to be sorted out by the pictures which are date-stamped. I remember walking along treacherous trails wearing my black dress shoes, purchased at City Shoes in the Eaton's Centre. They're pretty much dead now and I think I'll buy some trekking shoes in Thailand for cheap. I also remember speaking lots of different languages with people from all over the world - some German, some French with Stefano, and of course the universal language - English. I'm somewhat embarrassed by the prevalence of English because it forces everyone else in the world to learn my language. I think everyone ought to learn one extra language - but frankly it's quite convenient to have everyone learn the same second language. It means that Germans can talk with Italians who can talk with Thais and so on. All the instructions were given in English by our tour guide, the intrepid and ever-smiling Deng.

The first day was a simple hike up into a small village of the Mong hill tribe, which is a semi-nomadic tribe from China. Our guide, Deng, is from the Mong people but he is very internationalized. They pressed bead bracelets on us for 10 baht each, which is about 30 cents. I bought a bracelet and two necklaces. The bracelet I don't wear because it's too small for me, but the necklaces are now my constant adornment. I think they make me look rather touristy - if the "Bangkok, Thailand" hat doesn't quite do the trick. I explored around the camp by myself when I got in, and met up with some Germans (ethnically Chinese - surprise!) with whom I had a long discussion in German. It was nice to speak in the language, and they clearly appreciated finding someone else who spoke German. I couldn't do the same with the Austrians as their German is very different from the one I learned in school. That night I decided to partake in the rum-drinking activities with my JET companions. Deng performed magic tricks with pink plastic packing string and cards. Then he showed us how to do them and we tried. We tried and failed. I drank a full mini bottle of rum - perhaps 220 mL - and became happily intoxicated. However when I went to lie down in the bamboo hut I felt ill, and I was in and out of the hut all night with the nauseau and the vomiting in the clear jungle moonlight. How romantic.

Day two of the trek I was hung over, but surprisingly, trekking actually helped me to feel better. I had managed to get about 5 or 6 hours of sleep - not bad considering the night I had. This was the day of wide open canyons and forested mountains. It was also the day of stopping at a waterfall and swimming.

Day three of the trek involved a rafting experience down the river on bamboo rafts - which were literally just a bunch of bamboo lashed together. I used a large bamboo pole to guide the raft, in alternation with Noam - although really the native rafter did most of the guidance from the front. The two English girls rafted with Noam and I. I find that most of the time I spent with the other tourist outside my "JET group". At the end of the rafting jaunt - in which we occasionally slammed into rocks and once I even fell full on my face - haha - we arrived at the elephants! The elephants were to be our transportation for the next segment of our journey. Noam and I shared an elephant and we traded cameras with Laura and Vivienne (I don't know how to spell her name so I figure I'll change it each time). We took many bumpy photos of each other in the fading battery power of our digicams. Noam actually sat up on the elephant's head, but I decided to stay in the chariot of steel mounted on his back. At the end we gave the elephants bananas and sugar cane, and they would sneak up behind us and ambush us in search of these treats. And yes, an elephant can actually sneak up behind you and ambush you. Clever little devils. On the way back to Chiang Mai we watched a snake show. The snake show is an exciting event in which the "snake charmer" abuses the snakes by chucking them around the ring in order to arouse their anger. Meanwhile an announcer booms over a mike - I don't know why he did this as there were only about 20 people there - about how the snake charmer is brave and then makes off-colour jokes about snake love. I resolve not to see another.