We set off and first visited a butterfly and orchid farm, which was pretty bland, so we'll skim over that. Next stop, the elephant centre!!! We bought some bananas to feed the beautiful animals and then hopped on (or rather very catiously stepped on) to the seat upon our elephant's back. He had great character and after every few steps, he'd stop and demand a banana before he continued. The riding itself was actually much harder work than I expected it to be, almost like a slow motion bucking-bronco, but all in all a great thing to do.
Then, we set off up the mountain, a three hour uphill hike. It was tough work but when we got to the mountain-top village of the Lahu tribe, we all shared a great sense of achievement (and mutual exhaustion). Our tour guide, Puzaa, was such a laugh, he was an avid Manchester United fan, and constantly wore clothes related to the team and played United music from his phone. Throughout the three days, he pointed out lots of interesting plants and wildlife in the forest: rubber trees, tika trees, eagles, tarantulas, a snake to name but a few. He constantly joked around with us all and kept the morale in our group of eight high. On the first night we stayed in the village, and in the morning, we were treated to a picturesque view over the valley below all the way to Chiang Mai city. On the second day, four people headed back to Chiang Mai, as they were only on the two day trek, and James and I spent the rest of the trek with Puzaa and a French couple, so we were challenged to practice our Frech, and we were both surprised by how much we remembered. The second day's trek consisted of visiting a few beautiful waterfalls, which we swam in, and even showered in (Puzaa provided shower gel and shampoo), all very Herbal Essences. That night we slept in a jungle camp and stayed up playing cards by candle light. On our third and final day, we went white water rafting on a river with some true rapids, so that was great fun. Obviously this account of the trek has been vastly trimmed down to be concise enough for the blog, we have so many great stories!
Since our trek, just yesterday in fact, we visited a tiger park and were alowed into the enclosures to stroke the tigers and have photos taked with them. We visited the park with two Irish girls who were staying in the dorm we're in. We all started off with the tiger cubs, each ten months all, so cute! We tried to formulate a plan to steal one and bring it home, but there were too many locked doors and guards to pull it through. We then went to see the adult tigers, so that was a little bit more nerve racking, but they are such beatiful creatues and have such a sense of wonder about them.
Finally, James completed a bungy jump of 50m yesterday. Obviosuly I can't tell you about the experiecne having not done it myself, so here he is.
Hear me now rude boi's! Well 50m may not sound that high compared to the 150m+ jumps that you can do in places like New Zealand and Macau. However, firstly and most importantly it was cheap. Price here out rivals danger, quality of equiptment and staff training. But the experience is still the same, so I wasn't too bothered by the seemingly laxidasical approach to people hurling themselves off a 50m high crane, attached by only a few elastic bands tied together. Secondly, you may turn your nose up at a mere 50 meters, but let me tell you now, when you are at the top, even though I tried my hardest not to look down, it still seems bloody high up! I feel that when you can view miles of Thai scenery uninterrupted, thats when your too high up.
The process is very simple; they tie your feet, take you to the crane, they tell you in very broken english where to jump off, the instuctor takes the last few photos displaying my sheer terror, then 3, 2, 1, and you have to jump. For a split second my body told me that it wasn't going to do it, but I leant forward and then I was falling. Before the jump I made sure I didnt look down too much as to not scare myself too much, but as soon as you are falling it is impossible not to see how high up you are, and how quickly you are plumetting toward the ground. The feeling is like nothing I've felt before. It is a huge adreneline rush as you fall so quickly, and then I touched the water of the lake below and then I was catapulted back towards the sky. After the first shock of falling I didn't feel too much of the next part, but I remember bouncing around for a few seconds, then dangling and spinning for what seemed like an eternity, before they lower you back onto good old terra firma. Then you get a picture with your certificate and off you trot. I think it was one of the best feelings I've had whilst being out here, but as to whether I'd do it again, that's another matter.
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