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Hello!! First of many entries hope it all works and you get this! After the absolute choas of Bangkok- sweat, pollution, vile stench and hassle from venders, and not to even mention the buckets..... oh my word!
Moonshine, Opium & Elephants
Nick Comer2006-04-09 14:56:37
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Hello!! First of many entries hope it all works and you get this! After the absolute choas of Bangkok- sweat, pollution, vile stench and hassle from venders, and not to even mention the buckets..... oh my word! joe warned us- i had one and woke up not remembering anything except losing my camera and being slapped repeatedly by some pyscho thai girl! (I still have no idea why she kept hitting me!) Anyway headed north to Chang Mai which is a really nice, relaxed city. Booked a trek in Bangkok for when we arrived in Chang Mai, intended on staying a night first ( bus ride was 12 hours and arrived at 6 in the mornin') but were told we had to go straight away. So we got in a truck and get driven to an elephant camp- those guys have the best summer job ever, riding elephants with your mates in the the jungle with sun, beer and 8 inch banana leaf joints! then we started the trek. apparently it was only about 20-25 degree when we did it, and it can get up to 45, i was sweating so much! after 4-5 hours of clambering through the jungle we arrived at camp. The treks organise so you stay in these villages with hill tribes. They are refugees from Burma who live in bamboo huts in the hills, miles from anywhere, no education or healthcare all self sufficient.... Was really interesting cos our guide spoke good english, learning about what they eat and all the plants and what they do etc... On the second day it became a bit more dangerous..... Our guide took his mate "buffalo bill" with him to guard us at the back from tigers from snakes! this guy is the meaning of the word legend. He drinks moonshine and smokes all day, eats BBQ rat and squirrel for dinner (rat is ok didn't fancy the squirrel), wears green wellies, green pants and a towel( and some smooth sunglasses). He follows us around and apparently could walk in the dark for two days and find his way back to camp! his only english words are "lovelyjubbly" and "lovelyjubblythebaby" for the ladies! oh and "diamondgeezaaa". He took his dog "bodyguard" with us who run up ahead to check for cobras. when we had to cross a rice field the dog would run off, sniff around and then bark if it was ok and then we went across! quite scary when the dogs just legs it starts yelping and our guide runs off with his catapult ready! (just a gibbon apparently). Anyway three days of this sort of stuff combined with bamboo rafting, all our food cooked and sleeping in bamboo huts cost us 1400 baht- about 20-25 quid- bargain. The 12 hour coach cost 3 quid! Then we went up to the golden triangle, where burma, laos and thailand meet- quite interesting to learn about all the drugs etc.. Anyway just chilling now, heading to Bangkok this evening and then down to Koh Phangan for full moon party- could be messy. Speak soon, hope its nice and cold x
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