Days 13 & 14: Hilltribe Lahoo, Elephant riding, and Bamboo Rafting

After we said goodbye to the Karen people, we walked for a couple hours to a river where elephant trainers gave trekkers rides on their elephants. The group went out in threes. Layne and I rode on the wooden bench on the elephant's back and held Rajiv onto the elephant's neck. We were twelve feet high, and every time the elephant went up or down slopes, we had to climb up the bench and hold on :]

Next we completed the hike to the next village, the Lahoo, along a path that was a little more treacherous than the first one, with long drops into the river on one side. And one of the dogs from the elephant camp decided to follow us most of the way to the village, and even skipped across the "temple of doom" bridge (a wooden bridge missing most of its foot planks) ahead of me.


The Lahoo village was set on higher stilts than the Karen, as they live right on the river. Our mosquito net dorm was set up and waiting for us, so we waded into the river and shampooed our clothes, then played spoons for a couple hours, followed by a game that our trek guide Anan wanted to teach us called "Hi Harry". And we were raucous.
The hill tribe trek was memorable for the beauty of the jungle, and the camping environment, and for having to dodge villagers as they drive their scoops scooters along tiny foot paths through lines of trekkers clinging to the hillside hundreds of feet above terraced rice fields. But the best part, for me, was the last day when we poled down the river on 25'long, handmade bamboo rafts.
The Lahoo people cut about ten thick bamboo stalks to length and lashed them together with bamboo skin, then handed us skinnier bamboo poles to push ourselves around with, and we maneuvered our bus length raft through the rapids and out of the jungle. There are no pictures of the rafting because all our precious stuff was wrapped in plastic in our bags. I wish we could have taken some video of the trip down the river, but i'm glass the electronics were kept safe; two out of three of the rafts slammed into larger rocks on a couple of the rapids, spilling all the people and bagS into the water. Actually, Layne and I were on the successful raft :]
The bamboo rafting concluded our three day trek through the jungle, and after we slept through a two hour ride in the back of a "songtail"- one of those trucks with two benches in the back- the Chiang Mai Gate Hotel was the most beautiful hotel of the trip.

Day 24- in transit, again

Goodbye island paradise! 

Today we left stunning koh Tao to head back up to Bangkok, right in time for the election on the second of feb. eek! There has been some political unrest (to say the least) in Bangkok for the last month. For the past few years, one family has dominated the elected government, able to fulfill a political agenda by *somehow* being voted into office year after year. Many citizens of Thailand have had enough and began the "shutdown Bangkok, restart Thailand" protest campaign. Protesters blocked many of the major streets in Bangkok, hoping to dissuade many from voting on the second. They hoped to block voting booths, making it an illegal election and demand an unelected people's party to run the govt for a while. I personally don't know enough about the issue to have a strong opinion either way, it's been a fascinating (and sometimes nerve wracking) aspect of our trip. 

Anyway. We spent the morning on koh Tao packing and preparing for the next leg of our journey. We needed to get nick some passport photos for the Cambodian visa, plus needed an Internet cafe to print, fax and check some stuff because real life is still somehow happening back in California. Weird. 

We took a ferry to Chumphorn, and stayed in a cafe there for a few hours till the train arrived. I really (weirdly enough) enjoyed this little layover. It was fun getting to know our travel companions more and more, and I think somehow the impending end of our trip was somehow pushing us closer and closer. Our self-elected CFO (chief field trip officer)Thomas led us around Chumphorn and we visited a street market and sampled a few local snacks. 

That night we had our last night train. We spent a good portion chatting with the others but eventually had to closethe curtains   and fall asleep on the last night of the Thailand tour. 

Day 22 & 23 -- Koh Turtle (Tao)

We arrived by catamaran, splashed around in the amazingly clear, shallow wading pool of a beach near our hotel, which was called Seashells Resort, then met the group for pizza.  After pizza, the group decided to play kings cup in a room, and we saw a giant gecko.

The next day included the main event for our group, snorkeling :]  We took a boat to the bays around the island and looked for reef sharks and bright fish. The bays were fun, and we dove after parrot fish. Did not see any sharks, even after I scraped my palm..

The best part of the snorkeling day was our visit to a tiny island next to koh tao, that we are calling Sand Bar Island. Two sea hills connected by a long sand bar maybe forty feet wide formed two shallow bays on either side of the double beach, and Layne and I spent nearly the whole two hours floating over the coral graveyard on one side. There were six different kinds of tropical fish, swimming in small study groups, biting the coral on the sea floor, within reach most of the time.  It was easy to find them because they made a lot of noise as they ate; each bite on the coral made a loud crunching noise that carried through the water further than we could see.  I wish we had brought underwater cellphone cameras, and underwater audio recording devices.

After the sleepy boat ride back, most of the G group swam in the Seashells Pool, then prepared for our Farewell Dinner at the hotel. We didn't take pictures of the bbq kabobs, which were the best island food we'd had, but i have a video of Layne making a coconut sing, and it'll go here once i get back to a real computer, but for now it is on facebook.

I did take pictures of a cat watching the sun set.

We wrapped up our last island night at a bean bag bar, and we got sleepy there, in our bean bags, watching Touch play with a laser pointer, so we went to bed a little early. If we had "rallied" (Laynism), we would not have missed the all night beach party, at which several of our friends dove through or limboed under flaming, FIERY hoops and sticks!  Phil, the brit who became a ladyboy for a night, bent his knees as he passed through the flames and burned a chunk of his calf away :D
It sounded great.

Day 21- island transit

Today we made it to the beautiful koh Tao!! 

We took a ferry from Samui to Tao, and spent the afternoon exploring our corner of the stunning island. It's a backpackers dream: cheap scuba classes, guesthouses and bars lining the beach and a large community of vagabonders. We could stay here for months. 

Our group kept it cheap for the evening and had a "house party" in one of the hotel rooms. Good times were had by all. 

Day 19- koh Samui

Welcome to Koh Samui! From what I gather from lonely planet and various travel blogs, this island is sort of the OG of tourism to Thailand. Back in the day, it was THE place to go, making the beaches of Thailand begin to become a popular destination. Slowly, people began to discover other islands and popularity began fluctuate. Like trending Bangkok nightclubs, new islands took the stage and older ones were pushed aside. Although koh Samui is no longer the hot spot in the gulf, it still maintains its kitschy tropical paradise charm. Despite the overwhelming number of old and over-tanned white dudes zipping about on scooters and getting rub downs  on the beach, we still very much enjoyed our stay there. 

After a long travel day (we barely made our ferry!! Chuck and Anna: running through ferry terminals and up gangways reminded me of a very special trip to KL haha) we had an afternoon to kill before a dinner and drinks with the group. Three of the girls and I got ourselves a Thai massage on the beach. 

Thai massages go something like this 

1. Wash sand from my feet

2. Lay on stomach and debate silently where to put my arms while the lady puts a towel over my bum

3. Omg she's started right at my butt

4. Omg this has gone on for quite some time- did I say Thai massage or something else?? 

5. Naw it's cool she's on my feet now

6. Ahhh. My back. 

7. OOOO my back!!! 

8. Those needle fingers should be illegal 

9. No wait, I take it back 

10. God bless this country 

11. Lady is stretching my legs over my head. Deciding I should have stuck with yoga. 

12. I didn't even know that my palms were tense

13. Did she just hit me? 

14. *popping sounds of every joint in my body*

15. Nothing feels better than the face/head rubdown 

16. Final streeeeeeeetch

17. 4 days of sore muscles

18. Feeling amazing. 

That evening we had dinner at a great seafood place and drinks at the recommended swing bar. After some informal entertainment from a drunk girl from Kazakstan, some workers from the bar began some fire twirling which was amazing but terrifying. Not the same safety standards as we have In the states but still super cool. 

Nick and I taught the group some improv games that turned into drinking games, and we all planked our way back home. 

***photos coming soon!!***  

Day 18- always expect to be amazed

Everyone needs to stop what they're doing and buy a ticket to thailand and take the train to Kho Sok national park. Let me just show you why:

And a cave 

And one more

That morning when we arrived to the south at the ungodly hour of 4:50am, we had no idea what the day had in store. We had a half-conscious breakfast near the train station and soon were rolling down the highway in the back of a pickup, in sleepy silence, not knowing really where our guide was taking us. 

The destination was the magnificent national park, a large lake surrounded by jagged limestone mountains. We had a boat ride around the lake, got to poke around a limestone cavern, and had a paddle around a few coves on kayaks. We stopped at a little government- owned floating restaurant/accommodation place for lunch and a swim. Everything was perfect- the food was amazing and even though the lake was chilly, it was a good swim. 

Soon, we left the lake and stopped by "monkey temple" 

And found out why our guide was carrying around a bag of peanuts all day. 

Day 16 and 17: recovery

Sadly, our middle two days in Bangkok between the northern trek and the southern islands turned out to be a bit of a bust. I came down with a cold somewhere during the night train between Chaing Mai and Bangkok. Luckily, we had nothing really planned and our sweet tour leader arranged an early check- in for me at the hotel so that I could spend the whole day getting better. 

And I will only gush for just one sentence and say nick is amazing and brought me OJ, spring rolls and water all day. 

I did feel well enough to go to dinner with the group out at Kho San Road and really enjoyed the backpacker paradise. We had some cheeky drinks at the rooftop bar, but taxied home before the temptation to order a bucket sunk in too deep.

On the second night we took another night grin down to Suratthani- lots of beers and playing spoons in the "barcar" whilst a pitbull playlist pumped in the background. If the journey down to the south was this much fun... :)

Day 20?

Day 20, I think.
Today we rented a motorcycle to explore all sides of Koh Samui, and at five, we will rejoin the tour group to look at suggestive rocks called Grandmother and Grandfather. Then, we are celebrating one of our friend's birthday! We have decided to give her a native head dress, some kind of fancy hat.  After lunch we'll start the search for it.

We had a really (unexpectedly) big night tonight. We started at the ark bar, which was a super swanky bar situated with tables and pillows spilling right out on the sand. We treated ourselves to some well-earned western food (with cheese!!!!) and a sheesha to share. Oh, and we settled on a Chang beer teeshirt for Whitney. 

After, our guide surprised us with a booking for a ladyboy show. Wahoo! Our friend Phil was a sport and got called up as a sober volunteer. He looked pretty sexy in that glitter halter! 

Phil is the one in red :) 

After the show, we went to the green mango club for some birthday dances, but were all too tired after about an hour to carry on. Oh, koh sam-hoowee you crazy wonderful place. 

Day 15 - After Jungle Motorcycle Ride & Return To BANGkok

Today we picked up three keelograms of laundry, clean and folded, then rented a jankey Honda scooter and blasted round and around Old Chiang Mai for three hours.

The speedometer didn't work, and barely anyone noticed the lanes suggested by the broken white lines, or the red lights, so it was a harrowing and extremely exhilarating experience! We visited four of the thirty seven temples nearby:














 this is the oldest

Now we are on a train back to Bangkok, where we will meet the newcomers for the second half of our G-Adventures tour of Thailand. Layne's sister wrote in an email that the situation in Bangkok has escalated a bit, so we will probably hang out in the hotel a lot, go swimming,
write the entries for the last four days..

Day 12- first day mountain people

It started at around 2am. The panic. Ever since landing in Thailand, I was a bit over zealous with the curries and my stomach hadn't yet figured out how to manage. So to speak. The prospect of going three days in the northern Thai jungle without a toilet with a group if people I had just met had me nervous.  Also, no wifi.

The day started with a breakfast at the hotel. Nick spent the time reassuring me that if I was to be the girl who had to duck into bushes, he'd try to distract the group for me. Before we knew it, we were covering ourselves with mosquito spray and loading into our trucks. 

By the drop-off point deep in the forests, my fears melted away. Not only was the scenery breathtaking, but surviving the windy road up the mountain in the back of a flatbed without feeling woozy fueled me with an new burst of confidence. On the way, we had stopped at a stunning waterfall for a quick dip and some photos, and we popped into a local market to stock up on food and drink for the next few days. Once our bags were full of supplies and our cameras were full of photos of pigs heads and salted crickets, we were on our way to the first village. 

We were warned that the first day was going to be the hardest- a 4 hr hike to a village with the Karen tribe (yes mom I thought of you). Some parts were difficult, mainly the section that was about an hour of uphill, but the views made it all worthwhile. The first half of the trail seemed more like a forest, much like some nature walks in Nevada county. Slowly, however, the scenery transitioned into a lush jungle, complete with bamboo shoots and hanging vines. Luckily, we weren't too bothered by mosquitos and the temperature was mild. 

We arrived to the village in the early evening and got a chance to use the "basic toilets" and change into comfy clothes. We were all staying in one stilted house, each person was supplied with a mattress, pillow, blankets and a mosquito net. Soon, our guide, mr anan and two Karen people, Sam and Super Moon (dubbed by our group) had whipped up an dincredible dinner of spring rolls, rice, curry and KFC (Karen fried chicken). All cooked without electricity, gas or running water, it ended up being the best food we'd had on the trip so far. 

We ended the night drinking beers and talking around the campfire. We all tried cricket snacks (surprisingly meaty), played 2 truths 1 lie, and slowly one by one we turned into bed to rest up for the next day of the trek.