Diary entry:-5 (part 2)

Sorry about that…...

Ok where was i??? oh yes, This is where my trek Begins…. Ok as im still Joe the exlporer i felt that i could tackle any terrain and boy was i in for a shock! The trek started relativeley easy with slight inclines and maybe a few up hill struggles but in general it was quite pleasant for the first 1hr and it also meant that my new found explorer mates and i could have a bit of giggle and get to know each other, we reached a point where the guide was explainling about banana plants and how the locals used the leaves to smoke tobacco from (or what ever else they might smoke :? ) and then he told us that we would be stopping at our first water fall in about an hour and halfs time which sounded awesome and we all got pretty excited at this ..... what he failed to tell us was that we would be going up a hill constantly for that period and that we would be walking at around a 60 degree upward angle!!!!! The only reason it was bad was mainly because i wasn’t used to it and i’d had bloody skin full the night before.

We arrived at the waterfall and it was just blissfully cold and refreshing, i’d never been so hot and sweaty in all my life.. well not while doing this anyway :wink:  we spent about forty mins here and it was like being in are own little paradise but we had to keep going before it started getting dark (it gets dark at around 6pm in thailand) It was another 2 1/2hrs trek before we got to the first village we would be staying in…. it was much the same , just trees tress and more trees.

We arrived before dark at the village and our hut was ..well a hut! so a few of the lads and i dumped our rucksacs in and was invited to have a kick about with the local kids on their makeshift football pitch which consisted of orange gravel and 4 tree branches poking out the floor, but it was really great and the kids were brilliant and there was one particular kid who we nicknamed engine as he didn’t stop running all the time!! even after the football he just kept running around and around and around, there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s probably still running around now!! GO Engine!
Our guide sat us all down and explained to us about where all these people had come from and how ‘Tabloo’ means thank you and ‘Taploo’ means crazy!! so i tended to just nod my head instead of offending anyone. Then we ate!! i’d looked forward to eating all day but unfortunately i don’t eat any vegetables and the meal consisted of noodles and green stuff—im sure these were plants of some kind. But everyone else seemed to enjoy it so it couldn’t have been that bad. Once we’d eaten we got a camp fire going and we sat around drinking beer’s and telling jokes,stories and songs into the night.

My real highlight though was the fact that because we was so far away from any artifical you could see so many stars and i’d never seen this many stars in my entire life!! and when i saw a shooting star that seemed to last forever that completely topped off my night and i was ready for bed. COCKADOODLE DO!! COCKADOODLE DO!! this is the sound which i heard at 4am,4:30,5am,5:30 etc etc… i wanted to kill the cockrel and his noisey friends!! it was my own fault for not going to bed until 2am but you know how it is when you get chatting..

So morning was well and truelly here as Mr.Cockrel had told me at 4am this morning and i was feeling pretty sleep depraved but as im still joe the explorer sleep was for wimps!! We set off to the next village at about 10am and visited small water fall first so that we could wash and clean are teeth but then it was another 3hr trek to the next village which we were only stopping for lunch for , again it was a bit of a struggle at times but it did get easier as we went on. The next village was alot bigger than the one we had visited the night before and around 300+people lived there, again they had a football pitch but this one was alot bigger and there were alot more kids who wanted to play.. so we played for about 1hr and half in the stiffiling heat but the back drop for this pitch was simply breath taking and the pictures i got looked pretty god damn cool.

Lunch was the same as before and I didn’t have a great deal to eat mainly because it was so damn hot, but we ate lunch and off we trotted up to our next village… again we stoppped off at another waterfall and chilled out and then we set off again, much of the same scenery and but it seemed like we were walking up hills for ages.. but luckily im joe the explorer so it didn’t matter :lol:  We arrived at our place of stay and everybody was pretty pooped, so we all sat down together with a few beers and chilled out while the sun slowly descended behind the hill tops. Everyone was in really good spirits and a little drinking game was on!! so we decided to get our guide in on the game.. it was some card game which this canadian couple told us how to play, can’t really remember what it was called but it’s not important. Anyway , one of the locals brought over some of his home grown rice whiskey and although it wasn’t particulary strong there was enough of it to go round.After a few hours of playing this game you could see the people who were obviously losing alot as they were the ones who could just about talk and our guide was one them!! oh no what had we done!! Another camp fire was lit and those of us who could walk went and sat next to it to warm up, we didn’t stay there long as most of us were tired so bed was the best place to be for me.

We were supposed to set off quite early but as we got the guide drunk he didn’t wake up as early as he’d planned :lol:  but we got there in the end . Today was are last walking day and most of was to be down hill, i wasn’t going to complain at that . the walk was alot more relaxed today and we all took time to really take in our surroundings . The local boy had decided to tag along and he was pointing out snakes and all sorts of stuff which scared me! so i tried to stay away from him. After walking for about another 1hr half we reached our final waterfall and it must of been some sort of meet up point for all the guides because there were about three different groups there but it didn’t matter because well “the more the merrier hey”. Washed and ready we set off again for our last trek down to the bamboo rafting, again we all got excited about this prospect and i was geeing people up by saying i was going to capsize their raft and dive bomb another but in the end i think everybody had already planned that they were going to get me! damn, me and my big mouth!

The rafting was good and it was more of a leisurely drift down the river than a full on rapids but still it kinda finished the day and i still manged to dive bomb a raft even though it didn’t have anybody on that i knew… oh well.

The trek was over and so came the end of a really great experience but after that i’ve realised that joe the explorer will always be in me!

Click here for one tour operator that does a 3 day/2 night Elephant trek combining rafting as well (cost: approx £100) (Ed).

speak again soon peeps.

Gee…after reading your posts you sound like you are having an awsome time!!

Im planning a gap starting Dec/Jan - just need to get all my exams out of the way first :? 

I am planning to go to Thailand,Singapore etc so your posts have been jolly helpfull and interesting to read!!!However as a famale things may be a wee bit different :wink: 

Well take care and hope all continues to go well!!

x x

5000 squid!!! wow, you 2 will live like a king and queen!! im not actually in thailand anymore but i’m a bit behind in my diary but i’ll write everything in one big hit within the next few days… so much to tell!! hehe

well have you 2 8)

Alright Mate,

Well at least weve got enough money!

Stressing a bit now cos weve not sorted our visas out yet. How much money do you need in your bank? Im still waiting for a cheque to clear.

Any advice would be agreat help

Cheers boss

After reading this diary (& others) I really, really want to go travelling now but I’ve got to wait until next year. Sounds like you’re having a great time, even though it seems like a lot of walking. But hey at least it’ll keep you fit!

Kirsty

I’ve been following your diary, well, only since this morning… Its sounds like you’re having a bloody good time mate! But, am dying to know, what happened next?? Are you still travelling the big bad world or are you back in normal-ville??

Later hon,
Eilser :wink: