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From Elephants to Ziplines

First of all, a quick thanks to everyone who has dropped me a message or an email. I just got back from and exciting 5 days in the jungle. No, not because I got lost. That has only and will only happen once, thank you very much. Rather I have been on two different treks, and it sure is great to come back to a handful of messages and emails when you've been mostly talking to mice and skeeters over the past week.

I have way too many cool things to share in this email, but I'll try to hit some highlights and fill you in more later. I'll begin with the first trek:

Elephant Trekking in Chang Mai:
The morning after my last entry I got up, enjoyed a hot shower like never before, and went downstairs to sign up for the overnight elephant trek. Enter Ms. Thailand. No she's, or should I say he's not quite what you would expect. Since I am never quite sure whether to call a lady boy "he" or "she" I will compromise and call it they. They asked me what my name was. "Derek", I said. "Dehleh?", they said (Thai often have a hard time with "r"'s ). "Derek," I repeated. "Ah, I'm Ms.Thailand," they said extending their soft hand. "Excuse me?" (Derek sometimes has a hard time understanding lady boys.) "Ms. Thailand." "Ahh." I said, "Pleasure to meet you."

Halfway through Ms. Thailand's crash course on the Eletrek, I realized I couldn't look at them. Not because it was awkward but because my vision was going out. AKA-Migraine. Those of you who get them understand, but migraines can really suck, even to the point of puking. And the last thing you want to do is hurl on the 3 ton animal that has you on it's back. So I tried to explain, went and laid down and after about an hour decided, there was no way a freaking headache was going to keep me from riding an elephant, through the jungle. My decision was affirmed when I rushed down, pack in hand to find my group would be comprised of 9 girls and a total of 2 guys. Feeling better already.

The trek was awesome. When they say (not lady boys, just whoever "they" really is) 2 day-1 night Elephant Trek, what that really mean is about 1 hour riding an elephant. But I have to say, despite the downpour and it only being an hour, I was on a friggin elephant in the jungle. That's hard to beat. After the elephant we hiked 3 hours up a trail with one waterfall stop to swim, before arriving at an authentic village where we would be staying in someone's house...I mean hut. This was great too. No electricity. Dinner cooked on a fire. Candle light. And me sitting around with 9 girls and French guy with his guitar, made for a really fantastic night.

The next day after, very little sleep (partly due to the roosters crowing non-stop from 4 am on) we did another 3-4 hour trek to do some rafting on bamboo rafts constructed right in front of us. The rafting started off slow, but turned into raft wars and cliff jumping. A perfect way to wrap up another sweet adventure.

As is my never ending problem, I seemed to have written about 3 times what I planned. So I'm going to wait until the next entry to tell you about the "Gibbon Experience". I know, it's not fair. All this build up and then I just leave you hanging like seductive soap opera...or should I say leave you hanging like me on a zip line 4 hundred feet above ground on my way to my next adventure... Stay tuned to find out!

Or else just Google it and stop your whining!

posted by Travelin' D @ 3:21 AM