elephant stampede, tiger nap, island getaway

To the left, you can see the welcome sign for the Karen village. Immediately past the sign is a long bridge over the river. Our guest house was at the top of the hill where the dirt road seems to end. We left the Karen village right after breakfast and trekked all day, just stopping for lunch. We made friends with a dog who lived in the Karen village, and he walked with us all the way to lunch. The sun was scorching, and we were glad to be mostly covered by the forest while hiking. We reached a swinging bridge with slats (about 1-2 feet apart) for crossing. Had I not had a backpack on, I could have easily fallen through the slats. We crossed 2-3 at a time, trying not to sway the bridge too much. This is where our canine companion stopped following. Steve spent almost half an hour trying to coax the dog to walk across the bridge to no avail. A dog from the opposite side of the bridge walked halfway out on the bridge and waited for it to stop shaking, then he continued to cross to the other side like it was no big deal.

We stopped just on this side of the bridge and had lunch at a local village. The village women once again tried selling us bracelets and hand bags, but this time I didnt pay them any attention. I learned 'may oww' means 'no need.' I noticed that this village also had baby chicks, so I spent the time Ah was cooking to chase around the hens and try to get my hands on one of their chicks. Every time I bent close to the ground, the mother hen would turn around and puff out her chest while opening her wings. I gave up on the adventure, but Steve had realized the dog wasnt going to cross the bridge by this point, so he tried to catch a chick for me. He succeeded, and I got to play with the chick for just a few seconds under the hen responded to the panicked chirps of the little rascal. We had noodle soup for lunch with bananas and pineapple. This small village did have electricity, evident by their solar panels situated beside the kitchen hut.

After lunch, Ah asked us if we wanted to take the long trek or the short trek for the rest of the day. 30 minutes vs. 2 hours. We unanimously voted on the 2 hour trek which was actually at a 35 degree incline for the first hour. I had gotten really tired the previous day while we were trekking, but I took care to pack my backpack better this morning and was having an easier time. Something kept pushing me up the mountain even though I was tired. I was dripping with sweat by the time that we reached the top of the mountain. The view was great, and I felt amazing after expending so much energy on the hill. We reached the Lahu village around 5 pm and got settled for the night. This tribe was insistent on giving us all Thai massages, but I declined and took a short nap instead. We were done with all hiking for the trek, the next day would be just smooth sailing down the river on a bamboo raft. We stayed up a little bit later that night with the entire group around a fire enjoying the occasional trumpet from an elephant in the distance. We were singing songs and sharing stories until a villager came up to speak to Ah about something. He looked worried.

I was the first one to take notice of the intense conversation between Ah and the local. Ah would look down at the bamboo porch and shake his head every now and then. The local was perfectly balanced in a squatting position during the conversation. When the villager left, I asked Ah what the problem was, and he explained. The elephants are allowed to roam free at night as they have poor night vision. If anyone approaches the elephant at night, it will stampede at the animal or human out of fear. The worst thing to do is shine a flashlight at the elephant, because this enrages him. Ah continued to explain that a particular elephant had gotten angry in the woods and was heading toward the village. Elephants have been known to stampede down villages in their night rage outbursts, and the local was afraid of such an incident. I began to understand the impeding danger of an elephant stampede at this point. Ah said that the villager had taken a flashlight and a gun (not to mention his 5 year old son!) out to the edge of the village to scare the elephant away. We looked over the porch balcony and could see the flashlight scanning the trees as the elephants trumpet got closer and closer. We heard the rustling of branches from the other side of the river, and then BAM! the gun went off. I jumped as the elephant turned around and ran the other direction. Just a typical night in a hill tribe in the jungle of Thailand, I guess.

They have crazy dogs over here! I was hot sitting outside of the fire pit!

The next morning, I climbed out of bed only for the promise of a cup of coffee from Ashton. Strawberry jam and toast with scrambled eggs. We loaded up the bags and set out for the last leg of the trek on our bamboo raft!

We were lined up one by one all the way down the extra long raft with our bags near the front of the apparatus on a stand out of the water. Brett and I tried to soak up some sun on the ride. The raft was surprisingly sturdy and didnt have any problems navigating the river. This time of year can be difficult (as it is the dry season) and many rocks can obstruct the raft's course. Song tried to fish during the first part of the ride (which was about 2 hours in total) but was not successful. The probability of falling off the raft was high, so we put our electronics in a waterproof bag for the trip. We stopped to take a few pictures where the boys started a rock throwing contest. typical.

We did find a bamboo leaf that was taller than me (and taller than Will!) on the way down the river. If you look close, you can see my shorts tan line from the trek. We had to do some swimming to get to the side of the river, but it was well worth it. Some other westerners flowed by us on the river (in their life jackets) while we were stopped and disapproved of our swimming in the river, but it was a lot of fun! I recognize that it wasnt the cleanest river that I will ever swim in, and it probably did have snakes. But, when in Thailand....

haha! Im not sure what Will is doing in the background.

We arrived safe at the songtau in time to grab some Pad Thai before heading back toward Chang Mai. Overall, the trek was a once in a lifetime experience, and I would have only changed one thing... I had digestive issues the entire time and had gone 5 whole days without a bowel movement. By the time the trek was over, I was in constant pain from Linda, my food baby.

The entire group before we hopped back into the songtau for the bumpy ride to Chang Mai. Im SQUANDING!

On the way back to Chang Mai we stopped by the a tiger attraction. I had a goal to take a picture with a tiger during my time in Thailand, and I did it! I paid 320 baht to spend 15 minutes with two tigers in an electric fence cage. The tigers were sedated and slept most of the time, but the experience was totally worth the 11 dollars spent!

size comparison.

That looks like it would hurt.

This tiger was beautiful. I really was that close to his face, no zoom necessary!

RAWR!

The rest of Chang Mai consisted of a lot of rest, a victorious bowel movement, and a couple temples. We headed back to BKK after two days of sightseeing. We got home to the mansion around 10:30, and the internet wasnt working (we had planned to look up information about a weekend trip when we got home). No worries though, we got up the next morning and headed to the bus station, and looked for a bus to the beach! Here are some pictures from our trip.

ferry ride over to the island of Koh Samed with Steve.

This little kid had NO facial expressions. We made it our job to try to make him smile before the ferry ride was over, but even Steve beat-boxing skills didnt produce a grin.

No beach vacation would be complete without fire dancers -- make that children hula-hooping with fire rings.

I could NOT have been happier about this grilled cheese that we found on the island. HG used to make me a grilled cheese almost every day last semester, and this was a welcome reminder of our lazy snacks together!

mmmmm. sweet mango on the beach!

Josh tried to complete a pizza challenge, but only got this far. Steve and I finished it off for him!

The water was wonderfully relaxing.

Taken on the ferry ride back from Koh Samed. Look at how blue the water was!

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be."

Matthew 6:19-21