Thelma and Louise Take on the World: Jungle Trek

Thursday, May 3rd was the first day of our 2 day jungle trek. We were picked up at our hotel at about 10AM. Also in the truck were our trekking mates...2 young women from Argentina and 2 others from Morocco/France. After a short ride, stopped and picked up some water at a village market. Then, we had another hour worth of driving up into the mountains. We arrived at the drop off point, not knowing what kind of journey lied ahead of us.

Initially, on the drive up, there was a short rain storm, but the clouds quickly cleared and the searing Thai sun took over. No more than 5 minutes into our trek...we were winded and drenched in sweat. It was at least 100 degrees at was with a humidity of 95%. The heat was just the beginning. We were following no more than a cow path down into the valley. It was extremely steep and rugged. It took us 45 mins to reach our waterfall destination. Thelma was questioning whether or not she was going to make it after about the first 10 mins of the decent into the valley. It was rough, but we made it.

After our lunch, some pictures, and some playing in the cool mountain water, we headed off again...this time up and out of the gorge. Oh boy! It was at least another hour of up and down massive inclines through the jungle and heat before we stopped again at a wide spot in the mountain stream. We cooled off in the water and enjoyed a few sodas. There was a village settlement there with a little shop of sorts. That is where we saw the village woman making scarves out of Thai silk. It was amazing to see her work and what she produced. After about a 45 minute break, we were off again, This time, our final destination was the camping village where we were to stay the night. Not too long after we left the village, we were climbing though rice fields and Thelma missed the thin walkway and stepped ankle deep into the rice water. Her show was soaked for the rest of the trip.

We finally made it to camp where we met up with another trek group of 5 guys - one Irish, one Welsh, a Canadian man, an Australian, and a Saudi Arabian. They were a super fun group and we spent the evening enjoying drinks and each other's company. Thelma and I have never felt more disgusting or sweaty as wee did after arriving at the camp. We were so grateful to take a shower, no matter where or what it looked like. Turned out the camp was decent and we had a nice time while we were there.

The next morning we had breakfast and headed out as one big group together. Not 5 minutes outside of the camp, we stopped to see a cave and shoot a crossbow. Thelma out shot all the guys, although not me because I didn't shoot. After our short stop, we had a 30 minute hike to the next waterfall. It was beautiful and roaring. We stayed there for about an hour and then headed to the elephant park for the elephant riding. When we arrived at the camp, we bought two bunches of bananas and climbed aboard our elephant. Her name was Ngoen. She was 45 years old and the oldest and biggest in the park. She was beautiful and a ton of fun. During our ride, the elephant in front of us farted. There is no sound like it, believe me. We rode Ngoen for an hour through the park, said our goodbyes, and headed for river for bamboo rafting. We then rafted down the river for an hour on the bamboo rafts. The rafting completed our journey. We then drove an back into town.

The trek was an amazing experience and we were glad we did it, but we were ready to be back in a cool room with nice shower. We cleaned up, rested a bit, and then went back to the delicious Mexican restaurant down the street. Exhausted, we slept very well that night.