Jungle Trekking

Dear Mom and Dad,

Our train ride to Chiang Mai was much easier than our previous experience. We found the train and boarded it twenty minutes prior to departure. Unfortunately, we had seats next to the door, so at every stop there was a lot of commotion from passengers. The ride was 15 hours and passed pretty quickly. We found snacks to bring, so we wouldn't go hungry. Dunkin Donuts was my favorite. I have never had these before, and they were delicious. Maybe it was my lack of american food intake that caused me to eat so many. Here I am in a donut comatose. 

Selfie time.

Our hostel in Chiang Mai has a pool and is a private room, which is a very nice accommodation before and after our jungle trek. I can't really give prices because we booked an eleven day package that included the train ride, the floating market, our hostel for three nights, one night stay in Pi (we will be there longer), and a slow boat that takes three days to Laos for $25 a day, so it's hard to figure exact costs, but we think we are getting a pretty good deal.

The first part of the jungle trek was an elephant ride. Neither boys have ever ridden elephants, which I could hardly believe. They couldn't believe me when I thought they were crazy. Hello, the circus? I used to go when I was younger. We got to feed the elephants bananas and sugar cane for 60 cents a bag. We each bought a bag :)

Andy was lucky enough to ride bare back on its neck. By the end of the one hour ride, his behind was hurting.

Our elephant would constantly put its trunk up asking for more treats.

We even got to ride the elephant through a stream, which was soooo cool.

Giving treats.

Still wanting a sweet snack.

Our elephant was about 60 years old. The two smaller ones  in the next pictures were 5 years old.

They all loved treats. This one would toss aside the bananas and only eat the sugar cane.

Charlie's elephant would eat both treats.

This little baby elephant was one year old and so playful.

After the elephants, we hiked to where we spent the night in the jungle. Between the two days, we hiked fifteen miles up hill both ways. Here is Charlie and his walking stick.

These are water buffalo. Not the nicest and I was thankful they were chained down.

Taking a quick break at the waterfall. I did not get in because everyone was shivering from the moment they touched the water. Being freezing cold is not my kind of fun.

Andyman, the next mauy Thai fighter.

I started feeding the little kittens waiting for everyone and quickly became the cat lady.

View from the trek.

Our jungle sleeping accommodations in our tour guide's family home.

The morning view from where we stayed.

The next day we had breakfast and started trekking to the long-neck village and bamboo rafting.

Signature waterfall kissing picture.

More trekking.

Our group

Safe taxi ride

We visited a small village where the women wear rings on their necks to elongate them to look giraffe like. It felt like we were in a Nat Geo episode. The rings were very heavy.

After this we went bamboo rafting down the river. No pictures to show because we got very wet. It was a blast having races and water fights. Charlie rowed with the bamboo stick the entire time. We only hit a few rocks that caused us to fall in. Charlie even saw a water snake. Yuck.

Tomorrow, we are taking a Thai cooking class in the morning and relaxing by the pool at night.

Love,

The two jungle kings and one jungle queen