After a experiencing the craziness of Khao San Road in Bangkok, I decided to take the advice of a good friend and head northward. The TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) hooked us up with a great package deal of 10 days travel including a night bus to Chang Mai and 3 day trek with elephant riding, jungle huts, bamboo rafting and white water rafting. Needless to say I was definitely looking forward to it!
Riding an elephant was a lot like riding a horse, only a lot bigger! Its a bizarre sensation feeding an elephant a banana while you're riding on top of him. He will reach back with his trunk in a grabbing like motion, feeling for the sweet treat. Apparently elephants can eat up to 250kg of food per day. Unlike Koala Bears, they will only sleep 4 hours a day and spend 20 eating. Sitting on the wooden seat atop the elephant is a bit impersonal, so I moved forward to ride bare back. Holding on for dear life, I learned to move with the large strides the noble creature.
Hiking through Northern Thailand with my Mom
Oh, I forgot to mention, I managed to find my Mom in Bangkok, and that is of course her with me on the elephant!! She's still a little weary about the toilets around here, but she's having a blast! It's been amazing talking to other travelers about traveling with my mom, nearly all of them were excited about the opportunity and really wanted to meet her. No ordinary mom would travel half way across the world to do some jungle trek with their daughter :)
Its hard to share the spectacular moments and bonding that happened on the trek, cause it was simply magic! A truck load of strangers headed off to the jungle, not one of them having a clue as to what they were getting themselves into. Well of course I had to break the ice... so I managed to convince several people, strangers, to try eating salted bamboo worms, grubs, and crickets found in elephant poo. You may be surprised... but at least 5 others gave it a go! Whoo Hoo!! ( I've got video... but it may end up in a audition video for survivor... )
Eating fried chicken noodles and veggies off bananna leaves with machettie carved bamboo chopsticks. Bond, our Jungle Guide always says "No Chile No Power!!" That means stick some of those spicy red and green peppers on your meal!
We found hidden waterfalls and palace sized caves that shimmered like diamonds. So close to bats you could have grabbed them, hats made of giant leaves, and a water pipe carved out of bamboo! Bond was a true jungle boy, scaling trees and eating the fruits of the forest. He seemed to know every fruit tree, and a thousand games to play with the provisions of the forest.
These few days were an amazing time of my life I hope to never forget!!
