I recently had the opportunity to trade in the sounds of loud motorbikes for the sounds of an elephant's call, and the smells of a burning coals and tuk-tuk fuel for the fresh jungle air. Yes, it is as good as it sounds.
One of my cultural highlights last year was my trekking experience, and a couple weekends ago I had the opportunity to enjoy yet another trek. Much of the trek was the same as last year: the order of events was the same, the second half of the trek took us along the same route as last year, and many of the same people were on the trek. I refrain from saying that I was reliving last year's experience though, because each experience is enough of a unique memory in itself. (Plus, last year I was one of the fortunate few to be leech-free throughout the entire trek. This year, I was one of the unfortunate few, with twin leeches that decided that the space between my big toe and second toe on BOTH FEET was great for extracting blood.)
The trek included the following:
a tight ride in the back of a covered truck
a hike that lasted into the evening hours, taking us to our village for the evening
a morning to wake up and enjoy the beautiful scenery surrounding us
a continued hike, with some beautiful scenery
a lunch accompanied by ladies eager to earn some baht
an elephant ride, partially on land and partially crossing through the river
an arrival to our village for the evening, filled with good food, a Lahu massage by two women and an infant with a runny nose, and a little bit of a jam out session near the fire
a Sunday morning bamboo raft river ride (my favorite part of the trek), which is usually pretty calm but sometimes gets your heart pumping as you wonder whether or not the raft will hold up through some fast-moving and rocky parts of the river
a good time out in God's creation with a great cast of characters
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