Since I know all of you are diligently tracing our movements on your oversized world maps devoted to "Josh and Amanda's I wish I was There Trek" you can now draw a line from Bangkok to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. Still having trouble? Instead of risking a train we chose to take an overnight bus. We got to relax and watch the remake of "Psycho" 4 times!! Luckily I had my trusty ear plugs and eyemask to insure I could doze off just enough to drool on my shoulder.

We pulled into Chiang Mai around 6:30am and were taken to a friendly guesthouse where they told us that rooms wouldn't be available until 10am. In the meantime we could listen to a spiel about how great it is to go trekking in the jungle. They seemed friendly enough though anyone offering us a place to sleep seemed like a saint. After we'd payed our deposit a room was suddenly available. Imagine that! After a nap we got to talking with a few other people who'd already done their treks and said it was awesome. Little did I know how awesome it would be. 3 days and 2 nights of trekking in the jungle is right up my alley anyway. We had our group meeting a day later and were off the following morning.

DAY 1
Around 9am our group started showing up at the hostel to store some things in the safe and throw their bags in the luggage room. By 10 we were on our way to the market. Our guide bought the food for our trip and we got to walk around with the locals. The market was not too much different from other markets except that I think they hated foreigners. I felt unusually special when a fish vendor decided to wait until I walked by before dumping out her dirty fish water onto my pants! Another fishy hour in the truck and we were at the trailhead just outside a local village. It was too hot to hike when we arrived so we sat around watching as our Aussie counterpart Erin alternated between torturing and playing with the village kids. After about an hour of chit-chat we hit the trail. 30 minutes after that we had nice views of the area and the village could be seen in the distance. We all hiked relatively fast considering our guide Manut told us that sandals would be fine for trekking. It wasn't really that bad the first day and we made it to our first hill tribe village in record time though our arrival didn't seem to bother the locals except for a few naturalists. We decided not to bother the villagers and hiked up the hill to our hotel. At least, it was a hotel by jungle standards. This bamboo hut had a kitchen and even had a lobby where we most of us stayed up late drinking chang beer. A few folks spent some time mixing with locals while sampling Burmese poppy products.

DAY 2
Our second day in the jungle promised to be much more active than the day before. We got up fairly sore and definitely tired. The hiking was a little tougher too since the path was a little harder to see and the jungle was a little more dense. Still, we got decent views. We passed an abandoned Akhe village where Manut told us that the government forced them to stop farming to prevent clear cutting of the jungle so far from any real civilization. Manut said now they only grow special herbs! After an hour or two we strolled up to another village for lunch and a dip in the waterfall. Again we didn't really interact too much with the villagers. I think they get quite a few tourists through there and really don't make too much fuss unless you buy a Coke. Its really too bad because I was interested in getting to know them or understanding how life is out there. They live way out in the middle of no where with no electricity or ready access to other people. Its a spartan lifestyleto say the least.

It was fairly hot after lunch which meant it became a choice of braving the mosquitoes or sweating our butts off though I think Tom felt more studly without a shirt!. We weren't back on the trail too long before we stumbled onto another little village where we peeped in on our next form of transport. Elephants! After those big boys got their bath and got over their excitement at being ridden we all jumped on for a ride through the jungle. Of course we were being guided but it still felt amazing to be sitting on the head of an elephant riding through the bush! After switching off the front seat with Amanda we really got to sit back and check out the jungle. Yep. Still looks the same on the back of an elephant! Poor guy. I'm not sure if we were actually heavy to them but they seemed to get pretty thirsty. Then again, we were only on them for an hour or two. Not bad for a days work. It seems that everyone gets to make a buck from the tourists inThailand! After the elephants we hiked another half hour to our second bamboo palace for another long night of fun and stories about the history of Thailand. Zzzzzz Zzzzz Zzzzz.

Day 3
Our last day was a short one but a little longer for those of us who had an active night. Those Brits love to party and pay for it in the maorning. We finally got ourselves together for a short walk down to the river for some rough bamboo river rafting. The water was fairly calm - until we got there. A few bruises and broken rafts later our trek was over. It was an amazing experience and the people were GREAT! Amanda and I definitely made some new friends who I hope to see again.

Any of you guys who have cool pics of trip better send me a few!!