Beyond the jungle....

So after waking up at 3am needing to go to the toilet but not wanting to go due to the strange noises coming from the pigs under our bedroom and also that it was raining, then at 4am the damn roosters started....2 of them having a chat but with 15 minute intervals so you could start dozing again and then....bam, wake up time again. Also there was some weird noise coming from what seemed like under our room which I was pretty sure was the rice crushing device. So by 6.15 I decided it was time to get up and go and investigate. And I was right, it was the lady elder and her daughter in law complete with baby strapped to her back, crushing the rice to get the husks off. And this is done with an old wooden contraption that you have to pump with your foot. The elder signaled for me to have a go so I did...man they must have great leg muscles. Tanya had a go and then we just watched them for a while in awe. These women are so bloody tough, it's amazing. We were cooked a beautiful omelette for breakfast and there was enough toast to feed an army. Jackie Chan made cool bread holders from bamboo to cook over the open fire and I had a go at cooking some which was cool. It was time to pack up and put the backpacks on, thank our wonderful hosts and make our way out of the jungle. So of course if we did so much up hill trekking yesterday it was pretty obvious we were going to do alot of down hill today.....and let me tell you, down hill is as hard as up hill. And unlike yesterday it was pretty warm so there was alot of sweating going on. Once again we saw so much amazing stuff...I don't think we have seen so many different mushrooms before and the amount of stag horns were amazing. We walked the whole time up the front with Jackie Chan today and once again learnt so much from him. Today was only a short walk of about 3 hours (5 kms) but I was very thankful for that as my feet were really starting to hurt. We walked out of the jungle and into a massive corn field and then rice fields. Our truck was waiting for us and we were glad again to get our shoes off. Now it was time for a bit of fun....bamboo rafting. It was only about 20 minutes drive which once again was a bit rough. We got to the river and were put on our rafts with a guide and off we went. Grasshopper took some photos for us as we headed off down stream. As the name suggests, it is a raft made of bamboo and you stand up and use a long piece of bamboo as an oar. There was 5 on our raft and our guide and one of the others kept trying to splash each other and race. It was really cool and peaceful at the same time. The scenery was great and it was nice to float along effortlessly. After about half an hour our ride came to an end. Our truck and guides were waiting for us with Pad Thai for lunch. After we ate that it was time to head to the waterfall. It was about an hours drive and half of that consisted of one of the most hideous, scary, shitful trips I have ever endured. The road was really steep, windy, narrow and muddy and one side was a sheer drop that one would not survive if their car went over. Needless to say I was shitting myself and even got a bit teary thinking this was the end....Tanya on the other hand didn't seem to care less. When we finally got the the top I was very relieved, especially when Jackie Chan told me we went down a different way....and I also said that this waterfall better be bloody spectacular. But first we had to walk 500 meters to get there....though another bloody jungle....lol. We said that if the waterfall was in Australia there would be no way tourists would be able to use the track we used to get in there....way too dangerous....and it's an advertised, open place....highest waterfall in Chiang Mai actually. When we did finally get there (and I'm sure it was further than 500 metres) it was pretty awesome. The force of the water was incredible. We took some photos and then we were able to get in for a swim. Everyone got in but we decided it was too cold. But after a bit I said we really should get in just to say we did...so in we got and it was absolutely freezing....I actually thought Tanya was about to burst into tears...lol. We went in up to our bellies, had a few pics taken and got out and it was warmer out than in. Back to the truck on the rugged track but once again surrounded by absolute beauty. It's a 2 and a half hour drive back to Chiang Mai and while everyone else slept most of the way I played solitaire on my phone...lol. Now we have not mentioned anything about the 7 people that were on the trek with us as there really wasn't anything to say about them. They were not really that friendly and as 5 of them were French they just spoke to each other in their language and the other 2 spoke to each other in their language.....so we really didn't speak to them much at all. And one of the French guys was a bit of an idiot so we were happy to do our own thing. When we booked the tour we were a bit worried we had paid way too much as it was so much more than all the other tours, but being assured it was non touristy and very authentic we crossed our fingers. And we can honestly say that it was well worth the money and we did not see one other tourist for the whole time. Everywhere we went it was like our own private place so we have no regrets at all. We arrived back at the hotel at 6pm, got our room, unpacked, showered and headed out for food. I keep seeing a street cart that says they are the best chicken doner kebabs in town so I wanted to find out..and for about $1.70 they were pretty damn good. Tanya got a crispy pork & kale which she said was delicious. I was going to get a manicure but really couldn't be bothered so we got a couple of pre mixed drinks at 7-11 and came home to catch up on blog writing. We are heading off to Pai tomorrow to see what it has to offer. Alvo xo