A 2 Night, 2 Bear Trek

I survived a trek through the Thailand jungle! How many people can say that? Not being much of a camper/hiker, I was pretty impressed with Shaun and myself. Some highlights of trekking include:

-Staying in native huts with only mattresses (I use that term loosely), mosquito nets, and a tin roof.
-Going on a 4 hour trek uphill. At some points, I swear the hill was vertical so it was more like rock climbing. I didn't want to be the slowest/most unathletic one so I felt like I was jogging most of the way.
-Falling. I fell while hiking 3 times. The worst time, I slid on my butt down a wet hill. Thank goodness the tree broke my fall otherwise I might have slid another 40 feet. However, I did get the worst "wilderness wedgie". Haha. Sorry, I think that term is kinda funny. I also slipped 3 times more than everyone else. We later attributed this to my lack of hiking boots. Who knew hiking boots could be important on a hike?
-Riding an elephant. Elephants are truly magical animals. They are massive. We got to feed them orange peels and ride them for an hour.
-Campfire/Christmas party in a village. The small village we stayed at threw a Christmas party (even though it was only the 12th). I was surprised that the village was Christian considering that 95% of the population in Thailand is Buddhist. But they sang Christmas songs and even read the Christmas story (in Thai). We also played games around the campfire in which the loser had to drink Thai whiskey/moonshine and a child drew pictures on your face with charcoal. I made sure not to lose. Haha.
-Bamboo rafting. We stood on a bamboo raft for 4 hours yesterday and drifted through the jungle and down the rapids. When we hit the rocks, i thought our tiny raft was going to break apart. I also wish we had gotten a picture of 6 tourists standing in a line on a bamboo raft.
-My first bucket shower. Ok, maybe this wasn't a highlight but it was definitely the first bucket shower that I've had in Thailand. Or ever. The tin shed was outside. A hose was hooked up and filtered into an empty gas barrel. Then you take a scoop of freezing cold water and throw it over your head. I say throw because the shock is less painful if the water is thrown. The alternative to the shower was to not shower but after 2 days of hiking, I wasn't feeling all that clean/like a person anymore.
-My shower when I got back to our hotel. Quite possibly the best shower I've ever taken. Lukewarm water, limited shower pressure, but it had running water and it didn't come from a bucket. I scrubbed myself clean. It was wonderful.

And that sums up my trekking adventure. My mosquito bite count is now somewhere around 40. My whole body aches. And I'm a little bit sore. We're going to take it easy for a few days- check out the local music scene near our hostel, take a cooking class. And then we'll head up to uber chill/hammock land, Pai, in a few days.

Thanks to Ping, Megs, D, Jessie, Nikki, and Brad for emailing me while I was gone. It's always awesome to hear from peeps back home (or in NZ). Seriously, it makes my day :)

Pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2567134&id=1222862&l=6fbeb0f982