Trekking in Chang Mai

I was walking in the street where I was staying in Chang Mai and I stopped to a random travel agency saying that I wanted to do something but not sure what! She persuaded me to do the 3 days 2 night trekking in the mountains and rafting. Not sure what I was putting myself into, I decided to do it, mainly attracted my the elephant riding!
I didn't have many clothes with me so I went to the shopping centre to buy trousers and sandals :)
Still in the trusty mood I left my passport at the lady at the travel agency (the passport, not the copy) and she told me that as soon as she'd made a copy she'd delivered the passport at my guesthouse! The day after (the day I was leaving for the tour) the passport hadn't been delivered yet...for some reason I didn't worry and I went to have breakfast 2 buildings away from my hotel...While I was eating, a Thai guy on a motorbike came to me and said: "are you Maria?"...I was a bit reluctant to say yes, because I never saw him before, and I was worried that something had happened with my passport, but then I said, "how do you know it's me?" He said "I'm your guide for the 3 days trekking. I need you passport". I said that I left my passport to the travel agency but he never got it and without it we couldn't leave.
I kept having breakfast and said that at 9am I would have met him at the agency, but he said, "no, come with me...we need to find your passport otherwise we can't leave"...still not sure how he found out I was Maria :)

Eventually we got the passport, half an hour later...and that was the first hilarious moment with Rony, the guide!

Ready to leave, I met the other people that were going to join the tour: a 42 years old French man, two 26 years old Danish guys, Ole and Per, Neomi, 22 years old from England, Simon, 28 from Essex and a Malaysian family...God forbid, I don't remember the names :)

We went to the botanic farm first to see some amazing Thai orchids, then waited for some other groups and started our trekking tour!

At the beginning it seemed fun...we kept talking and start to know each others, but after a while, it felt wiser to save every bit of breath as it was really hard! Arrived at the top of the mountain (2000m circa) it felt totally worth it...the view was amazing and I felt pretty proud of myself!

Arrived at our "hotel", I was looking for our resort at the beginning until I realised that we where going to stay to the bamboo houses where local tribes live without energy and hot water...It was pretty fun, knowing that we weren't going to have showers for 3 days and the only light at night was the fire and the candles...but hey, lots of services included in the package: automatic alarm at 3am from Mr Rooster, "aromatic herbs" to be burned under the sky, Thai whisky (can't explain you have to try)...and as many stars as you liked :)



I don't know what it was (well I know) but we had so much fun, we kept seeing animals out of the fire: we saw sharks, a couple dancing and even a dragon...Rony kept saying us stories about ghosts and sex...and for some reasons I got into his dreams...he dreamed about me being the Queen and he being a ant that bit me! He was upset with me because when he was reading the fortune, I kept interrupting him asking questions! I'm sure no one is surprised! ;)

The day after we moved onto another "resort", better than the first one, this had a shower, cold of course, right in the middle of the jungle, where we could only hear waterfalls, frogs, dogs, and kids playing, and no roosters at 3am...and us laughing for nothing! Well, almost!

The last part of the package involved rafting and I was not scared, more...I thought I was going to hurt my head on a rock and die...then I kept seeing kids being excited, and I thought, come on MT, if they can do it!! My travel companions kept looking at me saying "are you scared?"...it was so obvious!
I have to day it was amazing, nothing to be scared about and so much adrenaline!! We arrived at a place on the river where we took some bamboo canoas and reached a place for lunch!

Arrived in Chang Mai, I had some challenges finding the places where I was going to stay because I didn't write down the name...but Rony did some magics and left me to the right place :)

I have to say, the company was amazing, the experience unique, the contact with the nature and the sight seeing absolutely fantastic, and the idea that you can survive without Facebook, iPods, make-up and refrigerators, priceless! Well at least for 3 days!!

I guess Per, Ole, Neomi and Simon made it special!