Trekking Tour

In Chiang Mai we booked a 3 day (2 nights) trekking tour to the northwest of the city. In Laos the tours were very expensive, but now here in Thailand is low season the prices are good.

On the first day we enjoyed an elephant ride, it's like in a boat which pitchs once to the right and then to the left. When we went with our elephants to the river they played together and threw water against each other (and of course also towards the passengers on their back). After the elephant ride we started trekking, uphill for about 3 to 4 hours till we reached a small village on a mountain where we slept in a homestay the first night. The Ascent was hard (really, really hard and the weather very hot), but from the top we had a nice view.

On the second day we continued trekking, first up and then mainly down, but it was going down so steep, that our knees didn't like it very much. On the way we went to 2 waterfalls and there was a small pool where we could go swimming, very relaxing after some hours of walking...

The 3rd day was different again, after a short walk to the river we started river rafting! Normally a quite funny thing, but the river didn't have a lot of water and there were a lot of rocks in it, so instead of having fun it was finally a small torture. Very often the boat was stucked between the rocks and we had to jump from one side of the boat to the other one to get it out. After more than 1,5 hours of this kind of rafting we had also the experience to enjoy bamboo rafting on a real big bamboo raft which was more sinking inside the water than floating.

Unfortunately we couldn't make any photos from the rafting tour due our cameras which aren't waterproof...

Laura and Fredi enjoyed the trip; the guide made huts of a big leave and cut bamboo for walking sticks. She looked like a real druid!!
On another day she played with a small dog and visited an orchid garden.

A typical picture here in Thailand (and very very often seen in Laos); people burn down the forest to get more space for agricultur.

On the way to the elephant camp we stopped in a local market to buy food. Some delicious insects were also available, different kinds and size and other animals like bats.