Elephants, River Rafting and the Ordeals of Trekking in Thailand
11 hours after I fell ill, we began our trekking trip into the jungle. What a day for a trek. The day began with a 3 hour drive and then we hiked up into the mountains, climbing and climbing for a total of 4 hours the first day. By the time we got to the camp, John and I collapsed (by that time, he was feeling the ill effects of the bad shrimp we had eaten). The boys were remarkable. They stayed at the head of the pack (probably arriving 20 - 30 minutes before John and I at each rest place) - they are both turning into quite the athletes while John and I seem to be getting old quick. We always seemed to be the last ones arriving at each rest stop. Ian and Julian were also quite the conversationalists with the other tourists - Julian told blond jokes around the camp fire (much to my dismay because they were my jokes).
That night we stayed in a bamboo hut elevated about 15 feet off the ground in a Karen hillside tribe. There were 15 of us (some lively Brits and Irish, Swiss, US guy, a Thai and 4 guides). We were deep into the mountains, no electricity, no roads, very rustic. We slept on the floor with mosquito nets draped around us. There were maybe about 20 - 30 people living in this small village. The stars were amazing---- seemed like there were more stars than sky.
We had quite a time with those Brits - boy do they like to party and joke around. Of course, our recent election fiasco was giving all of the foreigners quite the joke material about the States. One of the Brits got lost in the jungle at night and woke us all up yelling. The guides found him wrapped around the tree - a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a liter bottle of beer in the other. Naturally, Ian and Julian can't stop talking about this guy.
The next day we woke early and hiked on further into the jungle for a few hours. The valleys below us were covered in clouds. It was a spectacular site (John got footage of it). We rested in another tribe village where we sat around and sang songs and blew bubbles from a certain stem of a plant.
Elephants
Finally, we arrived at another village where the elephants were waiting for us. We climbed up onto a platform leaning against a tree, stepped onto the elephants head and onto a seat (for 2) on it's back. Our guide rode on the elephants neck. In the beginning the elephant has to go down a steep embankment to get to the river. My God, why didn't they think of putting seatbelts on those things? We had to hold on for dear life so that we wouldn't fall off. It was a little scary at first until you got the hang of it - literally got the hang of it. There were so many times on this trek, this being one of them, where we said "can you imagine the waivers you would have to sign in the states to have something like this". At one point in the middle of the river, our elephant squatted down and started to lean over - we screamed! Our guide whacked the poor elephant a few times and finally he stood back up. Turns out he was just relieving himself, poor fellow. The elephant trek was a little over an hour. We crossed back and forth through the river which was in a narrow gorge. At the end, we arrived in another tribal village.
Bamboo Rafting
And this is point we loaded on to bamboo rafts to float down the river, some rapids, for 2 hours. The night before, one of the Brits said that he was in an internet cafe the day before we left when he saw a guy writing about the rafting trip and how his boat capsized. Hearing this, John became very emotional, as he had all of his new and expensive camera equipment with him, not to mention Julian and Ian being whisked away in the rapids. Our guide said, "I've been doing this for 12 years and we have never had a boat turn over. We'll also put your camera in a plastic bag. Don't worry, I will guard that camera with my life." John felt a little bit better at this.
These bamboo rafts consisted of 21 pieces (Julian counted) of bamboo latched together. Just flat, no side rails, no seats, standing room only. In one place 4 pieces of bamboo came up into a cross about 3 feet high, where our bags were hung. While we drifted down stream, we were standing in about 2 inches of water usually, at times it was 2 feet during the rapids. We all stood facing the front, one behind the other in the middle of the raft balancing it out. 85% of the time, it was smooth and easy but then the river would bend and you would be in rapids with lots of big boulders. Steering was done by one guide in the front and 2 of the tourists in the back by pushing off with a piece of bamboo.
After an hour, John wanted to try the poling off where you use the bamboo stick to push off and steer. He was doing it with 1 other tourist and our guide for about 15 minutes when we turned a bend and came to an area where there was only a couple of inches leeway between boulders to squeeze through. Our guide motioned for them (John and the other tourist in the back) to push left hard. Soon we were all yelling it as we saw how narrow the pass was, it looked like we were going to hit one of the rocks, which didn't worry us at first because we had already hit a few on the edge and still the raft eased over them, just cutting the bamboo a little. And then we rammed the rock on our starboard side and started to go up over it. The impact threw us all back a little and I fell to the floor and held on. And then nothing for a moment, we were stuck on a 35 % angle. however, the boat began to tip as if it was going to flip. We moved to one side, shifting our weight, to keep the boat from capsizing. We hung there as the water rushed over us and john's camera bag, dangled 3 inches from the water. (This is of course, is John's clearest moment of the whole ride - the 15 minutes or so, he watched his camera come inches away from being destroyed)
At first our guide jumped into the water and tried to dislodge us. Then 2 other guys jumped in but the water was extremely powerful and they were having trouble standing and not being swept away. We waited for the other boat behind us. Then, all the woman were helped to shore. It was then, that I realized just how powerful the river was. I only had 5 feet to get to shore but I need the help of 2 people to do it. The river kept pulling at my footing and people had to grab onto me to keep be from going down river. After the woman were ashore, the guide said for john's camera bag to be brought ashore. 10 minutes later, all bags were brought ashore. Well, ashore is a bit of an exaggeration. We had a 1 foot ledge to stand on - that really doesn't qualify for a shore.
The men from the other boat jumped in and tried to dislodge the boat. After 30 minutes, we realized that it wasn't working at it was dangerous for these people to be in the water. A decision was made that we would have to abandon the boat and hike. We crawled and slid all this shore for 10 minutes, in which time, Julian fell and got a very nasty cut on his leg. Finally we came to an area where we could stand - a half shore.
The other raft had to pass our raft to go done river. This raft got stuck on ours. They used machetes to break up our raft and dislodge themselves. They floated down to where we were. We all couldn't fit on this raft. so, the crossed us to the other side, where there was supposed to be a path.
With our backpacks, we began machetteing our way on what was supposed to be a 15 minute hike. This was not a well worn path. At one point, Ian slid down an embankment into thorn bushes. We all got bruised and cut a little. After about an hour we could see a village. We were all excited until we saw we had to go down a vertical bank to get to it. It just wasn't what we needed after an uphill climb, through dense jungle and hardly a path. Most of us ended up slipping and riding down on our butts (Lynne, this is why I really need you to bring me those pair of pants I requested).
We got to the village, had a beer and about 15 minutes later a truck came for us. We were finally back on the edge of civilization. We picked up the other half of our group and all 15 of us piled into this glorified pick-up truck and drove home in the dark (arriving 5 hours later than we were supposed to).
We arrived back to find out our hotel did not have our reservation and they were fully booked. Finally, they found a room with 2 twin beds. John and I squeezed into one, Ian another, and Julian in a roll away. It beat the cold bambo hut. We all slept very well that night.
Now we are back in Bangkok. Just over 30 hours after the trek. Whoa! It feels good to be back. Would I do the trek again, you bet! Will I eat shrimp again, not in this country. Do I want to trade my Volvo in for an elephant, well, that one I am not sure about. The elephant is definitely in better shape. Is this the longest email you will ever get from me, I hope so.
- Kellene O'Leary
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