Jungle trek

First time poster. I took a jungle trek in Thailand and got inspired to share my account of it thanks to some encouragement from a kind friend.

Jungle trek

We started with a 2 hour ride in the back of a truck, departing from the old city in Chiang mai. Our guide detch had a kind face and the soft demeanour you'd expect from someone who's spent a lifetime mastering the ways of the jungle. He drove us through picturesque winding roads that traversed the hill studded landscape.

We arrived at a small clearing after passing locals cleaning elephants with the nonchalance of a westerner cleaning their car on a Sunday morning. We walked up hill for 2 hours, passing ant colonies and insects with colours you don't expect to occur naturally.

Eventually we hit a small self sustained village that cultivated everything from fresh coriander to wild boar. We were introduced to an old Thai lady, maybe 70, who explained that she was exempt from working because of her lifetime of labour that contributed to the success of the village. I had a strange paradoxical sensation of pity and envy, she had a heavily worn yet peaceful expression. We ate local Thai food and continued on our way.

We walked for another few hours, yet as we gained altitude the heat lessened its intensity, which was a relief (especially for the pale British people amongst us).

Our guide detch was an expert on all the fauna of the jungle. We took a rest and he picked a leaf of a tree and instructed me to eat it, to my surprise it tasted like sour apples, it was delicious. Then he carefully split the stem of one and to everyone's delight blew bubbles from it. Whilst it gave me a child like wonder it also made me realise that it was coupled with a child like ignorance of what was around me. During the rest of the break datch made a bamboo gun that shoots paper, caught us some grubs to eat (which were surprisingly tasty) and taught us how his people have survived on bamboo for over 3000 years, from cooking to shelter to weaponry.

We walked another few hours, meandering through streams and rice fields until we finally arrived at base camp, a handful of wooden huts next to a picturesque waterfall. We all showered in the waterfall together and then dried off at a viewpoint overlooking the vast array of life we'd just walked though.

Detch sat me down and insisted I cook dinner, he explained the ingredients as he added them into a wok over a fire, I stirred as he explained that the dish I was cooking has kept his people full of life for centuries, and after eating it I could see why. I don't know if it was because my battered body was craving nutrition, or the beauty of the environment, but it was the best meal I've ever eaten. It was a simple combination of rice and vegetables, but there was something special about it.

As night fell we lit a campfire and our hosts showed us some classic Thai logic problems on a makeshift log table. I surprised myself and solved a couple, detch patted me on the back and said I was 'smart for a westerner'. It felt like getting paternal approval and my eyes welled up, emotions run high in the jungle.

As I went to bed, my best friend paul went into the hosts hut and smoked opium with the jungle doctor who was accompanying detch. He explained in the morning that he got that paternally approved feeling too, and we couldn't help but feel that in another life, ourselves, detch and the jungle doctor would make a fantastic friendship circle.

I woke up at 5.30, all of the westerners were in bed but I couldn't resist getting up and watching the sun roll over the jungle. I showered in the waterfall and came out to the pleasant surprise of jungle doctor brewing coffee. He gave me a cup and asked why I wasn't asleep, and I explained I couldn't sleep with so much beauty around me. He said he completely understood, and I spent most of the morning teaching him sudoku and helping him make breakfast pancakes for the group.

Once everyone was full of food and coffee we headed out into the jungle again, this time downhill, which was much more demanding. After 3 hours we reached a temple, detch explained that his people rebuilt it 3000 years ago after the burmese destroyed their holy sites. He joked that the Thai make better curry and Burma was mad about it.

One of the younger guides with an incredibly soft voice led us in a meditation class in front of a 50ft sleeping Buddha statue. I'm not a spiritual person but something about this setting definitely made me feel something special, I can see the attraction of mindfulness and self awareness in such an unforgiving place.

Another 3 hour treck down the mountain, with bloody blistered feet. To everyone's relief detch explained we were taking a raft for the remainder of the journey. We dumped our bags in a truck and climbed aboard a makeshift bamboo raft and sailed down the river for 40 minutes or so, passing elephants and locals drinking beer in equal measure. As we came back into civilisation I realised how loud and fast everything seemed and how many members of the group had taken on the soft qualities from our hosts voices. It had only been 2 days, but the jungle had become a part of us.

Author's Note

Aware my grammar and punctuation needs work. Happy for any feedback, positive or negative. Thanks so much for taking the time to read.

Reviews

[Srchaud]

So as an account, its a good read. Not overly flashy or tedious. Keeps the points while making a few details here and there to keep from feeling stale.
Had a few humours moments such as (especially for the pale British people amongst us). So it keeps a good charm, that makes the reading few personal.
While this would not make a good chapter(remember not everything is written to be a book), it makes a great blog post, dairy entry for a book, or an articule about your time spent in thailand.
So for what you set out to achive you did well.