Of course, the city is fun, but there's a lot outside of the city too. Seven of us ELIC teachers got together to go on a one-day trek in the countryside.

We got up early one morning and hopped into these vans. There was more than just our group on the trek of course. Our first stop was an elephant ride through the forest and up one of the mountains. I ended up with a Korean guy beside me on the elephant. He didn't speak much English, but I could say "Hello" in Korean at least.

After half an hour, we arrived near the top of a small mountain where there was a Meo village. The Meo are one qof the many hill tribes in northern Thailand. There, we got to peruse some local goods and even shoot a crossbow. I must admit that I have a terrible aim. Don't worry, I didn't kill anyone. I couldn't even scratch that hanging fruit.

Soon, we were trekking down the mountain by foot back to our vans. Along the way, we had to cross a small river, but the bamboo bridge was a little more than wanting. We got on the bridge for a group picture, but we heard a crack after the 4th or 5th picture. Better advised to cross one at a time.

We had a quick lunch and then we were off again. This time we came to a Karem village. There we could try on their clothing and watch them weave baskets. A group of children surrounded the lady teachers. Now that I think about it, I was the only guy teacher on this trek. Anyway, the girls had fun with the children and gave them some money to buy some candy.

Once again, we were on the move. The tour guides were taking us to the Shan Waterfall. It's not a tall waterfall, but it was really pretty all the same. Apparently, we were allowed to swim in the pool just below the waterfall, but no one had told me beforehand. Most of the ladies had come prepared. It always ends being me that's left out--the story of my life. The only consolation was that the water was pretty chilly.

Then we had a nice treat at the end. We would go bamboo rafting. Now, you may be picturing white water rapids, man-eating crocodiles, and rushing torrents. It was more like calm, slow-moving, shallow river with no sign of wildlife anywhere. We all got on rafts in groups of four. Each raft had a Thai driver. When I got on mine, the driver told me to steer in the rear. So I did. I was doing okay for a while, but then we got close to the right bank of the river. There was this tree whose trunk grew right over the water. The front of the boat got under okay. The middle of the boat got under okay. The rear of the boat passed right by the trunk. I tried to use my pole to steer clear, but it was too late. I could either fall in the water or grab onto the tree. I chose the latter. One of the other tourists was from Australia and she said I looked like a koala bear. Everyone had a good laugh at my expense. My raft came back to get me and I didn't get wet.

Unfortunately, my hanging onto the tree only delayed my getting wet. As we progressed down the river, we would get close to the other rafts. The drivers, in their deft skill and humour, decided to splash the occupants of nearby rafts. This river was probably more like a creek, but I got really soaked. I couldn't believe it.

We got back up to the road and let the sun dry us out. That was the end of our trek. The tour guide drove us back into town. We showered, changed, and got together again for a Mexican dinner. Ole!

Trekking Pictures