it's a bug' s trek

hello bugs. hope you are enjoying the snow haha. we experienced similar conditions on our  "VIP" bus to Chiang Mai. The air con was freezing. we finally arrived early morning and after befriending 2 fellow travellers, began the search for a room. we did not realise how difficult this would be but eventually stumbled across a gem. the owner is a lovely father figure who waits up for us to return every night. He also said he would pick us up from anywhere in the town if we were stuck. sweet.

we then bugged along to a temple and went along to a ' monks chat' where you could ask monks questions about their lives. our monk said some have facebook and they can only eat if people donate them food. we then went to the night bazaar where we suffered much hotel envy after seeing some of the gems Chang MaI has to offer! the next morning we were DYING from too much healthy eating, vitamins and that one barcadi breezed we shared at a club called zoes. we were rudely awoken from our sleep by the leader of the cooking class we forgot we booked. with haste we put on shoes and left the hostel. the cooking course was completely organic and set on a beautiful rural farm with lovely hammocks for napping, which we appreciated. we cooked green curry, jungle curry, pad Thai, veg spring rolls and many other Thai foods. Stephanie had to overcome her phobia of shrimp when she had to step up to the mark and cook some of hollys food when hollys illness took a turn for a worse. however  holly was soon as right as rain and we could both enjoy the farm an d the course. we particularly enjoyed the hour set aside after lunch especially for sleeping. upon our return a new guest had checked into our hostel who surprisingly went to stephs old school. it's a small world after all. we all went out to a cool reggae bar where we met some Thai locals who taught us many useful words such as ' free' ' ma' which means more and 'baa' which means crazy.

again we felt tired for the beginnings of its a bugs trek (which for those of you who do not know is a 3 day 2 night trek to visit hill tribes) and did not enjoy the orchids farm as it was yawn. we really enjoyed the elephant ride yet Elmo often got precariously close to the edge of many treacherous drops. the long neck tribe was also interesting yet we decided we would hate to be a long neck and would leave at first opportunity.

then the actual walk began and holly became sick again and lost her appetite. we decided that being ill on a jungle trek was going to be awful. luckily a kind German soldier carried her rucksack which he said added '1 kg to his weight". outside the gate of the hill tribe 4 hours on holly was finally sick and could begin the long road to recovery. the accommodation was substandard yet very natural. we slept for 11 hours roughly so believe we were truly exhausted. it's a  bugs trek continued the next day still in our converse and vans navigating the treacherous conditions of the jungle. other bugs were more prepared in hiking boots and with sleeping bags. it is unfortunately not in our nature to be prepared. We went to some beautiful waterfalls which were deceptively cold however holly braved the freezing conditions and Steph dipped her feet. finally we arrived at our destination for the night, which somehow managed to be more cold and uncomfortable than the previous night. We did however enjoy a campfire sing song with another bug trek and there were many nationalities present. there were French, German, Dutch,English, Danish and American and we sang songs from all nations.

we awoke stiff and cold after little sleep. we walked a bit more, until we stopped to do white water and bamboo rafting. this was very fun but very wet. we both managed to fall between the bamboo rafts though luckily we're unhurt.

now back in Chiang Mai, our dream is a pizza which we shall have soon. tomorrow we are off to pai where we will chill out and recover.  

goodbye