Thai Jungle

I've reached the inevitable point in my journey where this blog can no longer wholly serve all of its purposes. That said, I will continue on in my attempt to maintain balance.

The jungle trek was a wonderful escape from civilization. The scenery was breathtaking and the company eclectic. Our guide had an impossible Thai name so he introduced himself as Jackie Chan. Nobody argued, probably because he had a remarkably fitting look and sense of humor. For three days, I was "Mista No Hair." We spent a good part of our days hiking. The course led us through the mountains' jungle and rice crops, and a few hill tribe villages. We always had two breaks: one for lunch, and one to cool off in the river when and where it met up with the trail. Getting in the water was the highlight of the trek for me. We were given plenty of time to relax and really take in the beauty of the surrounding nature.

River pit stop, day two.

We had a fire both nights which brought on a temporary feeling of nostalgia. The first night was relatively low key. We had dinner, then moved to the makeshift benches surrounding the fire and sipped a bit of social lubricant. A couple of us took a night walk. And then a drunk Thai guy from our camp pulled out a six foot rifle and offered to take (only) the guys hunting for squirrels and birds. The three of us anxiously agreed. We didn't end up seeing anything but several times I found myself resisting the urge to stop suddenly, point, and yell, "SQUIRREL!" Upon our return to camp, our groveling comportment confirmed to the girls their skepticism of the whole charade. We were greeted with a healthy serving of ridicule. It was all in good fun though and set the stage for some great campfire conversation. As the fire died off, much of the group retired to bed. A different flame flickered a while longer.

Our camp the first night.

The second night had a slightly different feel. Time had cleared the air within the group and everyone talked much more freely. Eight of us committed to the 44 beers that were set before us. We laughed and played games with Jackie Chan, and learned the Elephant Song and how to count to ten in Thai.

View from our camp the second night.

Our group consisted of one German guy traveling solo, one Dutch girl traveling solo, two Dutch sisters, a Spanish couple from Madrid, five Spanish girls from Basque country, and me. I had developed a strange feeling before leaving on this adventure that some interesting situation might arise from having waited an extra day to go. That's just typical of my life. However, I did suffer a slight lapse in optimism followed by a short but severe case of idiocy while waiting at my guesthouse to get picked up for it. On the waiver sheet I had to sign, I noticed that there were five M's and only 3 F's on the list. Without even thinking, I put an F next to my name, nearly evening out the score. I didn't even realize what I had done until I looked back over my information to double check it -- but not before thinking to myself, "That's better! Wait..." I took a moment of silence to reflect on that. It turned out the waiver was for all tours leaving my guesthouse. It was in no way indicative of the male/female ratio that would be in my group, which was actually comprised of people from different guesthouses all over town.