Jungle Trekking in Chiang Mai (Thailand)

After crossing the upper Mekong into Thailand we found out that if you cross via land your visa is only good for 14 days, and you could only get a 7 day extra stay. Basically, we @#$@%^ up. This meant we had to leave the country again, and the cheapest flight was to Kuala Lumpur in Malayasia. I guess it wasn't the worse thing to happen, but it did cost enough to rearrange all of our flights and meant we couldn't spend anytime in Chiang Mai. But before we left on our visa run we went on a jungle trek.

We opted for the one night two day adventure. We started out on an elephant trek. This consisted of hopping on an elephant and having it go down a trail to the river to cool off. Then up through a little valley and through a briefly wooded area and then back to the camp.


It might sounds a little lame and touristy, but it was still amazing. Much different than the time in Laos. At least we went into the jungle and went around. After grabbing a bite to eat we then took off on a long, long hike. It was advertised for all ages, but it must have been a 5-7 mile mountain hike. It was well worth it though. We had some very scenic views, saw a bunch of wild elephants right by the path (they are then roped in to ride people around, but when they get old they retire back to the jungle), and experienced something completely different.We got to our huts pretty close to sunset and they group leader says that they have two showers. After some investigation, they weren't really showers, but big buckets and a large ladle. Quite luxury. One even had a fist sized spider in it. That night they made one of the best curries I've ever had and served it on the straw hut. The food on the trip was really good, and the tour guides turned into a funny cover band later that night. It's funny how throughout the trip we ran into people who could barely speak any English, but could sing every Bob Marley or Beatles son.The next day we hiked down the mountain and stopped at a waterfall to cool off. Even though it was March it was still 90 degrees. At the end of the hike we we tubing, which was the worst part of the trip b/c there wasn't any water. It took us about an hour, and during high season the guide said it takes 10 minutes. Its probably really exciting. But it was nice and lazy and we did see some elephants on the river bank. The trek was awesome and anyone going to northern Thailand should look into it. After getting back we immediately caught our flight to Kuala Lumpur and felt really sorry for the people sitting near us.