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(Next Photo Essay: Bac Ha Market, Northern Vietnam)

1. Jungle Trekking Chiang Mai: At times through some very thick Jungle.

2. Jungle Trekking Chiang Mai: Huts in small jungle villages made the simple life look beautiful.

3. Jungle Trekking Chiang Mai: The jungle has it's dangers for the flip flop wearer!

4. Jungle Trekking Chiang Mai: Children at a jungle village somewhere in Chiang Mai.

5. Jungle Trekking Chiang Mai: An old lady cleaning up after the hungry trekkers.

6. Jungle Trekking Chiang Mai: An old lady cleaning up after the hungry trekkers.

7. Jungle Trekking Chiang Mai: An Elephant and his Mahout, getting a rub down in the jungle.

8. Jungle Trekking Chiang Mai: The Elephant thought our camera was bananas...

9. Jungle Trekking Chiang Mai: After a few long days trekking we stayed in a jungle hut with views to die for.

10. Jungle Trekking Chiang Mai: Sore and tired, the views of the hills and jungle around Chiang Mai made up for it.

(Next Photo Essay: Bac Ha Market, Northern Vietnam)

If you’ve been jungle trekking in Chiang Mai and have a picture you would like to share please add the link in the comments section and it should magically appear, I’ll link back to you also… Mucho Mucho Love…

]]> http://happytimeblog.co.uk/travel-pictorials/pictures-jungle-trekking-chiang-mai/feed/ 13 http://happytimeblog.co.uk/catalonia/hiking-bergueda-mountains-spain/ http://happytimeblog.co.uk/catalonia/hiking-bergueda-mountains-spain/#comments Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:10:55 +0000 Aaron Bradford | HappytimeBlog.co.uk http://happytimeblog.co.uk/?p=2657
Spain happens to be one of those lucky countries that enjoys the best of all worlds, you’ve got the option of sunning it up on a beach or rolling in the snow. Sip coffee at a cosmopolitan cafe in Barcelona or get good and adventurous up in the mountains. Which leads me nicely to to what happened next in Catalonia… Adventure in the Bergueda mountains. It was yet another early morning for the intrepid bloggers and the previous nights epic buffet dinner was definitely not helping matters. To be honest it was beginning to rub a little, not starting dinner until 9 pm and then up at 7 am – but when the wine is flowing we aint the kind of cats to say no, the price – not much more than 6 hours sleep and a hangover every morning. But, nothing a spot of hiking in the snowy mountains wouldn’t fix…

We had stayed the night at El Montanya Resort, a plush spa resort hotel nestled in the north east region of Seva , Spain. After we’d finished up at the Barcelona cookery classes the previous day we jumped straight on the minibus and now it was time to do it all again. The bus dragged us slowly skywards and the landscape started to open up, I forget how high we actually were by the time we stepped off the bus… For two reasons: 1. The views were huge…

2. It was -10 below freezing…

I tried my best to roll a smoke before we set off hiking but the cold was chomping at my fingers and Georgie was raging about me not letting her pack her big jumper, rightly so under the circumstances. Still, the only way to warm things up was to get hiking. Our guide Albert Was a happy fellow all decked out in proper adventure gear with sticks to walk with and all sorts, this really didn’t inspire either me or Georgie with confidence because we’d just thrown on what we’d normally wear with a couple of extra T-shirts underneath. We set off and once the group had got up into the trees the wind was off us and the blood was pumping and things were warming up nicely. Hiking is something I always actually enjoy doing more than I think I would and up there on the snow covered hills of Bergueda it was all good. We were hiking for a few hours and probably because of the good company and the beautiful views of the Pyrenees Mountains the time seemed to fly by, it wasn’t a particularly demanding trek but it did have it’s rewards in the form of lunch at Els Roures, a hillside lodge that made the most of  locally grown mushrooms. We piled in the doors of the place after a short drive back down the mountains and the first thing that gets you is the huge fireplace that sits in the middle of the room… By huge I mean really huge, it has what I would call “trunk sections” not logs – actual large parts of a tree trunk!
As the warmth slowly found it’s way back into my life we were all handed a small shot glass sized cup and a spoon, it went by the name of hot chocolate but it didn’t look like it… It was literally hot chocolate, not coco… melted hot chocolate – the fire, the chocolate, I surrendered then and there to a life in the Bergueda mountains. What followed was nothing short of perfect, we were moved upstairs to a large room and the wine began to pour, the food began to arrive and what a feast it was. Every dish on the menu was traditional mountain grub and came with a side order of the locally grown mushrooms,  they even had mushroom liquor aperitifs, after working up a hiking hunker it was exactly what everyone needed and to be honest it was one of the best lunch’s that I’ve ever had!
Due to the amount of wine and mushroom liquor that was disappearing attentions turned to our afternoons adventure activity… Quad biking through the hills – were we still capable? I didn’t even care, I was warm, full and half cut.

After yet another good nights sleep fuelled by the excellent beer Chang we woke up good and early for breakfast as we had an early morning appointment with some elephants that needed a good wash in the river… Yet another fine feast was produced by our guide on nothing more than a bucket full of hot coals and after a good filling a few of us headed down to the river to see the elephants having a splash about, Georgie was in her bikini in seconds and helping the mahouts clean the big smelly chilli-whoppers. Unlike when we went elephant trekking on Koh Chang they weren’t made to entertain everyone who came to see them instead the seemed to entertain each other by doing secret underwater farts every time someone got close enough…

We still had an hour or so until the trekking was due to start and Georgie stayed with them until every one was clean as a whistle, I think she cleaned 5 in the end and except for dodging giant floating shits she had a wicked time. We all got packed up and loaded our respective elephants with our bags before climbing aboard ourselves and heading off up some pretty slim and tough tracks, some parts of the trek would be difficult on foot and when you stare over the elephants hairy head to the floor 8ft below you cant help thinking that there is no way were going to get through there. As we slowly plodded trough the jungle the others on their elephants caught up and we all formed a long train while we trekked. Along the way there was a small bamboo hut on stilts with a lady selling bunches of bananas inside, all the elephants push and shove to get you to the hut and as soon as you get there their trunk is up over their head asking for a tasty banana, feeling all your pockets and pulling at your clothes and even after we left the hut our elephant kept stopping and having a feel around because he knew we had a stash so we couldn’t do anything else but indulge him or else he wouldn’t move on. The old boy knew we had a lovely bunch and he clearly knew we were holding out on him but still he was so gentle and even polite, considering he could have just plucked one of us of and held us upside down and shock the sweet treats out of their hiding place. We carried on along even more intense terrain, so much so that at points the elephants just slid down on their arses until we reached the riverside spot where we would be white water rafting, where we hopped off and had a bite to eat, played with the ‘phants some more and took some pictures as they wandered off probably to do it all again with more tourists. We all got suited and booted in our helmets and life jackets and dragged our boat down to the fast flowing river, jumped aboard and had a quick safety brief… Which mainly consisted of the “captain” saying “if I say hold on then HOLD ON”. At least one of our team had been once before and that was all the reassurance we needed so with that we pushed away from the bank and paddled like our lives depended on it. It was mostly fairly smooth going except for short but ferociously intense and fast rapid sections at which point the captain would scream the key phrase… Fucking hang on. It was top fun and although it was only a short trip of 20 minutes it seemed a lot longer and as we cruised gently to the end we all raised our paddles and had a high five… Oh yeah. The other team were obviously a long way behind our super buff team so we waited for them and helped them out with their boat before getting aboard our bamboo raft for the last leg of our river journey, it was at this point that our greatest attribute, a team of beef cakes… I include myself in that! Became a distinct hindrance because our raft sank… Not all the way, it just kind of half floated just below the surface of the water which must have looked so funny from the river bank, like a buck of people floating past like ducks or something. Georgie took the helm (by helm I mean a big stick that the captain was using to steer) and after a few moments our only form of steering or braking had become nothing more than driftwood, Georgie dropped the bastard and left us literally up the creek without a paddle! Our captain did the noble thing and went in and got it and we finished the journey without any other real hiccups. And that was that, short of another fine feast and some group pictures our 3 day jungle trekking adventure was over… It had been hard at times but always been fun and the main reason for that was the people… Our group and our guides were all such fun and interesting people and there was a real team spirit and that had made the trip without a doubt. Once back in Chang Mai we did sweet F.A. For the rest of the day, except the standard… Super duper massage of course!

Our first morning in the jungle around Chiang Mai was not too bad, we had all got a pretty good nights sleep, partly due to the walking and partly because of the Chang Beer! It was about 8am when Georgie surfaced and breakfast, more importantly coffee wasn’t far behind. Considering the pokey and limited kitchen facilities breakfast was nothing short of a triumphant feast of pancakes and fruit all with the backdrop of the misty morning mountains, which looked a lot less like a challenge from up on top.
By the time breakfast was finished our now smokey clothes had finished drying in the morning sun and by 11am we were all suited and booted and ready to head out again, Georgie was still a bit worried about how she would manage another days trekking but our guide assured her it would be easy and if not he knew a short cut…
We headed off out of the village and our super hung over guide let us follow the path while he dragged himself along behind. As promised it was a lot less steep, much more down hill action which seems a lot easier… After maybe half an hour we arrived at our first stop much to the relief of our suffering guide, a small village with great views across the surrounding hillside. There was a bunch of happy little children knocking about that all came for a good old stare and Georgie got right in there showing off her piercing… Which they stared at open mouthed for some time. While enjoying some snacks we could all hear a squeaking noise coming from under the wooden floor, so I bent down to see what was going on and on a shelf just under the house a dog had recently had puppies, they were the size of hamsters at best! Of course Georgie and most of the others nearly shat themselves but we didn’t have time to linger, we said our goodbyes to the people and carried on down the hill.
We kept going until the early afternoon when we had been promised a swim in a waterfall and some lunch, the terrain down was less like a gruelling slog and more an obstacle course which Georgie loved and so did I. The setting couldn’t have been any nicer, in a small valley with a waterfall at one end and a small group of simple wooden huts. Framed by a river running alongside and towering jungle covered hills all around it was beautiful and by this time we were all feeling the heat and the pools under the waterfall were icy cold… A few of the local boys came for a swim with us and showed us the best rocks to jump in off and we had a good old splash about with them for best part of an hour before having a wicked lunch of instant noodles.
Feeling refreshed, clean and full we let our dinner sit for a while then got dressed for more trekking. The next section of walking was the biggest of the day and although we stayed pretty much with the river there was a fair bit of up and down which started to wear Georgie down. It was a gorgeous day and the jungle was beautiful but by the time we had reached the next waterfall we were pretty done in, all the down hill walking had turned our legs to jelly and as we plonked down on the rocks for a rest one chap in the group made a joke that he had been there for a while and was ready to head off again, this did not sit well but luckily Kat got in first with a polite but firm “we are going to enjoy the scenery for a while” before me or Georgie could reply probably with violence, certainly foul language. Our guides sensed the tension I think and opted for a morale boosting swim in the beautiful sparkling water. It was the perfect way to refresh, teamed with Redbull and nut bars Georgie was in top shape to continue on the final stretch to our nights accommodation and so was I.
The last leg was almost completely all hopping across rivers on stepping stones and climbing over root balls and under fallen trees, it was the most fun part of the whole walking part of the tour and we passed several other small camps with other trekkers in, stopped for a little chat and carried on to ours. By this point the light was fading and we picked the pace up a little but within no time we were striding into our flashy riverside camp, the group had closed up over the last part due to the difficult terrain and as we arrived at camp Georgie ran ahead and started wooping about being first… Solely to annoy the chap who had been so keen to press on at the waterfall and make it clear he was the best trekker in the world… Very funny!
Our accommodation for the night this time consisted of another long-house but with only beds in and the wall facing the nearby river completely open to the jungle and the fast flowing river below, it was still bamboo but just as rustically nice and cosy. We had a separate dining room which was more like a roof on stilts but still had all the charm and boy scout feeling of the previous nights diggs, after a swim in the river to wash the days smells away we headed down for dinner and another fine sing along by candle light. Although this time there was no guitar or hilarious songs about the royal family it was still a very fun night in an amazing setting with a bunch of awesome and interesting people…

I’m awake at 7:30, sore and tired because the last 3 days have been pretty intense, we spend them in the jungle on our 3 day Chiang Mai jungle trekking adventure tour. Which turned out to be pretty damn good actually.
Our first day we headed down to the travel agent at 9am we booked with to store our bags and valuables and with only the bare essentials we hopped aboard the truck and picked everybody up from various places in Chang Mai. With our group complete we all headed for our first stop while we got to know each other, and what a lovely bunch of coconuts they all were… That really makes all the difference when doing something like that because if everything goes bad or you really start to not enjoy it at least you have good company you know?
Anyway our first stop was in fact a hanging orchid garden which was pretty cool I suppose, didn’t really see why but hey. Then off to stop number 2, a snake farm. Which again wasn’t mentioned when we booked but we kept an open mind, it was a dire display of how not to keep snakes and what’s more I have a real aversion to things like that because I have seen enough shocking movies on the Internet to give me a healthy respect of dangerous animals especially for instance, massive king cobra’s in a cage and one of the staff kicking the mesh to make the thing react!!! No thank you, and when they started walking around with them to put on people I am certain to keep the fuck out of the way! After a while walking around the cages looking at the various slippery beasts we were ushered inside to watch yet another shocking accident video in the making, a snake show with an old man fucking around with cobra’s and all sorts. The commentary for the show was hilarious but the rest of it was a little brutal for my liking and I think I would have found it infinitely more entertaining if he had taken a dose of venom but he didn’t and the snakes went back in their respective sacks until the next tour group arrives.

We arrived at the base camp where we would get some lunch and prepare for our first day of trekking after about an hour, by this time we were all getting on pretty well and although a little spaced out from the exhaust fumes of our struggling truck, ready for a good trekking… Even Georgie! We were all given lengths of bamboo as hiking sticks and told it was to hit the wild dogs with and then away we went into the jungle. It was about a 3 hour trek and pretty tough going, it started fine and as we got higher the going got tougher, we had a short rain shower which helped to re energize everybody but it didn’t last too long because shortly afterwards it was baking heat. After about 2 hours Georgie was set to turn around, she was running on empty and completely exhausted but with help from some Alpen bars and a Redbull she kept going… Despite swearing that trekking is the most ridiculous thing in the world and she would never ever do it again! But thanks to a few of the others being so supportive and our guides she soldiered on. As we climbed higher the views started to open up and become ones of pretty dramatic hillside and jungle greenery but it was spoiled slightly by the super hard going because the best we could manage was to stare directly at the floor to keep moving and not fall, only stopping a few times to really take it in. As we neared the hill tribe village that would be our home for the night the clouds rolled through the valley below us and let loose a pretty big rain storm, we had gone from being dripping with sweat and ready to drop to almost shivering and soaked to the bone within a minute…
But the end was in sight and with a soundtrack of utter despair from Georgie we made it to the village and to our bamboo long-house, within minutes a fire was alight and we were stripped off huddling around it trying to dry off. The long-house was really basic but really nice, it had 3 rooms, one a kitchen/staff area, a kind of sitting room with an open fire pit in the middle and one side open to the hills and lastly a big bedroom. Outside was a large porch area and the whole thing was made from bamboo even down to the floor covering.
After a few hours the weather lifted and the views down across the hills and valleys was pretty spectacular, we all sat around chatting and drinking some beers while the guides knocked up some top grub. We all sat around the fire swapping travel stories and eating for the evening and it was starting to all seem worth the effort of walking there, one of our guides who had been particularly quiet all day had perked up a treat and with a few of the villagers got out a guitar and a old water can and started to get a sing along going. It was really fun and the guide was on top form really going for it, but after exhausting all their English songs he started making them up… Our favourite was one centred around the royal family with a few classic lines like “prince Charles loves Camilla too much” “prince William, went to Iraq, to find Bin Laden, but only for a week, then he went home, because its very scary”
Hilarious!
A few of the village women were offering massages and we weren’t about to refuse… Kat and I got a treat of 2 women each while Georgie bless her only got the 1, but after that we were suitable relaxed and I shortly after we all headed off to bed before the snorers got going…

We had a little lie in the day after our Tram Tom Pass adventure and it was well needed, and even if I do say so myself… Well deserved. We went off for a spot of breakfast at our new favourite eatery baguettes and chocolate before starting out towards Cat Cat minority village, Its the closest hill tribe village to Sapa and any trekking involved is at a minimum which ticks all our boxes… Still we opted to take our trusty moped down the pretty steep road to the bottom of the valley where we hopped off and carried on the rest of the way foot. It was still a pretty healthy walk along the valley path up and down a rocky little path for about half an hour until we came to a few little traditional houses by a waterfall, a proper postcard scene if ever I’ve seen one. By the side of the falls the was an automatic rice smasher thingy that takes water from the falls and when its full tips out the water and falls back down and smashes the rice or whatever is in the bowl at the end. We carried on along the path up some hills and then right into the rice terraces we had been looking down on from our room, we had a wander through the village an played on a bridge with some little children then had a rest from the hiking by the river while the little kids had a laugh at us and splashed around. Cat Cat village was absolutely gorgeous and there were hill tribe people going about their business all over while we just strolled around, taking pictures and chatting away to them and as we started back across the terraces to cut the hike back in half we wandered past a hill tribe fella who had been on the rice wine and was well pissed, we gave him a wave and he tried to smile back at us but just fell over so we didn’t bother him any more we just carried on passing a few children leading buffalo along and all sorts. It was at this point that we were glad we brought our bike! It wasn’t a very long walk but the hills and the fact it was pretty hot at the bottom of the valley had taken their toll and we really didn’t fancy the steep road back to Sapa town. We hopped back on our bike and took a little detour through another part of the village, it felt alot more rural and it seemed to be where most of the people actually lived, it was lovely just ambling through catching a glimpse of hill tribe life and loads of grubby little children playing and waving like crazy, animals all running about the place and people in the terraces cutting rice and tilling the earth. The road slowly wound to an end and turned into a rough little dirt track so we turned around and headed back up the hills and into Sapa town. We stopped for lunch at the Pink Floyd bar! Im not sure what makes it ” Pink Floyd” but that’s what it said on the sign and the owner even invited us back for rice wine in the evening with him… After lunch we sped off again just for a drive through the hills to nowhere in particular just to soak up the amazing scenery and winding roads, we were out for a few hours and turned back again before it got dark because they really aren’t the kind of road you want to drive on at night! Naturally we had our nightly hot chocolate before heading back to our hotel for the night because who knows when we will be in a place cool enough to drink hot choc again!..