Day 2 of our jungle adventure… Waterfalls galore

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…