The waterfall in the picture below was our first destination on our tour (besides the small pit stop to an Orchid prior to this that needs no more mention than this). The waterfall was cool, but nothing overly impressive. Even though December is Winter in Thailand, it feels as hot as our summer. There is a lack of water at this time of the year...thus, this waterfall wasn't much to see. There was a natural rock slide one could go down but I didn't know about it until our tour guide was gathering us to go. I was a bit disappointed because I totally would have gone down it had I known. When I saw the few men doing it, it made me very nostalgic for the Adirondack's again. My last summer in the area before moving to Japan, I had done all sorts of cliff jumping and waterfall seeking with Jon. It's such a rush and seeing those men do it made me itch to join them.
After the waterfall, we all went Whitewater rafting. It was so much fun! I haven't gone white water rafting in over three years now. The safety procedures in Thailand are nearly non-existent which made me a bit nervous. My life jacket - about 3 sizes too big would most likely not save me in an emergency situation. Our guide, this guy - probably the same height as me but pure muscle didn't speak English. He could say the commands in English and that was about it. Then, there was a guide whose boat we pretty much followed and went down the rive with. This guide was an absolutely nut. He was constantly screaming and whacking us with water via his paddle. The rafting wasn't anything that difficult or scary but the guides made it so much fun. Halfway down the line, we just picked up random Thai guys that were fishing on the shore but needed a life back down river, so into our raft they go - with no helmets and no life jackets. We floated down the river lazily for some of it allowing the current to take us.When we finished the rafting bit, we then went onto bamboo rafts. These were about 15 feet in length and 5 feet wide. We fit about 10 people per raft and there was one guy steering us in the front with a long stick. Our lower bodies were submerged in the water. It was relaxing.
Then to go do what nearly every tourist in Thailand does - ride an elephant. We took an hour ride through the jungle and down a river on the back of an elephant. There's an elephant steerer-guide man that sits in front of you and gives commands to the elephant to make sure it keeps going and prevents it from stopping and eating for the next hour while you're on it's back. They just climb up the side of the elephant as if it's a brick wall that just needs to be hopped onto. I shared an elephant with Ruth and Kyla. Our friends Emily and Andres were on the elephant in front of us. They were the leading elephant but by the end of the tour, their elephant was last. It was a bad elephant, that right in front of our eyes ripped down a tree in half! It was intense! So powerful! It apparently was really hungry.
The last thing we did was go to a Hill Tribe. This was a Karen Long Neck Hill tribe. The women here all wear gold rings around their necks. The men believe that the more rings around the neck, the sexier the woman is. Girls start wearing them around the age of 6. I had a hard time grasping that I was going to go see these women. I felt like - I was just going to see a zoo exhibit or something. But, they're human beings . Maybe I have such a hard time with it because I can't stand when people stare at me in Japan only because I am foreign. It's the same idea here - going to see people just because they are different. One of my co-travelmates really really really wanted to see them so we did it. It was pretty cool to see the long necks in person but it was really depressing as well. I've since learned alot about their culture and what brings them into this situation that I will elaborate on another day. This picture below wasn't taken by me - it was taken off the internet - but just for a better visual for you to understand long neck women. I couldn't bring myself to take pictures of them. 
Basically, these women have no choice but to do this zoo exhibit of themselves. Most of them came from Burma/Myanmar to escape war or death. Therefore, they aren't Thai citizens but they can't go back to their own country. So, they are forced pretty much to go into these touristy villages where loads of tour guides bring people like me to gawk at them. These women all own shops and try to sell you all sorts of unneeded crap. Most people buy stuff just because they feel bad for them. The stuff is not authentic. In fact, some of the stuff had "Made in China" stickers on the bag. The picture below is an example of the huts they live in. 
That night we met up with Tamo, another girl in my area that happened to be in Thailand and the city we were in for a few coinciding days. I ran to meet up with her at McDonald's after our tour. We all had dinner together and then 4 of us went out for drinks that evening. It was the most I drank in a while....
For pictures of this day click here (same link as last post)
1 comment:
Be thankfull they did not make you clean up the elephant poop after riding them lol
Dad
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