Oh My Buddha! (Day 2)

Woke up and smelled the coffee! (I actually had a romanticized idea of the coffee that would be served at breakfast, because we were in an area known for the locally-grown coffee…turned out to be Nescafé -_-). I scarfed down toast, stuffed my still-damp clothing that had been hanging on the line into the backpack, and then…just stared at my filthy, damp, mud-caked sneakers and socks for a while. Terrible idea to not have brought extra socks, but I had no choice but to put on my grimy socks and shoes again for the hike down.

The trip down would usually have taken just an hour, but it was raining again, which made the steep hike down longer and much more precarious. Flavio alone wiped out at least four times (I counted). Each fall elicited a “Oh my Buddha!” exclamation from Johnny. He probably would have been a goner had his falls not been broken by…trees (just slightly better, I guess).

We finally made it to a waterfall, where everyone splashed around for a bit. SO refreshing after the hike. Next was the whitewater rafting portion of the trip, which may have been my favorite part of the trip because of the awesome drops. We continued down the river on bamboo rafts, and ended our trip at the riverbank.

Conclusions: I got so much out of the trekking trip because of the awesome physical factor of it and the sights and experiences packed into it. No doubt the trek was formulated for the touristy-type, but by no means was it "tourist-friendly." It definitely catered more towards the young, backpacker types. Our group, Team Mental, formed an awesome dynamic over the course of the trip through the shared experience and through sharing stories. We actually all met up again and went for drinks last night after we all got some rest at our hostels in Chiang Mai. Good times, with good people.

Sorry, but the full magnitude of the past two days can’t be captured by my less-than-gripping blog posts.