Seoul and Beyond

I just returned from my three-day jungle trek in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I feel good except for a few scratches on my legs.

On our first day, our tour guide drove us out to a place where we rode elephants for about 15 minutes. (Yes, I heard an elephant pass wind.) Also got to watch them snack on trees and snap them in half like twigs.

We trekked for about an hour to the a tiny village where we had dinner and watched a few little girls dance in their traditional clothing. Our tour guide explained that the people in these villages do not have Thai citizenship and are not considered part of Thailand. They also each have their own language. Pigs, chickens, ducks, and dogs aimlessly roamed the grounds. We also played soccer with our tour guides (it was the first time I’d played since 4th grade). Never has a shower felt so good—we were all completely covered with dust.

The second day, we got up, ate toast for breakfast, and started walking. We walked for a couple of hours to a small waterfall where we all cooled off and ate lunch. A little stream ran through the village, and huge trees of all kinds surrounded it. The trees had leaves that were bigger than a human head. After lunch, we sat and rested for an hour, preparing for a three-hour walk through the jungle and over a stream to the next village where we’d sleep. We slept, both nights, in wooden shacks with mats on the floor and blankets. Both nights I slept really well, despite worrying about whether I’d be bitten by a mosquito, which is nothing new from camping in Vermont.

This morning we woke up at 9 am and ate breakfast. We walked for about two hours to where we changed into our bathing suits and rode (actually actively drove) bamboo rafts down a river for about an hour. This is where my legs got scratched—having to get off the raft and guide it over the rocks since the water was so low. I “drove” the raft, or stood at the front with my punting pole, for most of the time, and to my surprise, I wasn’t bad at it. We eventually made it to our next destination, jumped in the back of our truck, and had pad Thai (spicy/sweet brown noodles and pork, I think) for lunch. It was a two-hour drive back to Chiang Mai proper. Now I have one more night in Chiang Mai, then I head to Bangkok tomorrow night for one day to prepare to fly back to Seoul.

My trip in SE Asia is nearly over, and I am ready to go home to see my family. I am ready to remember what it is I am doing next in life, to reflect on this trip and my time in Korea. At the same time, I am only hungry to travel more.