Welcome to the Jungle

Hey boys and girls. This little post is all about our two day/one night trek in the mountains near Chiang Mai, Thailand. We met up with our dear friend Aruna in Bangkok, took an overnight train to Chiang Mai (where we drank one too many Beer Chang). From there, we went on a really cool trek to waterfalls, hot springs and amazing mountain scenes. We even met a little 2 month old monkey and rode elephants. Nice!

Jennie and Aruna chilling around the hot springs. This is at the source when temperatures reach between 170-190 C below the surface, and 95-100 at the surface. We chilled out in a pool further down the mountain, and it was still really hot. Too hot in the hot tub!

This is the first pic of the little baby monkey we met while on our trek. It was rescued by a local family that lives in the mountains. Sadly, their dog got into a fight with the monkey's mother and killed her. So the family has adopted the little guy to try and help him grow up. He was so scared when we first showed up, but was also really curiouse to see so many faces. He would cry and hide, but as soon as we walked away to leave him alone, came back out and called out to us. I love this monkey!

Aruna and the baby Monkey!

These guys look alike. Maybe they are related.

Jennie and I also found our inner Kung Fu masters on the mountain top

This is my drunken Monkey style attack!

The view from the top of one of the mountain tops.

We slept over in the jungle at an elephant camp. The locals told us the elephants were chilling in the jungle we we got there in the evening, but that the elephants would return in the morning. We weren't sure about that one, but sure enough, the next morning we awoke to 4 huge elephants in our backyard, by the river. Very cool.

Here I am, getting off our elephant Ernest. I had started on the back of the elephant, with Aruna and Jennie riding in the saddle part. We didn't have enough room for all 3, so our guide asked me to ride bare-back. Since he had been calling me Rambo the whole time I figured, "why not?"

Well after about 40 minutes, my legs were shaking, my legs were red from rubbing up against the coarse hair of the elephant (they are not soft!), Ernest has unsuccessfully tied on several occasion to knock my fat ass of his head, and even sprayed me with a mixture of snot and water from his trunk. He made his point: I was not welcome on his head! Aruna valiantly took over, and rode him like no one has ever rode and elephant before! I was able to relax on the seat, and enjoy the rest of the ride.