This morning we woke to a rooster perched in our sleeping hut. One of our trekking companions was brave enough to peek into the nest and found two fresh eggs.
We had breakfast, packed, and started on our 5 hour hike. Today it was thrilling; it was a bit like the Jungle Book visually, large amazing leafs, 5 waterfalls along our walk, thick air and moist padded dirt paths and the steep thin trails along green cliffs. I loved it.
Our lunch had been prepared in the morning and was wrapped in leaves and tied with a long piece of bamboo; little packed lunches of what tasted like beef ramen with chunks of cooked carrot and other vegetables. Awesome!!
From our previous day of trekking at our first camp we inadvertently adopted a little red and white spotted dog, who would spend a few minutes digging at wildlife then run to catch up to the group, scouting other burrowed holes. He scarfed the unwanted remains of our lunch, clean from the large leafs and we found out later that he also has a pallet for kittens.
something lovely that a campfire made...
Brittney and I took our first dip in the jungle water wilderness. There was viney undergrowth in the water and mini sandbars; the viney part very muchly freaked us out, but the water was loud and chilly and just the right thing to bring down our bodies temperatures from the day. We did this during a lunar eclipse that our precious eyes couldn’t register, but Elena’s camera could capture.
Our camp tonight is situated next to a hill tribe. We walked up during the afternoon and spent time during sundown mingling with respect and taking photos. Elena bought a handmade scarf from the maker herself, quite a treasure at a very cheap price.
We were approached by a little girl selling little bracelets made from real produce, strung seeds and other hard shelled edible things we can’t name. We all took one from her as it was not the jewelry we wanted but the experience of her little hands tying them around our wrists.
That’s what I wanted anyway.
I also found a few goods at our camp to bring home, a gorgeous scarf and something unique for Adam.
My favorite dinner thus far consisted of a chicken and potato yellow curried rice dinner with a tofu and cauliflower option. We have not had any piece of real potato starch in 2 weeks. It was really refreshing and filling after a 5 hour hike to put something familiar and of heavy substance into our bellies.
This evening we sat around a table by candlelight, the candles of different colors melting wax straight onto the table, which added a bit of character that I appreciated. We had 3 Thai companions while our guide, Ping Pong, went to town to drink. Our entertainer knew how to play the guitar and played such songs as “Woman Don’t Cry” by Bob Marley, “Wonderwall” by Oasis, “You look Wonderful Tonight” by Eric Clapton, “Jingle Bells,” “In the Jungle,” and my personal favorite, “Zombie” by the Cranberries. The broken English, smiling open mouth and the squinted closed eyes was endearing to watch and one of my favorite memories of this trekking adventure. We sparingly drank, what I think was cheap (awful) Thai vodka during Thai drinking games.
When Ping Pong came back from town he pulled from the fire the treat of sticky rice. He had cut down a huge piece of bamboo earlier on our trek and carried it to the campsite where he and his friends had stuff it full with rice and water to cook over a fire for a few hours. When pulled out the bamboo was pulled back and in a sweet little rice wrapper was this fantastic sticky rice! Another piece of simple way of doing something simple that I love.
At the end of the night we sat around a fire and received a brief lesson about stars and constellations from a well travelled British man, also a moment that I really adore.
No comments:
Post a Comment