Hill tribe trekking..

Our busy week continued as we headed out of Chiang Mai to the hills far away which are home to numerous groups of isolated communties who for centuries have called the jungle their home, until they realised they could make a bob or two by entertaining westerners.. We started the day with a 2 hour drive to reach the foot of our allocated hill which we were off to climb, but firstly we had to do the touristy thing of riding elephants which was mildly tacky but never the less different, definitely not the quickest mode of transport we've experienced on our travels.
Eventually we set of on the 3hour near vertical hike up through jungle passing some cool vegetation and the odd very refreshing waterfall, the fact it rained a couple of times made the going extremely slippy and very muddy.
The walk was well worth the effort ( us 2 finding it pretty routine but others in our group had ben reduced to tears by the severity of the climb) as we arrived at a collection of bamboo huts with a near 360 degree view of the hillside our home for the night, its a hard life but someone has to do it!
After watching the sun retreat behind the jungle we had a very tasty traditional feed of Thai red curry, stir fry veg and of course some rice.The locals not content with just feeding us well then set about entertaining us with a good old sing song around the indoor camp fire knocking out Thai classics like Oasis and Guns and Roses whilst they all got rat legged on their locally brewed rice whisky,It was entertainment of the highest level thanks mainly to our guide "Willow" who at a whopping 4 foot 5" was the real life and soul of the party - he nick named himself after the movie Willow!
We woke to the sound of the local dogs barking and generally going mad not sure what was happening (maybe a neighbouring tribe was attacking) we stepped out to investigate at 6am in the bleedin morning to find the 1 bitch of the group putting it on a plate for the 9 randy males of the pack - slut.The guides finding this all very funny unlike the majority of our group who were all trying to sleep. It was all smiles again once breakfast was served with heaps of toast,eggs and fresh pineapple being forced upon us getting us all energised up for the trek back down. It was slow progress as we trundled down a very slippery route with many people coming a cropper in the mud, we of course faired much better even though we were feeling rough as thanks to the bloody doxycycline tablets.Another waterfall appeared much bigger than yesterdays so time for everybody to get a much needed shower. After this refreshment it all became much flatter and easier as we made our way passed a couple of small settlements dotted about (all trying to sell you a fanta and bag of crisps) until we reached the river and yet another activity. No not swimming but a bit of white water rafting (of sorts - they had all the gear but definately no idea) luckily the river posed very little difficultly, parts of it looked just like a mill pond it made for pleasent viewing of the surrounding flora and fauna. 1 or 2 weeny rapids later we got transfered onto a bamboo raft to take us to the lunch stop 10 mins away, me being the only man on board got to steer this semi submerged collection of sticks to the destination - it was just like doing a bit of punting in Cambridge.After a good feed we were driven back to Chiang Mia after a thoroughly satisfying couple of days, its such good value for money costing us 15 quid each - Wow...