Unbelievable

This past weekend was my favorite of them all.

Friday night we partied it up at Erin's house for her birthday. Britt, Meredith and I spent the night at her house and then caught a truck to our friend, Pi Thi's restaurant for breakfast.

While we were eating we had the privilege of witnessing a a stand-off involving two prostitutes, two pimps, and a totally plastered Australian guy. It was entertaining, to say the least. Also a great way to kick the day off.

After meeting our guide for the weekend, Rambo, we headed out to a market to buy food and camping supplies and then rode up the mountain to ride elephants!

Guys, riding elephants rocks. Literally. It's hard to balance when you're sitting on their neck and their shoulder blades are wobbling all over the place. But it also rocks figuratively.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Keara and I were on one named Wandee, who liked to wander off and do his own thing. But hey, we weren't complaining. I couldn't really get a picture of me on him, but somebody else did, so I'll get that to you when I get it myself.

After elephants we had lunch and then began our trek through the jungle of Thailand. It was beautiful! Rambo was showing us all sorts of cool things on the way. He made us hats out of giant leaves and walking sticks out of bamboo. He's kind of a little guy, but kind of a big deal.

Rambo! Complete with machete and headband.

On the way to village where we spent the night, we stopped at a waterfall to cool off.

I made the mistake of wearing brand-new shoes, so by the time we got to the village my feet hated me, but who cares about blood and blisters when you have this in front of you?

This village, home of a Karen tribe, literally took my breath away. It is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in my life, and once again, pictures don't do it justice. The Karen people dug this intricate system of pools to water their crops. It must have taken so much hard work.

Just step inside this for a second.

Or this.

We put our stuff in a little wood hut on stilts, and then jumped into the waterfall right outside. It was awesome. Words cannot describe that experience and neither can pictures.

After swimming, Keara and I joined Rambo and our other guide in another little bamboo hut on stilts to help make dinner. I sat next to Rambo in front of a big metal bowl over a little fire and helped make dinner. Me "helping make dinner" means that Rambo did all the work and I stirred the pot. But apparently not even my stirring skills are up to par, because he would periodically take the spoon back and do his thing and then hand it back to me.

At one point I picked up a pan so he could scoop potatoes in or something, and my fingers got all black with soot. After trying and failing to get me to touch my forehead, Rambo took a napkin and wiped every one of my fingers off. He's a genuine guy.

After awhile some of the other village guys came in and started singing and talking to each other in Karen. It was such a cool experience, sitting there in the firelight and laughing with a bunch of Karen men in a hut that smelled like curry in the middle of the jungle. I'll never forget it.

Needless to say, dinner was great. And afterward our other guide (I can't remember how to pronounce his name) set up some little mind-games with sticks and told us to figure them out. We were all kind of zonked from the day's adventures, so they took awhile (and some help) to figure out. But once we had more or less conquered all four of them, we packed into our little hut and went to sleep. Actually, that's a lie. I hardly slept at all because it got cold (it got cold!) and also the bed wasn't super comfy.

Trying to figure out stick-puzzles by candlelight.

But whatev. In the morning I "woke up" before everyone else and sat by the waterfall for a little while. Then we all had breakfast, took pictures, and hiked out. I was really sad to leave that place. I could seriously live there forever.

After hiking to the point of stomach-sweat (there's a first time for everything), we stopped at another waterfall, in which we sat and talked and laughed for a long time. There was a little more hiking until we reached the road, and then we took a truck to a restaurant for lunch before heading down to the river to clamber onto bamboo rafts and float through the jungle this time. It was fantastic. Sorry, no pictures of that. A bamboo raft is no place for a camera.

Just chillin in the waterfall. 

Truck-riding through the jungle.

It was an hour-long ride back to the city. We got off at our friend Pi Thi's place, where she served us free (!) delicious mango smoothies, and then Erin, Eden, Keara and I went to wander Walking Street. I can't get enough of Walking Street. It's the coolest atmosphere.

Now it's Monday morning and I'm exhausted, sunburnt, bug-bitten and sore, but I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. It was just indescribable. I can tell you about how gorgeous the land was and how friendly the people were, but there is something else there entirely that just can't be put into words.