Trekking Tour oder Survival Training

After our sporty warm up by bike we continue north to Pai. The journey there proves to be another adventure with over 760 curves. Sabine is sick, I am gently rocked to sleep.😴

We stop at a wonderfully fragrant bakery in the middle of nowhere. As a special highlight for bees, sheep graze in front of it. 🐏

Here we fortify ourselves with delicious Thai dishes, as they also understand something about cooking. Afterwards there is ice cream, cake of course and finally a real coffee, as there is even a coffee roastery here.☕️

Now we are tired and JohnBoy, our guide, feels a little sorry for us because, unlike him, we can rest during the winding journey. After another hour of driving, we reach the beautifull village “Pai” around 5 p.m. Also known as hippy village.

For the next two nights the “Pai Village Boutique Resort” (see also tripadvisor.de) will be our home. It is breathtakingly beautiful and you receive such a warm welcome from “Phao”. He is a ladyboy and so sweet. I spontaneously ask “like Pan Tau?” We all laugh so hard that we almost shit our pants. We are now moving into our bungalow, which has been lovingly furnished. In front of it there is a covered lodge where you can lie down. In general, people here seem to be much more relaxed doing the things they love while lying down. Later we will even have our dinner lying down. 😜

The next day we will be picked up at 8.30 a.m. for a trekking tour through the jungle. I lost track of time and so we were up an hour early. Bee assumes that we will take this tour by jeep 🛻. We wear white sneakers 👟 and a white T-shirt. We are once again well prepared.😬

When we are picked up, Lukas and Tony from Holland and Sergio from Italy are already sitting in the jeep. We introduce ourselves and are a great team from the very first moment. After another winding drive up into the mountains we reach our point from where we start. Tony isn't feeling well at all. He hadn't eaten much breakfast. Now everything is coming out again. 🤮We both take good care of him. After all, he's only 18. 😉

The guide who goes on the tour with us is called, what a coincidence, “John” again. He is wearing slippers (inexplicable to me after we did the tour) but carries a large knife with him. Will we finally see exotic animals 🦋? Does he have to protect us from wild animals in the end?🙊🐭🐞

It is now 9:30 a.m. and the sun is already at its full power.

Let's go. Bee and I lead our group with good cheer.

Still.😅

We will have to give up our rank later. John leaves last so as not to lose a sheep 🐏. It's a steep climb and it's hard for us to carry our backpacks because we have to carry a lot of water with us. After an agonizing 3 hours, we take a break at a covered platform to have our lunch.

Mmmmh, I think,🤔 no one here and nothing prepared. In the next moment, “John” spreads out his backpack in front of us. Coming out, rice for vegetarians and rice with meat as well as tangerines.🥗🍊

It's simple, but tastes delicious and, above all, gives us energy. 💪🏼We take a break of an hour and everyone thinks about their thoughts. It continues, only now we reach the jungle. To our disappointment, there are often bare trees and the dried leaves we walk through rustle loudly.

But we have fun. Sergio, again from the other bank, is now walking in front of us. He carries his small bag gallantly over his shoulder, just as if he were strolling through the shops. He doesn't lift his feet, but calmly shuffles through the red sand. This pace stirs up a lot of dust and we are now doing everything we can to overtake him. Suddenly Bee calls, stop.

No… no wild animals. 🙄But a blister on your foot in the middle of the jungle can also make you panic. 😝

Since we are well prepared and have everything with us except a first aid box, Tony now comes to our aid. Go on. The path is like a roller coaster ride. 🎢 The gradient is sometimes 70%. I swear. However, my dignity prohibits me from walking on all fours in front of all the men. Running downhill is also a risk. The paths are often very slippery because the dusty sand is more than dry. Now it's me calling stop. I call out to Tony that I would now like to take the other piece of the plaster🩹. After all, we are sisters and share everything. Bee has a blister on his right foot, I have a blister on my left foot.😂

Our strength is slowly dwindling. We have now been on the road for 5 hours and look as if we have been traveling in the jungle for weeks. It is incredibly hot, our limbs are swollen, we can feel every muscle in our body. And when “John” smiles at us as if we were taking a Sunday walk, it doesn’t take much more for me to start crying. 😭Now the mosquitoes pounce on us and we actually come across a few cows grazing up here. I have no idea how they got up here. “Only one hours,” says John. However, I can clearly see his mischievous grin. 😏 It seems very entertaining for him.

But luckily for us, we can actually see a village further down. And an hour and one fall later, we reach our destination. The simple dwellings here remind us of the backyards in Kremmen, our old home, and we feel a bit safe. We reward ourselves with a delicious ice cream when we “consume” 🍦 and try to free our hands from the red sand beforehand. The color of our shoes has changed from white to red and we take a photo. Now we say goodbye to Lukas and Tony. The two actually want to spend the night with a family and continue hiking with the guide the next day. You really have to want that. We wish them good luck and are happy to be on the way home, even though it will take another hour over not-too-good roads and sitting in the back of a jeep. At least we still have Sergio by our side.

When we arrived in Pai, he showed us a kind of launderette called a loundry. Here you can have your dirty laundry washed in a short time and for little money. The price depends on the kilos of items to be washed. Our dirty laundry weighs 3 kilos (most of it will be sand) and costs 189 bath. About 5 euros. After we have showered devotedly and extensively, ten more horses 🦄 can't get us to take a step outside the door. Although a massage would certainly be just the thing, we opt for the comfortable loungers by the pond. It's nice and cool there and we listen to the frogs.

Not everyone likes it (the croaking of frogs) but at the moment I'm just grateful.

We are still alive. 🙏🏼

PS Unfortunately I have a problem with Apple at the moment, so not all of our 500 photos can be uploaded, sorry.