From WTF to awesome, trekking in Chiang Mai

Okay, when we booked the trekking trip, we thought to ourselves, 'Let's go into the jungle for a little hike, it'll be fun.' Hahaha, were we dumb. A little hike turned into a crazy hike with a guide named Max as sergeant major. Picture Max like this: towel with snowflakes on his head, fleece sweater, long pants, and when it gets 'really cold' (29 degrees) in the shade, he even puts on a winter jacket. We were picked up at our hostel and first driven to have lunch. Pad Thai. Very tasty. After we filled our bellies, it was time to go. So, we started walking, initially at a normal pace, because it wasn't steep yet. But when it got really steep, he started running, what's wrong with him? It feels like 50 degrees and we're marching in the blazing sun... First hurdle overcome, already completely exhausted. More 10 minutes... so we kept going further into the jungle, thinking we would be there soon. No way. After 2 and a half hours, we arrived at a bat cave and took a 20-minute break. Suddenly, he says that we're only halfway there. We looked at each other and thought WTF!!!!! Next to us were 2 girls from Argentina who were thinking the same thing at that moment. So, the 2 girls, another couple from Germany, and us formed the last group. Max told us that it's now just an 'easy walk'. Note to ourselves: if a Thai ever says 'easy walk' in the mountains of Chiang Mai, turn around and run down as fast as you can. Because an easy walk turned into a 2-hour steep climb. After about an hour, a Russian guy leaned against a tree and looked like he was about to collapse, we thought we would have to give first aid. Luckily, we weren't feeling that bad, after all, it was still 1 and a half hours to go. How he made it all the way to the top is a mystery to us. When we finally reached the clearing and thought we were there, we weren't.... so we had another good half an hour on a bumpy path to the village. We had never been so happy to see a bench in our lives. As soon as we sat down on the bench, a bunch of cute little stray dogs came running towards us, sooooo adorable :) One of them wouldn't leave our side, so we named him Buddy :). Now it's time to rest and chill! But when we saw the view and the sunset that followed, all the effort and pain disappeared. Later, we had dinner and a quick wash in the 'bathroom' (as you can see for yourself :D), and then off to 'bed' (bamboo floor with a blanket). After a initially calm night, until Mister Rooster decided to start crowing at half past 2 in the morning, and a mega sunrise (that only Angi, Buddy, and I saw), we made our way back down refreshed towards a waterfall for a swim. According to Max, it would take 1 and a half hours. It took us 2 and a half hours because of streams, leaves, lianas, rocks, etc. :D A quick refreshment and off we go. We tried to put on our shoes again, what a pain... we were not spared from blisters. No wonder. Max said it would take 40 minutes to get to lunch. It took us 1 and a half hours. Neither the girls from Argentina nor us could walk anymore. We made 10 crosses when we finally could change our shoes for flip-flops and continued to bamboo rafting and elephant watching. When we arrived at the rafting spot, Max said we could go barefoot to the raft. No problem. Actually, I'm to blame myself, because in the past 2 days, I've learned that you can't believe him when it comes to shoes and paths. Well, stupid as I am, I stood there barefoot in front of a 100-meter climb full of roots and sharp stones, with the shoes in the bus on the way to our pick-up point. Brave as I am, I also mastered that ;) Angi did it right and just kept her flip-flops on. Very clever. After the calm rafting tour, we finally saw the elephants. Not really convinced if they enjoyed being fed by us. Then we headed back to the hostel.

In conclusion, you can say that the effort or near-death experience, depending on how you look at it, was really worth it for the view.

P.S. Don't worry, Mom, my knee held up :D :D