Flying through the jungle

Hello everyone, today we actually had to set our alarm for 6:45 am🙁. Pickup time was between 8:00 and 8:15 am and before that we had to have breakfast. During breakfast, the boss came and said the pickup van was outside, but she told him that we were still having breakfast. He was 15 minutes early after all. However, we were now under time pressure, 😩that was really annoying for breakfast! Everything is always prepared fresh for us and every day there's a different surprise. Today it was an omelette with vegetables.

Well then, the driver got impatient and we set off. After three other pickup stops, the group was complete.

We drove out of Chiang Mai, towards the mountains. As soon as we left the city, the locals were standing with their stalls on the roadside, selling bananas, coconuts, and of course, stuff no one needs. I find these vendors really interesting and I wonder who buys something there? How do they make a living?😶

After about 30 minutes drive, we approached the national park 🌴and the jungle 🙊was right next to us. It looked fascinating, with the huge trees and palms, and I knew I was going to be somewhere in there soon. Every now and then, we passed small mountain villages, and behind them were lush dark green rice fields. I was really excited about the journey. The driver had to negotiate numerous hairpin turns 🤢, and some people even felt a bit sick 😂!

The whole trip took about 1 hour. Finally, we reached the camp for our ziplining adventure through the jungle. We were so excited. First, we were given our equipment, including helmets ⛑ of course. Then we received a brief instruction and off we went. We had to walk through the jungle on a pretty steep section. Well, thanks to my experience in Vietnam, it wasn't soooo bad anymore, but still strange, because the sounds coming from the jungle are really amazing.🙃🌴🙉

Finally, we reached the 1st of 48 platforms. The guide reminded us that only he would secure us and we must never release any carabiner. OKAY! Off we went and suddenly it was my turn. Gosh, the view down was already scary 🤢and the view ahead, left/right wasn't much better...smile! I got a little push and floated along the zip line with the carabiner. At first, I held onto the rope tightly with both hands🙈. But that changed after the fourth platform. I started to get the hang of it and my arms opened up, with my legs hanging in the air. Yes, it was so much fun, 😜flying through the jungle like that. We also had to walk some sections on foot, and that was also impressive. We could hear the sound of waterfalls and the trees/palms are so gigantic.

Then came the first platform where you couldn't see the end, just branches that you had to glide past, and we were supposed to brake with a specific piece of wood if we were going too fast at the end. Daniela and I took this as a joke😉. Daniela went ahead of me, and I couldn't see how she reached the finish. So I swung myself into the void and during the ride, I opened my legs and hit the leaves with the piece of wood, which made me lose speed. What can I say, I didn't even reach the end and Daniela burst out laughing. The guide at the end had to glide towards me and catch me with his legs, then crawl back with me. It felt like something a monkey would do. He asked me if I had already used the wood to brake during the ride. No, honestly, I didn't understand a thing, what was the wood stick for.😩

About 3 platforms later, there was a medium-distance, so you could see where you would land very well. The entire tree/trunk was cushioned with thick mats😜. The guide told all of us to use the brake. WHAT brake? Well, the wooden stick, and then everyone understood. When you pressed it against the rope, you slowed down, and that was really important on this stretch. One person in the group lost their wooden stick, and they came in with so much speed that they knocked down the guide at the end.😜😂

After 3 and a half hours, we went through all the platforms and reached the base camp.😁 Now it was time for a delicious lunch, and then we were back on the bus to the hotel. Everyone slept during the ride, except me. Somehow, I have the feeling that I'm missing out on something great 🤓🤗. The scenery today was really amazing and the fun factor was unique.

Since we really enjoyed the scenery with the rice fields and 'yes, exactly - the jungle', we're going on a full-day trekking tour tomorrow. We'll walk past the rice fields, watch the harvest, and even try our hand at harvesting the rice 😁. Then the route leads to a specific village in the jungle. There, we'll learn about the locals, and then we'll continue to a waterfall. We'll be allowed to jump and swim there. Finally, we'll paddle along the river on a bamboo raft. Well, that sounds promising and exciting, doesn't it?! We're already really excited.

We spent the late afternoon in the pool 🏊 and prepared for the next city in the north (Chiang Rai) 👍. We'll go there on Sunday morning 😁!

We just went to the night market again and got the bus tickets for the onward journey to Chiang Rai 😁! We'll be traveling in a ViP 🚌. Curious to see what that means 🙃!

For the return trip to the hotel, we used the 'Grab' app for the first time 😬. This is a taxi app 😁. Find your Driver! It's really great, the price is unbeatable, and the car is there in no time. No haggling, the price is fixed beforehand. Either you accept it and book the driver or you look for another one 😉!

Okay, that's enough for today, we have to get up early again tomorrow 😜🙈. Goodnight 😊😴😴

Many greetings from Thailand 🇹🇭 🤗