Day 40 - Trek Day 1

I packed up all my stuff, checked out and stored my stuff in the storage room. All my important documents were kept in a safe in the office since they weren't needed on the trek and it has happened where trek groups get ambushed and robbed. So safer here than in the jungle. 6 of us drove for about and hour in a sawngthaew (basically a pick up with bench seats in the back) to the market to pick up some goodies for the village children we were to visit tonight. I ended up getting a large 5 lb tin of pineapple cookies to give to them for 120B.

We hiked uphill for about 2 hours to reach a waterfall and sat and relaxed for a little while and continued to trek for another few hours uphill to the Lahu tribe that originated in Tibet. I don't think I've hiked so much in my entire life. I sweat through all my clothes and then it started to pour rain. So much rain it was hard to see and slippery to walk. Within minutes I was soaking wet. Our tour guide made us walking sticks out of bamboo and showed us how to blow bubbles with a specific type of plant leaf. It was very cool. We had to cross through rivers and streams to get there and reached the village around sundown for dinner.

This village was tiny. There were about 170 people consisting of about 32 families. We stayed in a bamboo shack covered with mosquito nets on a bamboo mats with blankets. Women in the village sold their handicrafts to us after dinner. I'm exhausted. More trekking tomorrow.