3 day trek

The 3 day trek was everything I hoped it would be. We met at 7:15 in the morning for breakfast before heading out. Tee was our guide and there were 6 of us on the trip: Bhern and Bianca from Germany, Pekka from Finland, Thomas from Austria, Jesse and me. Started the first day with a ride in the back of a pickup for 3 hours to the starting point for the trek. Made one stop at a market to get fresh fruits/veggies. The actual trekking was challenging and beautiful. The first night we reached a village of Karen tribes people after a 4 hour walk - the last hour was uphill in the sun, pretty rough! When we reached the village we met the shaman and his wife and learned a bit more about Karen culture. The village boys were playing soccer on a cement court and the guys joined in, good times!

The first night we slept in the hut of one of Tee's best friends. We sat in the kitchen room of the hut while dinner was cooked - there were over 15 of us in a small room with the fire going and people smoking tobacco. They also cooked a mouse over the fire...I did not try it but some others did. Our dinner was delicious green curry and rice. We also shared some of their local rice whisky. After dinner we played with the local children who loved to take pictures with our digital cameras, sing songs (jingle bells was their favorite) and the little girls french braided our hair. I got a radical side braid that wrapped around my whole head.

Slept on the bamboo floor in a sleeping bag = not the most comfortable spot ever.... the 4am rooster wake up was unbelievable! There were at least 2 roosters who sat under the house (about 5 feet max from our heads) and cock-a-doodle-doo-ed every 10 minutes for the remainder of the morning. Rough!

I woke the second day to find the village children watching us sleep and waiting for us to wake up and play with them. I was the first up so we hung out and they took some pictures with my camera. Our walk was shorter and flat the second day - ending at a bamboo hut on the river. 6 trekkers and 10 guides slept in the hut. They cooked amazing stir fry and killed 2 chicken by wrapping their necks around each other...intense! We played a massive game of Uno with all of the Karen guys. Then another night sleeping on the bamboo floor.

Day three was the coolest trekking - crossing a river back and forth. We saw Gibbon in the trees! They are like monkeys...but not called monkeys according to Tee. They live in groups of 3 and moved so fast through the trees. Awesome. Made it to a limestone bat cave & walked through in the water, bamboo torches lighting the way. At the end of the cave there was a spot in the river where a few men went fishing, literally diving under rocks and catching fish by hand. Amazing.

Made it to the village and had another yummy lunch of noodles wrapped in banana leaves with bamboo chop sticks carved by hand at the camp.

An amazing experience - made great new friends and learned so much.

Weird things I did not eat: mouse, little bird

Weird things I did eat: chicken balls, chicken feet, ants + ant eggs