candy and Mr Somsak

After the visit to the doctor it turned out that I have a bronchitis, so I returned with all kind of different sweets. Or at least, that is how the medicines look like. Pretty pink and bright yellow and some antibiotics as well. Fortunately the coughing is less, but still (this is the 6th day) hardly any vioce, so I'm starting to get worried. From yesterday on I've got some pain on my right ribs as well during coughing, let's just hope that this is a result from the trekking that I made and has got nothing to do with my health.

The trekking that I did was just awesome! No words.... Our guide, Mr. Somsak, was an excellent guide, good cook, showed us the prettiest places.
For me it didn't started so well as I overslept myself which never happens! So I had 5 minutes to get ready, moved out of my hostal and walk down to the office of our guide.... Fortunately breakfast was included in the trip.
By truck we first drove for about 1.5 hour. I wanted to sit at the back, but because of the coughing I decided not to, although I really felt dissapointed about it. Luckily I got a nice present for just acting responsible concerning my health: I ended up at the backseat with a couple from Spain who loves to go to Fuerteventura! So we chatted the whole way about 'my' lovely island.... After we dropped them of for a one-day trekking it was just me, Evelyn, Eline and Mr. Somsak. The hike started tough! Walking up, very-very steep (!), in the burning sun.... Wow!
The scenery was just lovely! Everywhere green and red coloured mountains around us. As it is winter season here, the leaves are turning red, which is for me strange to experience, because with a tempature like this, for me it feels like summer.

We didn't see that much wild animals. We ran into a lot of cows, bathing buffalos, many birds and one Japanese horse... And of course I didn't understand that Somsak meant the scooter which was passing us. It took me a while ;-)
The lunch was great. His wife cooked some Thai meal for us and we sat down in a small hut and ate this lovely meal. Meanwhile Somsak explained us all kind of things, showed us as well some things which were not such a succes. He showed us how the farmers are saving water, he spoilt some in front of us and.... Jak! This water was not good anymore. What a bad smell! Seriously, I lost my appetite! Bad plan, bad plan, was the reaction of Somsak. But he had a good plan as well. He burnt the dryed ginger leaves I took from the forest and in the end this smell became stronger than the rotten water :-D

This was a real jungle trip and absolutely off the beaten track! The 2nd part of the afternoon we were crossing a small river several times, the forest became closer and closer. As Somsak hadn't been on this track for 11 months you can imagine that there was no path at all. Which we of course loved! With his knife he had to cut a way through, can you imagine? He called us Rambo 1, 2 and 3 ;-)
The last part of day one was not such a nice surprise: after 6 hours of trekking we had to climb 200 meters very, very steep again... But then: the Lahu village in sight where we would spend the night.

This Lahu village was overwhelming... You can't believe the way they are living there. It is such a culture difference! The Lahu people don't speak Thai, so it was difficult to communicate, except for the communication with one drunken guy. However, we were just trying to avoid him the whole time. After an excellent Thai meal made by Somsak, I sat down to watch the million and million of stars (haven't seen in my entire life a sky like this!) and we went to bed at 20h. It was cold (about 3 degrees C), dark, so what could we do? Laying on my back in 2 sleepingbags, my spanish music in my ears, I was staring at the roof lightend by a candlelight. So relaxed...

The next day we woke up early and started our 2nd day of trekking. Again full of beautiful sceneries, wonderfull stories of our guide and lots of fun.
Absolutely something to remember!