Another steep trail

Spike hooked us up with two guides, one who speaks English and one who doesn't, and we set out on our ill-fated camping trip. When I signed up for jungle camping, I envisioned whipping out the machetes and heading deep in to the forest primeval. Instead we walked a half an hour down a road where our guide said we would set up camp at the top of a "waterfall," which turned out to be about two inches high. Then our guide wanted us to rest for an hour before setting out again. After 30 minutes the Canadians couldn't wait anymore so we set out with the guy that doesn't speak English, since the other guy was busy cutting bamboo. Since our guide couldn't talk to us, he just followed us where we wanted to go. But it turns out there are only two trails: a long one and a short one, so we didn't need a guide. We took the long trail, 7 km each way, which led past several waterfalls to a waterfall. In typical Asian fashion the trail was insane, going straight up and down at times requiring you to climb up and rappel down using vines. There were plenty of refreshing waterfalls to bathe in, though. Five hours later we got back and the main guide made dinner for us. This was the one good thing about the trip, because it was an amazing bamboo BBQ. The bamboo he had cut down he made in to bowls by cutting it in half, which we filled with BBQ chicken, curry vegetables, and rice cooked in banana leafs. Hands-down the best Thai food I've ever had.

The night safari promised to us never materialized, and the Canadians were out of water since they had been more concerned about their supply of ganja and alcohol, so three of them went back. I stayed to sleep in the jungle like I wanted, and even though we weren't that deep in the forest, there were still lots of strange jungle noises to listen to.