Certain things

Early in the morning begin the roosters. Tick, tock, and they don't stop. It's like they're in competition, all of them, throughout the village. One pillow to one ear, another to the other, and still you hear every single one of them.

We rode two hours more down the river through rapids on our bamboo raft. Bun fished with a throw net a couple of times and snagged three fish.

The only girl, Bun often stuck me in the middle of the raft oarless, thinking me helpless, or weak, I guess. I did my fair share of rowing but through the rapids, it was men only steering us through the rocks. At one set of rapids, we lost Carlston. JP said he turned around to nod at Carlston, "Phew, we made it!" only there was no Carlston. A quick dunk for him, I wasn't too keen on getting bumped myself. Having seen our elephant's dung drop into that very same water the day before, I can only imagine...

The last and final tribe we visited was from China. They wear layers of clothes in such heat and square hats with coins of metal attached. At lunch, they did their best to hawk their wares. I was happy I'd bought the first day. Looking back, it was the most impressive of options.

With this trek, the three of us decided that certain things needed mention. So here I go. The extras, water, beer, tips to you elephant guide should be explained somewhere in the tour information. I imagine larger groups end up the bread and butter of these hill tribes, but for us just three, it was at times uncomfortable feeling forced to purchase. Likewise, I enjoy hearing about the culture who is affording me lodging and food. And our guide did little to share with us their culture. What a shame. The trip cost 1700 baht a piece, which is about $50 for three days. At the same time, factoring in all the added extras and the fact that they were never mentioned, a customer can feel a bit less than satisfied.

At the same time, I have to remember. Before taking off on the trek, I booked a flight from Bangkok to Surat Thani in the south for just over 1800 baht. The flight is only an hour and ten minutes of my time, opposed to a few days of hiking, an elephant ride, bamboo rafting and encountering a different way of life.