Trekkin'

So my idea of "roughing it" with the hill tribe wasn't exactly our experience last night. We stayed in actual rooms with actual bathrooms. Crazy! Our lodging was an eco-tourism spot, and the accommodations were made by the hill tribe villagers.

So, rewind...to start off yesterday, we stopped at a tribal museum to learn a bit about the local hill tribes. The group then went to Doi Inthanon National Park, had lunch, and started our hike down the mountain. The highlight of this was obviously the waterfalls. After slipping on lots of rocks, we were actually able to swim under a huge waterfall! We continued on our hike and arrived at our first hill tribe. They served us coffee that they had grown, and we were able to venture around. After another short hike, we arrived at our final destination: the Karen hill tribe. The setting was unreal. The small bungalows set against the green hills looked as if we had stepped into a painting. The tribe served us dinner and performed in front of a campfire for us. The Cal Poly crew offered some of our own talents in return (Stephanie and I danced the ending of our Orchesis finale!).

Today, after our departure from the hill tribe, we visited the "King's Project" agricultural center, and then rode elephants! So cool. Our final activity was bamboo rafting down a river (which felt like a combination between Huckleberry Finn and the Jungle Cruise). There were small huts along the way, so the local Thais all offered us a "Sawatdee kha" greeting and a couple of splashes of water. To end the day, some friends and I got sushi. It was definitely nice to have a non-Thai meal. Delicious!