jungle trek, rambo style

I know I say this after every weekend, but this past weekend was AMAZING. We went on a jungle trek, starting out with riding elephants, I think I fell in love. Elephants are huge, especially when sitting on their prickly heads.. ours was eagerly nudging us with his trunk for treats (bananas and sugar cane) that we had for him.

We then hiked through the jungle, often times feeling like Frodo Baggins in search for the ring... (nerd alert) ... and also walked through lots of rice paddies on the way. The heat and humidity was thick, so every waterfall swim break was thoroughly enjoyed. 

Reaching the tiny village we stayed at, this place is absolutely beautiful. It's surrounded by thick forests and cascading rice paddies... oh and we slept next to the most perfect waterfall. Honestly I felt like I was dreaming. 

I wish I could pack this waterfall up and bring it home with me... perfect heaven right here. Great way to cool off after dinner - the food was SO good all weekend... masman curry, endless pineapple and watermelon, rice (goes without saying), the list goes on.

 The next day we were so beat from all the hiking mainly through an unbeaten, thickly forested jungle, so we were stoked to take a sabai bamboo raft down the river. Our raft guides were hilarious, and one had the laugh of Rafiki from The Lion King. We passed a few water snakes (EEK not cool), but other than that it was a blast.

Rambo, our tour guide for the weekend, and an old friend of our teachers. Such an awesome guy, definitely lives up to his name!! He made hats for all of us from banana leaves, we were quite the site hiking through the madness.

I already miss the beautiful scenery of the mountains and the kindness and beauty in the hill tribe people... It was the perfect weekend which left me so exhausted that I'm still catching up on sleep but as always, it was worth it. I can't wait to go camping when I get back to the states.... who's in?