Hill Tribe Trek Chiang Mai

We decided that a 2 day 1 night trek would be enough for us, especially as I am doing 16 days trekking in Nepal, so it was sure to be a nice warm up! We set off with our guide to the area of Mae Tang where we were to begin our trek. This was approximately a 2 hour drive with a stop at a local market to pick up some fresh fruit. We then visited an elephant camp where we rode on the elephant for about one hour. Tracy sat on the elephants head and rode.....I just couldn't bring myself to do that as I must admit I was feeling a little bit scared, as the track we were on was pretty skinny and it was a long drop. After that we were taken by truck to a waterfall for a swim and cool off which was fantastic. Our guides were diving in off the rocks and sliding down the rocks into the water. It was nice to cool off and muck about in the waterfall because after that we were meeting another group of trekkers for a three hour up hill climb which was pretty intense. Even though the trek was intense and difficult at times it was a great experience and very worthwhile when we reached our destination late in the afternoon. We were welcomed into the Red Lahu Tribal Village by happy little kids holding our hands and accompanying us to our accommodation for the night. Our lodgings were a huge dormitory style bamboo hut with bamboo flooring. There was about 12 of us in total sharing the floor. We were served up the best local dinner ever consisting of a soup and a vegetable stew with rice. Had to go back for seconds it was that good. After dinner we got to sample the local rice wine which was really nice and we had the children from the village come and put on a show for us and sit and play and have photos taken...they were beautiful people, so humble! We all shared stories and laughs into the evening and then called it a night. Next day was all down hill, which in actual fact, was harder than going up hill. It was only a 2 hour trek then driven by truck to the area of the river where we were to do white water rafting. The river was quite low so we got stuck in a few places, but since it was my first experience I was happy for it to be fairly tame. I can't wait now to do it again!! After the white water rafting we swam in the river then did bamboo rafting for a while back to the pick up point to return back to Chiang Mai. We waited at the pick up point for about 2 hours. The guide bought out more rice wine for us, but I declined as I wasn't feeling too great. I found a bamboo structure and shoved my backpack under my head and caught up on some sleep instead, which really helped for the winding truck ride on the way home, where everyone really started to flag and some people felt really sick. The people we met on this trek were great company.