by the end of the first day of trekking, i had the guns and roses song, welcome to the jungle, in my head. it made me smile for some reason.

6 germans, 2 belgians, 3 israelis, and 1 american. sounds like the start of a joke, but this was the collection of nationalities of the initial group of trekkers. we rode in an open air truck like the one that we rode in on phangan. they took us through a very potholy road to arrive at the beginning of our hike. the hike up was amazing. we started out on a road and soon ended up crossing rivers by hopping from rock to rock, hanging on to bamboo poles or the guide who stood in the water, and hiking up a steep incline to arrive at a bamboo village.

as we were hiking through the jungle, we spotted cows not far from the trail. all of a sudden, a cow broke through the bush into the trail right in front of dee. HAHAHAHA!! that was hilarious. dee freaked out and started saying, “um, excuse me, ah, help, uh, get away from me, it is going to eat me”. hahaha. i think dee and the cow have more in common than she thinks. they both are veggies. anyways, the cow stood off to the side of the trail looking at dee as if to suggest, please pass cause i want to go that way. i pushed between the cow and dee to allow her to pass. i was laughing my ass off the whole time.

we started hiking next to the river with numerous waterfalls and hopping on rocks. my experience rock hopping in the blue ridge mountains in north carolina certainly paid off as i was very agile on the rocks and having a blast. i was proud of not having my feet wet by the end of the hike. the only wetness was to the sweat. we poured sweat. it was humid and we were basically walking up a mountain. as we were walking next to the stream, the guide told us that we needed to hurry because the rain was coming soon. if it started raining, oh my buddha, we would be soaked and the river would rise. so, even though the hike up the mountain was strenous, i have to give dee a bunch of credit because she never stopped and did it slow and steady. she was right next to me the whole time. that’s why i call her turtle, and i guess i am the hare.

we made it to the top of the mountain ridge before the rain and could see the village where we would be staying. we could also see another village across the valley. we passed through the corn and rice fields of the village as we made our way up. dee realized she had been to the same village on her last trip four years ago. we made it to the village completely soaked in sweat and dirt. turns out the village had an upgrade since dee’s last visit. they had running water. so, we were treated to a very freezing shower blasting through a broken shower head that sprayed in every direction except the one that is toward you.

the host family had several kids and each were very dirty with snotty noses. they entertained us by jumping around and trying to climb on us. we were very cautious of the face. they were full of energy and would run around and say hello and thank you. it was obvious they were use to tourists due to their playfulness. the other travelers commented on the fact that when they traveled elsewhere the kids were super shy and would not come near them.

the rest of the day was spent hanging out with the group in the common area and eating, talking, drinking beer and having a good time. sometime into the night, i had to use the toilet and climbed down to the wooden shack. after i had finished my business, i noticed something out of the corner of my eye. i shined the flashlight on it and it was a spider coming directly toward my head. i calmly moved to the side to see where it was attached. as i moved around, i realized the thing had to have been attached to my head!! scared the shit out of me. this creepy spider of about half dollar size with its eight legs all spread out heading directly for me. it was about six inches from my head when, without shining the flashlight, i clapped my hands hoping to crush it. it disappeared, but i couldn’t find its body on my hands nor on the ground. ahhh!! i think it is on me. i, again, calmly walk up to the common area, sit next to dee and suddenly freak out. check my head, my clothes, is it on me!?!? whew. it wasn’t. everyone was laughing at the story and from then on i was very cautious when entering wooden shacks in the jungle. case in point, this is what i found in the bathroom at the second campsite the second night of trekking. this spider was HUGE. glad i spotted it before doing my business otherwise i think i would have shit all over myself.

anyways, we headed to sleep at what seemed like a late hour due to the darkness surrounding us, but i think it was like 10PM. in the wee hours of the morning, i start dreaming of slaughtering roosters. breaking necks, slicing throats as they coockle doodle doo. i woke up to a chorus of roosters and smiled at how it was incorporated into my dream but disappointed that i couldn’t stop the noise. the roosters in our village must have had friends in the village across the valley because they were yelling back and forth. oh it was tortorous. somehow i managed to drift off to sleep again. when we woke the germans were gone as they were only there for the two day trekking. the rest of us, the 3 israelis, 2 belgian and me started our trekking for the next day of hiking through the jungle.