The Road to Happiness: Jungle trekking, waterfalls, elephant riding, white water rafting, and new friends from around the world.

We made it to Chiang Mai! The overnight train was a trip. Our Tuk Tuk driver Tim brought us to the train station and we were ready to go. Not being able to read any signs, we asked around and made sure we were getting on the right train. We were ready! We saw a big “2” on the side of the train, and we knew we were in cabin 2 so all was falling into place perfectly. We walked on to the train and got situated- it was so roomy! The A/C was pumping and the beds were comfortable. Sweet.

So roomy!

Adam thought they were handing out delicious free juice! Until they asked him for 60 baht.

We started moving and Adam and I were all smiles. The train attendant was coming around collecting tickets and out of excitement, I forgot where I put the tickets. Luckily, Adam spotted them on the bunk above where we were sitting. Oops.

He was staring at the tickets and called another worker over. Oh boy. They were talking in their language and then laughed. Apparently, we were sitting in ritzy cabin number 8, not cabin 2. We had to walk through 6 cabins with our packs on while the train was in motion, which was LOVELY. We finally made it to cheap cabin 2, where the fans were broken and there was no A/C. Fitting.

Much different.

Also to note, the toilets went right through the bottom of the train on to the train tracks. GROSS!!!!

We ended up sleeping on the bottom bunk together because I thought I was going to vomit the entire time on the top bunk, which was half the width of the bottom one. It was a joyful ride. We were happy to get off the train to be greeted by this sign.

The journey has begun.

I feel like I start all blogs off the same- but this experience was like nothing we have done since we left for our travels. We booked this 3 day, 2 night trek knowing it was going to be epic and awesome, but landing with the best group and most amazing tour guide made it an adventure we will remember for the rest of our lives.

It was hard to sift through the photos and pick what we wanted to include as there were SO many that made us smile and remember the laughs. Our 3 day journey was jam packed with trekking, elephants, laughs, campfires, delicious food, and great conversation. Let’s take it day by day…

Day 1 [May 1, 2014]
We were all scheduled to get picked up from our separate hotels, Adam and I being first. We loaded in the truck and were on our way for the 90 minute drive north to the jungle.

From left to right- Adam, Zack [London], Maria & Sebastian [Argentina], Francois/ FX [France], JoJo & Mike [England], Sebastian [Germany], and myself.

We took this 90 minutes to get to know each other and I’m pretty sure we all knew from the start that our group was going to make some wicked memories. We were all around the same age and clicked from the start.

We were brought to the start of the trek where we had lunch [Pad Thai] and stepped off. The first day of hiking was warm but comfortable.

In the jungle!

After about three hours of hiking and learning about the local plant life and even some new words in Thai from Tong, we arrived to a small village. We were to drop our packs and immediately head over to the elephants.

Getting on the elephant!

Selfie on the elephant! I wasn't ready..

Awesome.

Adam riding the elephant bareback!

Is this real life??

Love.

Our elephant guide!

Maria & Zack on the elephant, and Sebastian and Tong in the water!

LOVE!

We were brought to our Bamboo Hotel and made ourselves comfortable.

I knew we were going on a trek like this, but I had no idea it would be this awesome.

The first village we spent the night at.

The night closed out with our tour guide, Tong, playing music around a bon fire while we all took in the first day.

Tong.

Also- Happy Birthday Mom!! Day 2 [May 2, 2014]We loaded in the back of a truck and made our way to check out a waterfall that Tong said we could slide down.

Everyone loaded up!

FX Leading the crew.

Not totally believing him, I had to remember we spent the day prior with elephants so at this point- anything is possible. Not only could we slide down the waterfall, but Tong would go down on his feet which was WILD!

Our tour guide- Tong!

After the waterfall, we had to say goodbye to JoJo, Mike, & Sebastian [Germany] as they only had a 2 day trek planned while the rest of us were signed up for 3. Time was flying at this point, but we all exchanged information to be able to stay in contact- which we already have!

The group minus 1- Where are you FX!?

We separated and the 3 day trek group started our hiking for that day- Up. Up. Up. We literally went straight up for what Tong said was about 7k. It was about 40* Celsius [104* F] and we all were feeling the heat!

Up Up Up.

Adam :)

So much UP.

We arrived at the village we would be spending the night at and were all so relived! More water and time to relax!!

Arriving at the second village where we will spend night number 2.

Me!

The 3 day group with Tong!

Our home for the night.

The group! Adam is behind the camera.

We were greeted by this adorable little girl.

The cute little girl with our phone.

She was so interested in us and was very concerned that I was so exhausted apparently. She came right over and took my buff off, took it over to the sink and rinsed it off and brought it back to me. She then started fanning me with it and blowing on my face to cool me down. She was so incredibly cute.

Fanning me off. :)

Tasting fresh Lychee Tong picked from the tree outside.

Upon our arrival, there were at least 10 women who live in the village ready with mats to give us all one-hour massages for a tiny rate of 150 Baht [less than $5]. SIGN US UP. It was amazing. I’ll hike every day if I can get a massage after. What a way to relax after a day of hiking in the heat.Tong called me in when he was ready to start making our dinner for the night, red curry. I wanted to see how it was done so he went step by step showing me what he did to make it. Simple and using only one pot. It was delicious and awesome to cook with him.

Cooking Red Curry.

After dinner, a fire was started and we all made our way out to the deck. The kids from the village school came up and performed a song for us. It was beautiful. We all just sat there smiling while these children sang and danced. Took my breath away.

The children from the village school.

Day 3 [May 3, 2014]What goes up, must come down. Thankfully. We had about a 1.5 hour hike ahead of us downhill until we reached another waterfall. From there, we would hike again for another 1.5 hours to where we would begin white water rafting. Could this tour be any sweeter?!

Down Down Down!

We got to the waterfall and it was epic. We all got in and loved it. So refreshing and some awesome photos came from it!

Wooohhh!!

iPhone Photo of the one above!

Sebastian, Maria & Adam.

It was so powerful!! Nicole & Maria.

Love.

Awesome GoPro shot of Zack!

Adam tried to dunk me... LOL :)

It was so powerful!! GoPro video below that was shot the same time this photo was taken.

We were ready to get back on the trail and hike on.

An old little hut.

Baby monkey in a village we passed!

Beautiful Jungle.

Awesome tree hugging another tree.

Foot long poisonous centipede.

We made our way to the white water rafting area and got ourselves situated. We realized this was more of a "muddy" water rafting experience at this point. Loaded up in the raft and we were off. We were all able to get in the same raft which was awesome.

This concluded what was planned for our trek journey, but we all wanted to meet up one last time before parting ways. Being from all over the world, we figured this may be the last time we all could be together in the same room again. We decided to meet for dinner, and Tong said he would come with his sister, too!!