Ting Tong in Thailand

So we're back now from our 3 day trek and this will be a short recap of what happened. We started out an hour after the "hardcore"group and packed two vans for Northern Thailand. On the first day, we were to visit 5 villages and spend the night in the last one. After driving 1.5 hours (appx), we piled out by the side of the road and started in towards the first village through the jungle of northern Thailand. The landscape was absolutely phenomenal, and we came to our first village where we saw people working on slash and burn crop growing. We were told that the first village also wasn't very friendly, but that we had others to go. At the foot of this huge hill/mountain, the guide informs us that we should climb to the top of the mountain to take a group photo. It took us like, 15 minutes or 20 minutes to get the the top; it was ridiculous. Come to find out later that it was necessary to climb up it because it was part of our 20 kilometer hike that day (which was more than the "hardcore" group hiked in total from what I hear). The hike was quite possibly one of the hardest thing I've ever done, but I feel so proud of knowing that I was part of a group and we did it together. It was really sad to see the poverty in the villages and strange to see the contrast between the huts and handbuilt parts of the village as compared to the satellites and other government enhanced parts of the village. We also rode elephants for an hour and our s kept going off road to pull up trees and eat them. We (Elidh and I) had named the elephant Edgar after edgar the editor on our train ride. We also managed to serenade him while riding :D I got to ride on the lephants neck, which was sooo fun, but scary. We ended up in a Palaung village where we stayed the night. Our amazing guides cooked dinner and it may be the best meal I've had this trip. Our leader, Tun Myint, also somehow managed tho organize the town to talk to us that evening in the village's temple, which was a really powerful experience. After sleeping in the mosquito net on a bamboo platform outside and having the village women set up a little market for us, we set out for Pai. On the way, we stopped at a beautiful waterfall and decided to skip the hotsprings. We stayed at a "resort" which was pretty but the rooms were basic. In Pai, we wandered around and went to this bar where Bass and I learned how to spin fire sticks, which was really scary and amazing and definitely a once of a lifetime event. The next morning we went back to Chiang Mai, stopping at a bat cave where we floated through on bamboo rafts and hiked to a monk's village of 3, and we also stopped at a whiskey brewery, orchid farm, butterfly farm, and tea plantation. Last night, we did the night market in Chiang Mai and went out with Tun Myint too. He commented that nobody takes him to the Cow in NOrthfield, so we'll probably do that this fall as a reunion. Other people need the computer, so I should probably end this now. We're leaving for Burma later today, which will definltely be itneresting. HOpefully we aren't arested by the junta and everyone will stay safe the on flight to mandalay!