Hill tribes, rafting, and elephants

Wow. Sooo much has happened in the last couple days. Unfortunately I'll have to condense a substantially large amount of events and info to one post: I apologize. I'm behind because I haven't had electricity.

Friday we woke up early with a 2 days worth of clothing in one pack. Today we hiked up to the Lahu hill tribes. Our guide told us a lot about the Lahu and other tribes. Most are people from Burma and China seeking a better place to live. Many hill tribe people grew opium up until after WW2 when it was made illegal.

The scenery on the way was amazing, I loved the cloud cover and the fog. We stayed the night at the Lahu outpost and had a nice bonfire. At dinner I tried fried crickets, they tasted interesting, but in a good way. Tonight my iPhone died, so unfortunately I missed out on a lot of photos via phone, but i got a lot on my camera.

The next day we had a very steep and muddy trek down the mountain. We began tallying points for people every time they feel because of how slippery it was. I had a couple pretty good falls. After what felt like forever, we made it to a beautiful waterfall. As soon as I got there I wanted to leave because a million other Trekkers were there too: it was muddy and chaotic.

To clean off all of the mud we went white water rafting on the Mae Taeng river. This was the best rafting I've ever done, the rapids were insane!

After the long hard day we stayed at the beautiful Lisu lodge. Before checking In i had lemon grass juice: It tasted just like froot loops. I stayed in a neat pavilion with a room to myself. Once it got dark the village children put on a traditional dance for us in Lisu tribal clothing.

The next day (today) we woke up to a great breakfast (with bacon!!!) and headed to the Elephant Nature Park. It was a truly amazing experience. We got to touch and feed the elephants and bathe them in the Mae Taeng river. As amazing as the experience was, it was also quiet saddening. Many elephants at the park have suffered before. A couple had blown off feet because they stepped on land mines, some were blind because their eyes were stabbed because they didn't comply. One had a broken hip through forced breeding. It was really heartbreaking. We watched an hour video talking about their plight. For such a revered and sacred animal in Thailand, many aren't treated very well. I'm glad there are places like Elephant Nature park for elephants, it's crucial in a nation where more and more land is being converted into agriculture.

After the nature park we got to the hotel where I was able to charge my phone and continue to take pictures. We celebrated a girl named Kendall's birthday at a nice restaurant on the river. Afterwards we let off some lanterns into the sky. After dinner we headed to the gigantic Sunday market literally across the street from our hotel (I'll post a picture!). I got a ton of amazing things here.

Once again, I'm exhausted! I had to pump this one out though it was much needed. Sorry: no pictures to post of the elephants or rafting but you will all get see them eventually:)