Adventures of the Black girls Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming 'Wow - what a Ride!

Never Try Never Know! We're back in Chiang Mai after our Hill Tribe Trek, which turned out to be a blast. Our trip started out early yesterday morning with a trip to the local market to get the groceries for the next few days. Then we drove to an elephant camp, where we got to ride the elephants.  We thought the elephant ride would be lots of fun, but by the end we were ready to leave as we felt guilty using the elephants for our pleasure when they're chained up and mistreated for tourist enjoyment.

Our group then left and headed out on a 2 hour trek through the jungle, where we stopped and had a swim at the waterfall where there was refreshing beer for sale! After our swim we continued on the trek to the Karen village, where we stayed with a local family. Once we got there and put our stuff away, we were invited to a local marriage ceremony between two people from different tribes. This was the second day of their 3-day marriage ceremony. The groom greeted us with several rounds of their local Whiskey, and we jammed out with bongos and cymbals and a gong.  The groom also explained the marriage process and a little bit about their tribe. We also got to see the food preparations, and meet many of the local children.  The night was spent having beers and figuring out mind puzzles that our guides tried to trick us with!

The next day the family had breakfast ready for us when we woke up so that we were energized for the long trek ahead. We hiked for about 2 hours before stopping to cool off in a river, then continued to the start of our Bamboo rafting. It was a great experience and something we'll never forget!!

Heading to Laos tomorrow on the slow boat which entails 3 days: a 6 hour bus ride and 2 days on a boat. It should be an adventure getting there!!

Stay tuned,

Kristin and Tanis