The Trek Part 10: All good things come to an End

By the time we had woken up our bamboo raft had already been constructed by a few of the village men. We ate breakfast, and packed our things into plastic bags, just in case we were to overturn in the water. Our bamboo raft was about 10 feet long. Song stood in the front with 2 bamboo poles, one for steering, one for fishing. Ar stood in the back with another pole to help steer. When all 8 of us were standing on the raft it floated about and inch under the surface of the water. We pushed off and waved goodbye to the village, and started on our journey downriver. Song never did catch any fish, but not for lack of trying; he would end up steering the raft straight into rocks in order to dip his bait in what he thought were good fishing areas. Sometimes we would go through small rapids and have to sit down on the raft while song and Ar steered.

For the most part this was just a lazy day floating down the river. We stopped on sandbars and skipped stones and found banana leafs that were taller than any of us. When the water was deep we could jump off the raft to cool down. Eventually we started passing buildings up on the hills around us, and came to stop in what was really just a village of outfitters for treks and rafting. We went to the local restaurant for our meal, and predictably we saw a parade of traditionally dressed tribes women coming to bug us. They were polite and waited until after we were done eating.

After that we got into the truck which Song had driven here when we parted ways with him before the cave, and drove back into town. We made one stop however at Tiger Kingdom.
Jennifer expressed much interest in touching a tiger, so Ar offered to stop at Tiger Kingdom on the way back to Chaing Mai. It was definitely a tourist trap, and I had no doubt that the Tigers were sedated (although they had enough tigers to get to rotate them in and out of days of sedation, which I suppose is a nice thing). I figured I might never get another chance to touch a live tiger, so I also paid to go pet a tiger. Jennifer and I got 15 minutes which was split between two cats, one sleeping, one drowsy. It was really cool to be right next to such a strong beast. Even asleep you could tell how much muscle and power they had in them.

We then made our way back to Chaing Mai. The guesthouse we had stayed in before the trek was full so we had to find another one, and were able to get one in the same area, although not as cheap. It was however conveniently located next to a delicious pizza place that was run by a friendly Ex-pat from the States.