Our third weekend excursion was completely amazing and covered by the program! All the interns got picked up by a Flight of the Gibbon’s van at 7am… well actually it was 7:40am but that was practically on time according to Thai time. Thais have a funny way of being an hour late; it makes my 15 minute lateness seem appropriate. The Flight of the Gibbon’s is about an hour from Chiang Mai and transportation is part of the service. Once we arrived, we got suited up in our harness gear. For some reason it was a very amusing experience for all the interns. I was worried that the harness was unflattering on my booty. The boys were worried about other problems. We were given wooden breaks; I was worried that it was not enough break to keep me from crashing into a tree. Champ and Crash took us to the first of 18 platforms. I was feeling extremely confident with the appropriately named tour guides.
The first platform was a warm-up run but it was definitely the scariest. When I got to the second platform my legs were weak from fear and the small platform felt like it was swaying. The platforms barely held the 6 interns, 1 professor and 2 guides. The ground is a 100 feet below and I was not sure how much fun I was having! The second platform was far and showed the most amazing jungle floor. I really enjoyed screaming and flying in the air. I let go of the harness and put my arms in the air like I just didn’t care!! I then crashed into Crash and hugged the platform tree for dear life. We then walked a bridge to the high edge on the mountain.
We hiked a little to the next platform; I took in the incredible jungle, it always amazes me. The next several platforms were fun and with new confidence Crash felt it necessary to jump on the cable and let me bounce through the air, once I was on the platform I would realize how much fun I was having. We had to repel down to lower platforms and that was really fun! I enjoyed doing a ballerina poses in the air. It took about 2 hours to complete all the platforms. The last platform was in the most amazing tree. We then had to repel down 50 meters to the jungle floor. I enjoyed the journey down, they would drop me really fast and then stop me and then release me and I was sad that our adventure was over.
The flight of the Gibbon’s included a delicious lunch. We were served jasmine rice with a yummy Muslim curry. We had scrumptious fruit for dessert. All the interns and Ralph hiked to a near by waterfall. It was extremely steep getting to the trail head. Once on the trail I thought for sure I was going to slip and fall. It was straight up and while observing the waterfall was just asking for an accident. At one point there is stairs that are so steep I was nervous to come down. We made it to the top and took our shoes off and enjoyed the cool water. Once again I was sweating like crazy! Alex decide to splash my pants so I had to get him back… Yes, he is the grown-up in charge of the interns… scary I know! We played on a vine and the boys pretended to be Tarzan, I was secretly hoping it would break but luckily it never did.
Going down the mountain was not as bad as I imagined but I kept Nate in front of me so his big back would break my fall. Once we reached the base of the waterfall, we were served a delicious red Gibbon juice. All the interns were scared to drink the possible poisonous tea but I thought it was refreshing and Bishop Ralph didn’t seem concerned. After cooling off with a cold hand towel, compliments of the Flight of the Gibbons, we decide to head back to the base camp. The towel was exactly what I wanted but my mind could not help but drift to the cleaning techniques of the Thais. I’m sure they just dipped my “clean” towel in the cold water that contained lemongrass and passed it out to the next person. I ‘m pretty sure that I was the first to use my clean towel.
I was tired when I arrived home so I took a nap with my Thai babies; it was a delightful afternoon. My starving belly was thankful for the “good” food. The evening finished with Thai TV. I love Thai TV; I don’t know what they are saying put the plots are so dang funny. I think if the same series played in America, less people would watch TV!! I think that would be a good thing!! Thai TV cannot show violence and the shows always have a happy ending… I enjoyed my refreshing cold shower but as always my mind drifts to thoughts and memories of what a warm shower would feel like…. I never imagine a HOT shower but I bet one day I will think about that… AS ALWAYS LIFE IN THAILAND IS AMAZING!! MY INTERNAL UNIVERSE AND GALLAXY IS AT PEACE… IF ONLY THE REST OF THE WORLD LIVED LIFE LIKE ME….
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