Jungle Trekking (Or, for mom, "There's no wifi in the jungle")

 I ended my time in Laos with a 3 day jungle trek, based in Luang Nam Tha, up in the northwest. I was with a French guy who I had previously met in Cambodia and then ran into in like 3 or 4 different places. We were in the same bus from Luang Prabang to nam tha. It was quite the long, windy, bumpy bus ride--about 6 of the 8 hours of it on unpaved road, for extra fun. On the ride, I also met a Russian couple and their 9 month old son. They have been backpacking with him for the past seven months. Yeah, you did the math right on that one. Can you even imagine?! I think this couple is inspiring and crazy and amazing and masochistic. Also, Karin and Doug, you've now got one less excuse to come meet me in Thailand with the nugget. Justsayyyin. 

The trek itself was fun--tiring and at times very difficult. When you do treks for more than a day, obviously you go much farther info the jungle. This means it's more dense and..well, jungle-y. During parts of our walk I felt like I was going to fall off the side of the mountain. And some of it was really slippery, mainly due to some really steep climbs up and straight down. Dad, I kept hearing your voice in my head from when you were teaching me to drive (and every subsequent Fall of my life, come to think of it) warning me about how slippery leaves are. But slow and steady, we had a nice trek. It was myself, the French guy, and another French couple. And the guides. We slept one night in a wooden hut and another night in tents, ate sticky rice with all seven meals, and ate bamboo, rattan, and various other ingredients straight from the jungle. Also went to bathe in a river and discovered little baby leeches on my feet, so shower didn't happen. Eek. 

We came back smelly and exhausted and sore; I may be a little trekked out for a while/the rest of my trip. 

Now I'm in hothothot Thailand; next post will be on my first week here!