Trek Day one - Rafting

31st July - We made it!!!!! Sitting in a tent underneath an overhanging cliff, bulging into different shapes above us, while listening to our guides playing the Beatles in the middle of a jungle in Um phang is definitely a unique place to write a blog. We all woke up at 7 and packed away the last of our things before breakfast. Breakfast came as a shock to all as food kept piling onto everyone’s plate, until each person had 4 pieces of toast, scrambled egg with carrot and onion and half a waffle, however, no one seemed to complain about the large quantity as they were soo pleased it wasn’t rice! Later at 11 we left to drive to a slower part of the river and everyone was so excited to experience the rafting onthe river. As we all set off we had no worries about our boats, that changed quickly. After an hour into ride the boats started to go wrong. Cliff’s boat had to bail water out of their boat as another boat had to save themselves from sinking by pumping up their boat as they paddled towards the side. While floating down the river we passed waterfalls, steep limestone cliffs, water monitors and went through rapids. The sights were stunning and idilic as we all craned our necks up at the towered rocks jotting out above us.========== When we had a break we had lunch next to a warm spring, which some ventured through the mud to step in the flooded, luke warm pool. Although most people were still stuffed from breakfast we all tried to shovel down as much rice as possible. After lunch the boats problems continued as seats deflated, spiders fell from the trees, ankle deep water and Hattie getting pooped on by a bird! Our final stop couldn’t have been at a steeper slope, after a few slips up the hill we all thought we were safe. Until one of our guides slipped off the hill, off the boat and spiralled into the water, causing hysterical laughter from everyone. We then relaxed in our tents and talked until dinner. Dinner smelt amazing and was so different to what we thought our food in the jungle would taste like. We started off with a broth with pork, potatoes and onion then we had rice with chicken and vegetables, it was soo good that Maddie had 4ths! As the day was winding down we had meeting on our most memorable events with some peoples being; the circus, waterfalls, tuk-tuks and cockroaches! Then we all went to view the freshly dug loo that had been designed and decorated with a flower by Cliff. We then all snuggled down in our tents to sleep, but everyone is still talking! 