Karen Hill Tribe Trip

These past three days have been incredible! I went on a trekking tour through the mountains and the Karen Hill Tribes. We left Saturday morning and immediately went to a beautiful waterfall. Of course we got in and swam in the water, although it was freezing! Then we hiked for about 4 hours and it was no joke.  We went straight up hill for the first hour, and then up and down for a bit. By the last half, me and two other girls had broken off into our own “fast paced for girls” group. We ended running full force down the mountain for at least 45 minutes. It was so steep and it was better if we just did not stop. We got to the village and a lot of the group was already there. We were so confused, because they had definitely not passed us.  Little did we know we had run straight pass the short cut! But it was so much fun anyways and the views were amazing!
 

Hiking day 1!

We stayed with a Karen Hill Tribe village in a hut with mosquito nets. There is no electricity in the village so we had a campfire! We started the next day with another hike, but it wasn’t nearly as hard as the day before. When we got to the next village we had the chance to ride on elephants! It was so exciting to sit on the back of an elephant for nearly an hour and a half. The elephant I was riding was clearly hungry and uprooted a banana tree and countless other branches along the way for a snack.  Later we made bamboo rafts that we rode on the last day. Again we had a bonfire and roasted rice inside bamboo.  The children from the village performed songs for us and then taught them to us. One of my favorites is one they sing about skewering a chicken up the butt and roasting it!

the first village we stayed at

making dinner

Elephant riding

On the last day we got up early and took the bamboo rafts we made (although the guides may have had to redo some parts we messed up) and rafted down the river. We went through gorgeous scenery and stopped at other villages along the way. After about three hours of rafting the trip was over! This weekend was one of the best experiences I have had in a long time. It was so rewarding to see how happy the Karen people were even with the circumstances they live in. They truly make the best of what they have. Also, this was a great bonding experience for the group that went! We ran down mountains, stepped ankle deep in water buffalo poop and ate bark off trees together!

Bamboo rafting!