I got in the covered pickup truck at 930am. There were about 10 other people in there–mostly young adults like me. I sat there quietly for the ride. We drove about 30 min out of town to a butterfly and orchid farm. I was not impressed with it.
We stopped at a market to buy water and snacks for the trek. I sat down at a table of three young women: Clarisse, Lida, and Nina. I chatted them up. Lida and Nina are sisters and moved from Virginia to Thailand to teach English. Clarisse is a good friend of them–from Virginia, too. She is on vacation from her job in Cambodia. We all had a good laugh about how pathetic the trek was so far.
We arrived in the jungle start point around noon. We merged with another group. Our final size was 19 people and two guides. We had a quick lunch of fried rice. A few people and one guide got high. I thought that was stupid, considering we’re about to do a serious cardio exercise.
We hiked through the jungle for about three hours–uphill both ways 
There was so much greenery. It was beautiful. It reminded me of my trip to Georgia last spring or Wisconsin in the summer. However, this scene was full of palm and bamboo trees.
I got visuals of the movie Forrest Gump. I know that was in Vietnam, but it felt similar. I don’t know if I’ve seen any other movie of southeast Asian jungle.
Most of the people on the trek were only doing it for two days. Only I and four others would be doing the third day. I met the other four–all models.
The hiking was challenging. I worked up quite an appetite. We arrived at the little village in the early evening. They made vegetable stew and chicken curry for us. I ate two platefuls. The guides built a fire and we all listened to them play guitar for us. They played for a good two hours. It was amazing. I was inspired to learn guitar more when I return home. I’m not sure what my end goal with it is yet, but I would like to be able to entertain people to some degree.
After the guitar session, I talked with a Polish man about global politics. I finished the night listening to Radiohead and gazing at the stars.
