Treehouse!!!

We flew out of Hat Yai very early the next morning and were greeted near baggage claim by Alex, who runs the booking for the treehouse through AirBnB. He is from London and has been living in Thailand for the last six years after visiting a few times. He was very forthcoming with us about the politics in Thailand, which was nice considering that we haven't really had much of an idea of the news since being here. We had a great conversation on our hour and half ride up to the treehouse, and were in awe when we arrived. The pictures online were completely accurate. The building can hold about 12 people, and there were other smaller buildings nearby. We were completely surrounded by trees with the river directly below us. After we dropped off our bags, we headed out quickly for a three hour trek while there was still sunlight.

We were led by a local Thai man who knew the area very well and another Thai man from Bangkok who spoke English. They first took us through the small village in the mountains and told us about the tea made by the people here. It is made from leaves that contain amphetamine, which they picked and let us try. They tasted like chemicals, so we are assuming that the tea has other ingredients for flavor. Then we walked through a small boarding school, which the men explained was about half village kids and half orphans. Once we got into the actual jungle we learned that our guides had no problems jumping rock to rock across the river. After about an hour of attemping to keep up with them, we stopped at a waterfall to go swimming. The water was pretty cold, but it felt very refreshing after working so hard to keep up. We went to one other waterfall nearby before heading back toward the treehouse.

On our way back through the village, we were encouraged to stop with our guides and have a shot of local whiskey (which was roughly 35 cents). We were expecting something very strong and gross, but were pleasantly surprised when it went down very smoothly. The man who sold it to us was the village's leader, and he was a woodworker. The village follows strict rules to do nothing to negatively impact the jungle, so he only uses trees that are already dead for his art. 

By the time we got back, we were exhausted and ready for dinner. There were chefs there who made a delicious dinner for us, even though we didn't really know exactly what we were eating. This seems to be a very common theme in this country and we have embraced it. We spent the rest of the night relaxing in hammocks with some beers and playing cards.

Today we woke up and lounged around in the hammocks for a while after eating another delicious meal. Our driver took us to a temple on the way back to Chiang Mai, and it turned out to be a very nice one. We walked about 500 stairs to the top for a nice view, with Buddhist phrases lining the steps.

Now we are in a hostel in Chiang Mai ready to explore the city!