IN WHICH WE GO ON A TREK
Along with our rather solitary leader, Mr. Toil (really), we set out early on a public bus headed for a large hill-tribe village where we'd start our hike. In order to experience the countryside more fully, we were led off the road and through some paddies to a junglish hill which we slogged up and over.
On the other side of the hill there was the corn patch where Ben got lost for half an hour. Needless to say, his version of this story differs from the rest of ours, but we can all agree that our little group was mysteriously separated in the surprisingly labyrinth-like field for a significant period of time.
After we'd all successfully negotiated the corn patch, we waded through streams, beat down brush, wound our way through a bamboo forest, and hiked small dirt paths. I got 3 leeches.
That night we had a bonfire and drank tea and learned from Toil about the political apathy and almost wholly agricultural lives of most hill-tribe villagers. He also told us though, that for the first time, the hill-tribes have food for at least a year and improved connections to the outside world. This was our home for the night.
We also watched the most perfect and brilliantly bright full moon that I have ever seen light the sky as it rose above the trees.The next day, we did some serious up-hill hiking and re-prised much of the day before, arriving at last in the sun-drenched village where it had all begun the day before. We hitched a ride home from some friendly military folks in a pick-up.
IN WHICH WE TOOL AROUND ON MOTORBIKES and feel like badasses...
We're still alive, and we have no tell-tale burns or bandages the way half the other foreigners wandering around town did. We spent two days scooting around the area with Ben and Pierce manfully steering us out to waterfalls and hot springs, around elephants, etc. 
The countryside was just beautiful and we had perfect cruising weather.
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