A little game called 'Think Fast'

Apparently boys play this game in the USA..Nathan explained that it involves throwing things at each other and saying 'think fast' at the last minute to see if someone has the ability to respond to a threat.  He modified the game slightly on our three day jungle trek.  His new 'think fast' game worked best for him when he was hiking in front of me so that he could poke his bamboo hiking stick into tarantula holes and scorpion dens to aggravate them for the next hiker (me).  Its the dry season so I didn't need to do any fast thinking to stay alive. 

We had an amazing trip.   I learned a lot from our guides about Thai culture..and had some very strange 'trek helpers'.  One of them had a Smeigal impersonation that would have earned an academy award.  It got scary after I taught him how to say 'my precious'.  He was also a strong believer that drinking cobra blood and whiskey at a 50/50 ratio could make you invincible.  Invincibility seemed like a pre-requisite to spending time with him.  Nathan made up for his spider taunting by saving my life on the second night of the trek when Smeigal told us all he could thrown knives.  Just after Nathan pushed me out of the way, a knife came flying through the dark and bounced off of its intended target to hit the spot that would have been my rib cage. 
All in good fun.
A couple of throws narrowly missed Nathan as well, so we called it an early night. 

The trek involved a couple hours of hiking each day, lots of waterfalls, elephant riding, bamboo rafting and a lot of goofing around.  We got to try a jungle favorite, red ants.  And yes, I mean eat.  I kid you not..they taste like sweet tarts.  You have to be quick about crunching them to death though..they bite back.  On our third day we hit the best waterfall, a 30-35 ft cliff over a deep pool.  I needed some coaxing but made the jump in a complete panic.  Apparently it was obvious to onlookers that my panic button was activated about ten feet down at which point I began a slow backwards rotation.  It resulted in me landing in a severely uncomfortable sitting position.  The worst spanking of my life.

Some other highlights:
- Nathan accidentally cuddling with a Japanese boy named Leo.  (He says it was an easy mistake because Leo had smooth skin and a small frame)  He will never live this down.
- A rat stealing my fruit in the middle of the night, transporting it to five inches from my face while I slept, and then pooping all over my pillow..while my head was still on it.
- Excusing myself to 'use the bathroom' while the tour group ate dinner...only to realize we were about to hike down the very trail I'd used as my squatting ground.  Rookie mistake.