Never had I known that dreams can be very real, until June 5th. There were a total of eleven people somewhere in the mountains, most of my family and a couple of friends from Bangkok. We were headed up to the boat houses in the water reserve. The hour long car drive to the reserve was surprisingly fun; we stopped by a small tribal village to take pictures. Just as we were about to leave, we saw a very interesting sight; all of the sudden, there were horses running up the road accompanied with a crackling sound that imitated the sound of bubble wraps being popped on a larger scale or the shooting of a bee bee gun. I anxiously waited to see the source of that sound, simultaneously wondering where the horses were heading. Emerging from around the curve, there was a man riding a motorbike whacking a stick causing the noise, but I still wondered how he managed to get the sound of a bee bee gun out of a stick. We drove past the galloping horses and spent a couple of minutes on a platform near the village where we soon discovered that the horses were directed to. The view was amazing, we could see over most of the city of Chiang Mai. The wind supported the fantastic view with its cold yet gentle breeze.

When we finally arrived at the water reserve, we were given a boat ride to the floating house, called ‘Ban Aekachai’. The motorboat was traveling quite fast so the wind felt as cold as a frozen steak, not only that, but it started to rain along the way. By the time we got to the house, it was pouring rain, resulting in a withdrawal into the house. That day, we weren’t able to explore much of the area so we disappointedly played indoors. As soon as the rain stopped, we decided to go swimming. It wasn’t long though until the sun went down, sadly due to the fact that the whole area was surrounded by mountains, the sun set at 6pm so we turned in early.

That night, I had a dream that I was in the movie, ‘Jurassic Park’, which is a movie about dinosaurs reintroduced in the present. The scenery in the dream was tainted with green bushy trees, alive with small animals like birds and other mammals. Emerging from the waters were dinosaurs, as if there was an entire other world down there. The trees had leaves hanging from the tree tops and vines tangling through the canopy from tree to tree. The view was truly spectacular and it conveyed a magical feeling.

The next morning we woke up early determined to make up the time we lost yesterday. We explored the reserve with a kayak and found a small opening hidden within some trees. We kayaked passed that and came upon a small body of water almost completely surrounded by lush vegetation. The vines hung off the trees just like hair in the morning. We arrived just in time for sun rise, the sky was brightening up with a splash of pink and orange, the water was cool and it appeared to glow with a thick layer of mist rising from it. The whole area roused the tranquil sensation. The trees, lined with apple green leaves hanging like hair with vines the color of olives attaching trees to the neighboring. There were so many birds hidden in the thick layer of trees, chirping as loud as they could, together creating an ensemble that sounded like eggs being fried. At this moment I felt a small feeling of dayshavoo, like I have seen this image before. I realized that I have, in my dreams.

We went back to the boat house and waited for the boat to come pick us up. The journey was worth travelling for; all that hard work just to live in the moment and see the beautiful sunrise. My friends and family all enjoyed the trip as much as I did. The moment when I saw my dream appear before me was the best moment of the trip; dreams do come true after all.