Thursday 24th November: We walked around Chiang Mai today, saw several more temples and walked in lots of completely wrong directions (we don't have a proper map). Just got back from our hotel pool (on the roof with a wonderful view of a construction site) and I had a shock because I was bright red, but it was because the dye in my red sarong ran, not sunburn thankfully. We went to the Night Bazaar tonight. It was a little touristy and a lot of the same stuff at every stall, but fun still. We had the best bananna and chocolate pancakes from a street vendor.
Friday 25th November: Am at our camp in the mountains (3day trek). I'm not coping with how similar to home the bush here is - apart from bigger leaves its almost identical at first sight!! Today has been great. At first we were worried that our guide wouldn't show up - they were an hour late! But once they did, and we met the other people (a German couple, a British couple, two Dutch girls, and a French girl) it was looking good. We went elephant riding first, it was fab. - much better than Bali! We walked for about 10 min to a waterfall where we had lunch and went for a swim. The wate was icy but it was beautiful! We then walked for a couple of hours, it was hot and hard in parts but worth it. The camp here is quite nice, we are sleeping in one big communal bungalow with mosquito nets etc. There are pigs and chickens everywhere (am a bit worried about bird flu though). Enough of being antisocial, though - back to drinking and talkign with everyone esle!
Saturday 26th November: I am not looking forward to sleeping tonight - last night was my longest ever! It was cold and very uncomfortable - just a sleeping back on a wooden floor with a bamboo matt! Last night was great, our guide (Mr P) made us a dinner of curry and rice which was delicious, and then we sat around a fire and were endertained by the local village children singing and dancing (I know it sounds a bit corny etc but it was good). Using the bathroom was pretty scary though! It is a 'squat' style toilet and the shower is literally a hose over a barrel out of which cold water runs!
After splitting up with the people who were only trekking for 2 days, us 'hard-core' trekkers :) (Marscha and Annaloes the Dutch girls, Alex and Lou the British couple and us) continued on. We walked for a couple of hours to another village where we had lunch (eaten with chopsticks that Mr P carved for us). Mr P is very knowledgable, he's always stopping to point out medicinal herbs etc on the way. He's got some random jokes too - at one place where we stopped to rest he pointed out the 'world wide web - spider.com' (a large spider web) and he always says 'sam same, but different' and 'no funny no money, no money no honey, no honey, no babies'! We walked for another hour or so to the waterfall where we would be staying the night.It was gorgeous! We swam for awhile but it was quite cold. Dinner was once again nice, we tried (unsuccessfully) to caramelize banannas over the fire - they tasted ok.
Mr P showed us some matchstick tricks that involved lots of lateral thinking - pikers that we are we didn't get a single one! We then played cards for awhile. It turns out that Spoons is like a universally known game - even Mr P's son Harry knew it!
Sunday 27th November: We were joined by another trekking group today - 4 Japanese people. Icannot believe how much they smoke! Like every 10min, even when we were rafting! We walked for ano hour to the road and had lunch at another village. From there we were driven on the back of a ute to the bamboo rafting place. The rafts were essentially just bamboo poles strapped together with rubber. Each raft had a guide an 3 of us on it - we all had a go at steering with a pole (I was useless!) and thanks to out guides got totally drenched - they kept trying to sink and splash at us!
We just got back to Chiang Mai and I was shattered so slept for awhile at our 'favourite' hotel. We went to a resturant for dinner, it was nice and not too pricey but we were annoyed once we saw all the great food stalls at the Sunday Markets. These markets were huge, they stretched in every direction for blocks! We walked around for a few hours and tried some 'ancient' ice cream (Made with coconut milk) - it was yum! We also tried another sweet (soyabean) thing - have vowed never again to try something simply beause it looks cute! We then went to the Rooftop Bar (reccomended by Alex and Lou). It was really laid back and funk - everyone sittin gon cushions on the floor, and the view was amazing. We talked to these two guys from New York for awhile an the strongly recommended that we go to Laos, but i think it will be too far.
Monday 28th November: I spent 2hours today on the internet typing my journal out and then it got deleted (yes this is my seccond attempt) I was so annoyed, but did manage to get my photos on here wo it wasn't a complete waste of time! Jess and I then went to Wat Prah Singh (the 'must see' temple of Chiang Mai). To be honest I'm a bit templed out -they're all beautiful but very similar. Much more impressive was the tallest temple in Thailand - Wat Chedi Luang, it was built in the 1300's. We sat down and had a conversation with a buddhist monk a the 'monk chat' spot - he looked kind of bored though!
Am on the train to Bangkok now, we get in at about 6am. It's much more comfortable than the bus, and I'm glad that so far the trip has been hassle free. ..... Still on the train, although its somewaht later! have had a great night. The English couple next to us, thinking that Jess was asleep, invited me to have a drink with them in the 'party carriage'. Jess wasn't asleep and came too. Everyone there was absolutely sloshed! There were a couple of Thai men dancing in the aisle and having a great time - drunk people can be very entertaining! We had a nice chat tot he English couple- they laughed at me for going to Scotland at Christmas time and said I'll freeze! This very butch looking Thai lady then started hitting on Jess! She even began to strip and wanted Jess to dance with her - it was hilarious! Unfortunately the bar closed, some British guys invited us to join them drinking in their berth but it looked kind of crowded! English guy has jsut whispered to me to not take any crap from Jess while we're travelling - ha ha!
