Well after the hill tribe trek we cruzed back to Chiang Mai for the night and some much needed R&R. Did'nt really get it though as we had lots to do including another trip to the night markets. I need to stop spending money. After the night markets we went to a Muay Thai kickboxing night. It was absolutley brutal. the first fight we saw was between to 14yr olds and they had to stop the fight in the 2nd round. the Girls were the worst they were viiolent right from the start. There was a "special" fight in the middle where 4 fighters came out and were then blindfolded so they had no idea who they were fighting, the ref took a few knocks and thendecided to kick back. Hilarious but wrong at the same time. after that the more experienced fighters came out and went off. Don't know if I would go to another fight but I did get some video footage.
The next morning we had an early bus to Tha Ton (another of those "air con" buses that relies on open windows and fans) very hot and packed with locals. As we got closer to Tha Ton we were stopped at a check point where all the local passengers were checked for ID. Since it is a border region if they did'nt have ID they wouldn't have been allowed to go any furter. Once we got to Tha Ton we stayed in a river side guest house which was lovely. Once we were settled we went for a walk up the road to see the nine Buddha levels and the temple which we had seen from the bus. We only made it to the 3rd level and it wasn't because of sore legs from the trek that stopped us going any further, it was a weather front that approached far to quickly you could see thuis wall of black approaching with bolts of lightening lighting up that side of the sky (the otherside was blue). we were sheltering under a pagoda at the 3rd buddha and it wouldn't stop so once it had let up a little we braved the weather to walk back down the hill. Got soaked, the water was rushing down the road and being absorbed by my pants. When we got to the bottom of the hill we found that the water had caused a flash flood down the middle of the street which shows how much water there was in a very short amount of time. Had to stop for a coffee. They were very good letting me stand there dripping. But man the coffee was good. Got back to the guest houde to find the rain stopped which is just typical. Once dry we played card games and drank cocktails which took a good 40mins to make. Kinda annoying.
Next morning we were off again in yet more songtaews. Made it to the northern most part of Thailand where we crossed over into Burma(Myanmar) for the afternoon. We took a quick sight seeing trip in these rickity old Tuk tuks and got our faces painted with ground bark off this special tree that was mixed with water to form a paste. Only the girls were allowed it which makes a change as it stops you from burning and is a moisturiser. We looked a bit silly but when in rome and all that. Then we went designer knockoff shopping. I bought a pair of purple Dolce and Gabbana sunnies for $2.50 and a Dolce and Gabbana pink hand bag for $28 talk about a bargain much cheaper than in Thailand. Got four more stamps on the passport as well though they took them off us as we went in and gave us these temporary visa's. Then we carried on up to the Golden Triangle which is where these 3 rivers meet and is point where the 3 countries meet(Thailand, Burma and Laos) We decided to get a boat over to Laos though they don't stamp the passport which is upseting. On the way we were smack bang in the middle of where the rivers join and man it was flowwing fast as the river was badly flooded due to all the rain in the mountains, they almost didn't let us go. Well we landed at Laos and I bought a couple of things and as a group we bought 2 bottles of whiskey for the equivalent of $4 which is cheap but surprisingly good. Then back to Thailand we went on the scary boat ride (little more than a dinghy) up the swollen river that was full of drift wood and trees. back to Thailand. That was the only boat trip that we were given lifejackets and that was only cos the river was so dangerous at the time.
Anyway from there we went to Chiang Rai in the back of the Songthaew when it started raining rather heavily. and the rain was coming in the back so we were quite damp by the time we got to the hotel. The beds at this place were hard and creaky. Probably would have been more comfy on the floor with a roll mat. Had a lat night due to the whisky and got up late this morning to go to the hot springs. Not worth the effort really should have stayed in bed. since we've been back we've been doing very little. But thats great, and since I'm off back to Bangkok tomorrow I should find out whats going on down there.
