Chiang Mai Activities 3rd - 5th October

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  Chiang Mai, Thailand
Saturday, October 6, 2007

Sawaii di Khap! (Hello in Thai!)

I've had three pretty action packed days. But before that I had my chillout day in Chiang Mai, where I went to the night market which is amazing. It's a really long road with loads of stalls lining both sides. They sell anything from bags to cushions to art work to t-shirts to trousers and much more. And all for a good price if you can bargain them down. I went with a malaysian guy I met in the hostel, and because his name is difficult to say calls himself Malaysia(!). He is amazing at bargaining, and was getting things for about 75% less than the original price he was quoted!

Anyway, the real fun began on wednesday, when I decided to take a Thai cookery course. Now anyone who knows me will know that cooking for me is popping a pizza in the oven or super noodles in a pan! But for about 8 hours we cooked, creating about 5 dishes. It meant we had to chop things really small, which took me ages, but was at least funny for the rest of the group, including the instructor! I was with three couples, one Dutch, one French and one Swiss. Seeing as they all had good cooking experience, I don't mind saying that I thought it went rather well. I have got a photo of me in my cooking gear, and one of one of the dishes I made, mostly to prove I really did it! (I'm also glad to report that so far my stomach has remained intact!).

On thursday I embarked on my two day/one night trek into the jungle. We drove for about 3 hours into the hills around Chiang Mai to a local hilltribe village. It was a strange place, really cut off from everywhere else. I was in a group of 10 in total; an Aussie couple, a group of four Irish girls, a Dutch couple and an American guy. The Aussie couple were great fun, called Dylan and Teresa. They had previously worked and lived in London, right near me! Dylan was even a personal trainer in a Holmes Place gym round the corner from mine! But they are on their way back to Oz now, and are doing some travelling along the way. Our guide for the two days was called Lop, and he was a great guy who always found everything funny and was always smiling, and was really knowledgeable too.

The trek we did was 'interesting'. In other words I have several grazes to show for it! I had thought that trekking would be a nice walk through some jungle, but instead involved quite difficult climbs up hills, along river banks, past waterfalls and across streams on slippery rocks! Most people ended up with an injury, but I seemed to end up the worst! Another problem was leeches. They were really small but could end up all over you, as my left arm found out when I went swimming in one of th waterfalls we passed! They came off easily though. When we got back to camp we stayed up till the early hours talking and joking as a group over a few drinks which was great fun, and what I'd been looking for from doing it really! Plus Lop had his guitar out which he played in the background (although quite badly!).

The next day we had a short walk to another village that makes green tea, and through some forest so Lop could point out some nature facts, then it was back on the truck and off to see the elephants! We got to the camp, had some lunch then all jumped on our elephants! (well not literally, that would be very difficult, we actually just got on via a platform). We went across a river, through some jungle, had a break (well the elephant controllers did), then walked back through the river and off. It was a much better experience than in Kanachaburi, as it was longer and over more a more difficult area, so it was a more real experience. It was also really funny, as one of the elephants decided he didn't want to go with the others and ended up in a bush about 200m away, complete with his controller and two of the Irish girls!

Finally we jumped on the truck and went up the hill to do some white water rafting! I have to admit I'd been looking forward to this the most, as it's something that always looks really good fun and exciting. However on the way I made a rather gruesome discovery when Dylan noticed my right sock was red, when it had been grey. I took it off to discover a leech had somehow got in my shoe and sock(!) and had been on my ankle for a while judging by the amount of blood. Dylan has a great photo which he's sending me! I was in a boat with Dylan, Teresa and two of the Irish girls, Loretta and Sinead. It was great fun, some of the rapids were quite fast and a couple of times we got soaked! Dylan got Lop to take some photos and they are going to e-mail them to me, so when I get them I will put them on here. Then we returned back to Chiang Mai. We had a group picture which I will add later, then it was time to say bye and go for a hot shower and a lie down! I'm off to Laos tomorrow for the next chapter in the journey, so I will fill you in about it in a few days. My mobile probably won't work out there, so don't worry if you can't get in touch via that.

Sorry it's so long, but so much to tell! Hope you're all ok back in blighty! Oh and thank you to everyone who has shown their support against the girls on the train, I'm touched that from my brief entry you all dislike them so much!

Take care, keep in touch, missing you all!

Chris xx

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Sleeping Hut	Waterfall	Lop!	Lop Again
Happy Elephant!	Dylan and Teresa	Irish Girls On Elephants

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