| 18th April 2006 Got up late - both taking anti-histamen tablets for the bites which are supposed to be non drowsy - yeah right!! Had breakfast at lunchtime and then went to escape the heat by having a massage each. It's very laid back here and very easy to spend the whole day doing nothing, the heat makes you lethargic too! Another afternoon nap and then dinner watching West Ham v Middlesborough!! 19th April 2006 Got up early to go elephant riding - haven't laughed so much in ages! Was great fun, especially trying to stay on going down hill - we were bare back and just kept sliding forward.... Terry would slide into me and I would slide into the guide, sitting on its head!! When we got to the river, it squirted us with water and then shook us off and rolled over with us (thought we'd get squashed but was so gentle). We kept getting on for more - a bit like a bucking bronco, Terry managed to stay on a lot better than me - I just kept getting flung straight over its head into the water! In total we were on the elephant for 2 hours and if you think horse riding is bad, it's nothing compared to bare back elephant riding..... so sore, got bruises on the insides of my thighs from trying to stay on!! After showering (the river water smelt quite a bit) we hired a scooter and drove around the surrounding area. Went to a waterfall 9km away in the middle of nowhere and then headed back just as the afternoon rain started (has rained every day briefly, since the end of Songkhran). Lazed about until we went out for dinner, when we found a wine bar and treated ourselves to a bottle (haven't seen wine since Oz). Walked back to our room later watching the sky light up with lightening! 20th April 2006 Decided to go to Mai Hong Son (the Switzerland of Thailand), so we caught the local bus - very slow and incredibly uncomfortable, mostly due to the elephant aches, but the scenery was lovely. Arrived and found a room in a guesthouse overlooking a lake with green mountains behind - very nice, but not exactly Switzerland! Had a look round town and found it dead, nothing much to do, not many places to eat and only saw two other westerners. Fed the fish in the lake - bought some fish food from a lady who had been drinking gin all day - rather funny! Bought some chicken bits on sticks and after one bite realised they were chicken bums so fed the nearest dog instead!! Had dinner and then went to sit on the balcony reading as the sun went down. 21st April 2006 Another lazy day. Wandered to a cafe/tour agent for a late breakfast and discovered we could do the 5 day trek to Pai!! Had to wait till the evening to speak to the guide, so spent the afternoon playing cards on the balcony, trying to escape the heat! Went back to the cafe for dinner and found out more about the trek, which sounded good but was a lot of money. Said we'd think about it. 22nd April 2006 Got up late yet again and then wandered to the cafe to book the trek for tomorrow, but again had to wait till the evening, so you guessed it, we spent the afternoon on the balcony reading! At 4pm I checke the thermometer on the wall and it was 39 degrees - wonder what it was at the hottest part of the day? Back to the cafe at 6pm to book the trek and then after dinner we had a look at some stalls that had been set up along the road. Found some carved black resin (from Burma) hear/speak/see no evil monkeys and we haggled the already cheap price and got them for under a pound each! Phoned home and then went to pack and have an early night. 23rd April 2006 First day of the trek - had to meet at the cafe for breakfast (could order whatever we wanted so pigged out) and then our 9am start ended up being a 10am start, where we drove past the airport a short way and started walking from a small hill tribe village. We followed the river up stream for 3 hours, but after 20 minutes we had to change from boots to flip flops because we were constantly crossing the river backwards and forwards - so I had to put up with my biggest hate, walking through the jungle in flip flops - so many ants and spiders! We stopped quite a lot to let the two porters rest - they were carrying food, water and bedding in baskets, and for us it was nice to splash in the water. We stopped for lunch by a pool so Terry had a dip! Then it was uphill a bit more, anoter couple of stops and at 4pm we walked past a hut where one family lives and stopped for some tea. La (our guide) then suggested that we stay for the night (probably because the eldest son was sent off to the nearest village, an hour away, to get a bottle of whisky), so a little disapointed beause we didn't seem to have walked much of this 'hard' trek, we took off our shoes and surveyed our home for the night....... the animals live under the hut - ox, pigs, chickens, dogs... but there was one cockeral upstairs and a few cats - where we would be sleeping - bird flu sprung to mind - oh well, not a lot we can do!! There was a fire in the corner, kept going constantly for cooking - didn't think we'd cope because it was so hot, but it actually cooled down in the evening so was nice. The mother and young girl were grinding rice, so I helped to earn our keep and Terry had a go too - soon sweating again. Went off to have a shower - yes they have all the mod cons of a squat toilet and a length of hose as a shower! They do have electricity though - the government has supplied every hill tribe hut with a solar panel. This family were from the Karen tribe, but preferred to live on their own rather than in a village.And so we spent the evening eating chicken soup and chicken curry - or rather chicken bones! And Terry tried the rice whisky but didn't like it! They laid mats down and put up a mosquito net for us. We sat to oneside feeling like the outsiders because of course we couldn't speak the language. As we went to bed, one of the porters and the father went frog hunting for tomorrow's lunch! 24th April 2006 Adter very little sleep we were woken at 5.30am by the cockeral in the corner of the room and by everyone coming in to sit by the fire - actually got quite chilly last night, so glad for it! Changed into shorts under the sleeping bag while everyone watched - nice to have some privacy! Then we had our breakfast, before waiting another two hours to leave - they had to cook the frogs and then have their own breakfast - why did we have to get up so early??!! Finally left after being emotionally blackmailed |