25th Dec AKA Christmas Day! Slightly different Christmas to what I've been used to! Got up early and got picked up in a truck ready for my trek. It picked up 6 others on the way - a couple from Alaska, 2 Aussie lads, a Japanese fella and a chap from Norway. After topping up on food supplies about an hour outside Chiang Mai, we arrived at the setting-off point and they fed us rice to give us energy, We then set off on the hike, which was all uphill and was great fun. It was really exciting going through the jungle, crossing rivers by fallen logs or skipping over stones, seeing waterfalls and some great views. It was around 3 and a half hours and went pretty quickly, although after around 3 hours I'd run out of water and still going up hill! The idea of a beach Christmas seemed more appealing at that stage! But we got there - I think it was around 4.30-ish and it was really crazy - a remote hill tribe village called the Lahus and you just strolled through it - chickens, pigs and dogs roaming free. I had the coldest shower in the world that night, then for Christmas dinner it was Thai green curry and rice around a fire with some Thai music playing and with some dancing as well. It was a fairly early night - everyone was knackered!

26th Dec: The rooster woke everyone up early and we had some toast before setting off again, this time it was level with some downhill bits! Our leader was a scrawny Thai bloke called Meaty Boy and we got a good pace going. It started cold, but soon the sun was out and we went through some fantastic places with great views. At 12-ish, we got to a waterfall and went swimming there, although it was even colder than the shower the previous night, but I was first in and set the standard! We explored the area, then had some more rice before heading off on part 2 of the day that entailed going through Karren Village and we soon reached our night time venue by a river. That night we had Thai green curry and rice for a change and it was one of the Aussie lads birthday, so we had a few Chang beers and spent the night around the fire again.

27th Dec: Everyone woke feeling a bit hazy, but we were soon back in the action. First up was an elephant trek for about an hour, then the rafting! We choose the pink boat and all donned our life jackets and helmets ready for white-water rafting. It was a real laugh - we got stuck a few times, but other than that, I felt we were pretty good at it! At the end of the white waters, we lost the life jackets and helmets and moved on to the bamboo rafts. Our one sank, so we had to get another one and we were the last to finish - never mind! That was the end of the adventure - we headed back to Chiang Mai. I got back to Chiang Mai and found a cheap guest house - I was planning to stay for 2 nights, but they only had 1 available, so I booked in, then went off to book to travel somewhere! I booked to go to Laos – it’s the slow boat and takes 3 days to get to Luang Prabang, so with the boat booked, I headed out on the town with my 2 new Aussie mates for a final night with them!