Day 69 -

Leave Sukothai. The bus journey to Chiang Mai takes about 7 hours and we eventually arrive when it is dark. We arrange for a taxi to take us to BMP (Backpackers Meeting Place) Guesthouse. This is the place that arranges the 3 day jungle treks.

Our accommodation is really nice. The rooms are clean and comfy fortunately. The bus journey had made us feel tired, hungry and dirty so after a shower and a bite to eat we went to bed!

Day 70 -

Got up on our own accord - no alarms! We went into the town centre to get some food for our trek tomorrow (they do supply meals for you but bet you an arm and a leg I won't like them - poor Anth he must hate my forever disagreeing palette!).

After the supermarket we decide we really want to get cultural so head to an Irish bar for a jacket potato with beans. SCRU-UH-MEEE! The rest of the afternoon we spent lazing around the pool.

At 6pm we are called for a meeting in the hotel's restaurant. The guide needs to tell us about the do's and don't of the trek and what to bring, etc. The meeting also gave us an opportunity to meet the other people we will be trekking with.

Now, yesterday's group seemed like a right laugh. All backpackers, all our age. Our group on the other hand was not. I tell you, when it comes to groups and tours and things like that Anth and I are the most unluckiest people ever.

Our group was made up of 8 people including us. Honneke, a dutch girl who turned out to be really funny actually and a family of 5 from New Zealand who were really friendly but were O.T.T. to the max! The Banes were their family name and they turned out to be the BAIN of our lives for the following three days!

The talk was pretty straight forward, the guide letting us know what we will be doing and how strenuous it would be (not at all said the tour guide but he would be walking in front all the time, we however would be walking with the Banes). It took just half an hour to explain everything to us and after that we went to prepare had a few drinks then lights out, head down ready for an early start tomorrow.

Day 71 -

Up early, around 6am and off we go on our trek. Anth and I were really excited, I think the fact that we would be actually doing something rather than sit on our arses all day was exciting us the most!

The first stop was the local market to get any remaining provisions that we needed. Anth and I bought a bottle carrier each to really make us look the part ha!

We travelled for about another 50 minutes in the truck and found out about each other a little more, this is when we realised that the Banes were cattle farmers and Ted Bane, the father was a fanatic know-it-all about anything to do with animals (especially cows), farming, land, the growing and fertilization of fruit and veg, people, tribes, trekking, trees, flowers, countries, politics, religion, business, the economy and money.

Ted's fountain of knowledge didn't just stop there though. He was also proud to be an excessive enthusiast about water. Let me sub-categorise for you as Ted kindly did for us. Ted knew about the flow of water, hill water, land water, river water, stream water, mineral water, polluted water, rain water, piped water, sewage water, passing water, Bridge Over Troubled Water, holy water, Pete Waterman and walking on water which no doubt he has done a few times as well.

If you could ask Ted Bane what he could tell you about Kay Bloom and Anthony Kerr he would say, "who?" as we didn't manage to get a word in edge ways unless we took a swig from our bottled water which was hidden in our bottle carriers and he would ask "which make is that water?" to which we would reply "Evian".

Ted's wife Ilene was also a know-it-all but on more of a bearable level. At least she asked us a little about ourselves. Her children however were spoilt know-it-all brats who did every hobby under the sun and of course excelled in everything apart from may I say, table manners to which a they certainly flumped on.

Honneke was a really good laugh. She spoke fluent English with a strong Dutch accent which made her sound really rigid and soldier like and it didn't help that she was pushing on 6 foot in height!

When talking about Ted she says "Onions!? Ol ee talks to me arbout ist onions an vortar. Oh mine Gord, I don give a sheet - Ted shart ze fark arp!"

When we reached the starting point of the trek we had about an hours walk ahead of us to begin with. Nothing too strenuous just walking through streams, much to Ted's delight, and going slightly up hill.

We stopped for lunch which was vegetables and rice and we sat on a table amongst pigs, chickens and dogs who were eagerly waiting for any left over scraps that we may have (I of course had many - best meal they have probably ever had!).

After about half an hour we set off. Both Anth and I were really excited about the trek now and were keen to get going!

We walked for about 4 hours before stopping this time. Through the forest and woods, over fallen trees, up rocky hills and down steep slopes. We passed a termite mound which I can only describe as GARGANTUAN!! Taller than Anthony! And also two very large spiders in their very large webs.

As we were covered by so many trees they kept us under the shade most of the time so it wasn't as hot as we were expecting it to be which I'm sure made it easier for everyone.

Anth and I were really enjoying ourselves, it was really interesting to see all of the different plants even if I do say so myself! Joshua the main tour guide and O, the helper were really knowledgeable and informative about everything we past and told us a lot about their backgrounds and culture. They also told us a lot about the hill tribes that we would be seeing later on the trek. The people of the hill tribes live without any of the amenities that we live with, no electricity, no shops nearby - any food they eat is homegrown, no hot water and no means of transport unless on foot. The nearest town would take about 7 hours to walk to.

We stopped after a while next to a stream with a great big fallen tree next to it. Josh and O told us that we need a 10 minute rest to get ourselves psyched up for the 90 minute uphill track that we have ahead of us.

During this 90 minutes, nobody said a word (even Ted), we were all to busy concentrating on how not to fall of this well cliff edge I suppose you could call it! The only sound you could hear were the birds, the gentle breeze and our heavy breathing!

Finally we reached the top and it was well worth it as the views were outstanding!

I don't know what we were expecting but the village looked even more basic than I had ever imagined it to be. There were four wooden huts - one toilet, one shower (well cold water hose), our sleeping room for the trekkers and one for the villagers. The first thing Anth and I did was have a cold water shower and I mean COLD! The water is pumped straight from the stream which is obvious but Ted thought he should tell us anyway, he also told us how it is pumped, which faucet is used and why, if the shower was facing the other way this technique would not work - cheers Ted, the original Water Boy... The sun set really quickly and before we knew it we would have been in complete darkness if it weren't for the small fire and a few scattered candles. We had tea which I actually really enjoyed, rice and curry, then all we went to sit around the fire for a few drinks. Of course Ted led the conversation and everyone listened, we had no choice. If we tried to talk, Ted would talk louder until you just stopped. At one point I looked away from Ted as if to concentrate on something else and Ted says "excuse me for one second, er sorry Kay are you listening?"!!!! Ha the cheek of it!! I was so startled by this I just apologised and carried on listening to the conversation of why cows produce milk, why humans need water to survive and which vegetables are needed to make the best Kiwi stew! BORING! Anyway, after I while, the Banes thought it appropriate to sing a song around the camp fire which we all agreed on. Next thing, Ilene whips a guitar out (where did that come from?) and the whole family start singing Waltzing Matilda in near perfect harmony. Obviously this had been practised in the past, the daughter thinking herself somewhat of a Lesley bloody Garrett singing the soprano and Ted accompanying her as tenor whilst the other three joined in somewhere in the middle. Anth, Honneke and I on the other hand had to bite our fists so we wouldn't burst out laughing whilst kicking each other under the bench as if to say "what the.......!?" "Waltzin farking Mateelda?" Honneke says, "I feel as eef I em trekkin with ze Kiwi vershon of ze Von Trappe familee!" Anth went to bed before anyone else as he was starting to feel ill. All day he had been starting to cough and sniffle and it had now moved onto the next stage of man flu - moaning. The Bane's all went to bed next not long after Anth and Honneke and I stayed up chatting. Tomorrow we climb another 1000 feet to the highest point of our trek. Day 72 - An 8am start this morning. Last night was freezing - it's surprising how cold it gets here just because we are up in the hills. You are only given one sleeping bag and a blanket which don't keep you very warm at all and of course you are sleeping on the floor! Anthony deteriorated during the night so didn't sleep well at all and I didn't sleep well either as I was dying for a wee but was too scared to go outside to use the toilet! The Banes were ecstatically cheerful this morning, waking up to Ted Bane is like what I imagine waking up to Ned Flanders is like, "goodily, woodily morning fellow trekkers!!" blurgh.... We had breakfast and began our trek. There was so much more scenery to see today all of it even more beautiful that we have already seen. There was also a lot more uphill walking today! At one point we walking up a near vertical cliff for about one hour which was really hard work! Again nobody was talking but this time you couldn't just hear our breathing but also the sounds of Anth coughing, spluttering and hocking a lookey aver 10 minutes! We eventually reached the top, well the highest point of our trek and Joshua told us that we were 1500 feet high. There were so many trees surrounding us that unfortunately there wasn't much of a view but I reckon you would have been able to see for miles if there had of been one! We stayed at the top of the hill for about half an hour and O told us that the villagers to this hike everyday to collect fruit from the trees. The though of this was not very appealing to Anth or I as we sat there dripping with sweat and our faces the same colour as beetroots! Our next move was to head back down the mountain which turned out to be just as hard as traveling up because the hill was so steep you really had to watch your footing. It took us only an hour and a half to get down the other side and then another hour to get to our new accommodation for the night. We couldn't wait to get there not just because we wanted to rest but because this village was placed right next to a waterfall which turned out to be our shower as well! Once we arrived yet again we were taking back by the surrounding scenery. The waterfall although bear freezing was one of those ones that you can walk through to get to a hidden cave behind it. Unfortunately Anth couldn't go in the water because he was too ill but I did and like I said the water was so cold I really had to ease my way in with caution! I was too chicken to dunk myself in so just splashed myself with water instead! After our 'shower' we had a tea which was rive and curry again and Anth went to bed pretty much straight away whilst I stayed up chatting to Honneke. Before Anth had gone to bed I had noticed a spare bungalow filled with extra blankets so quickly pinched them all so that Anth and I were quite toasty during the night! Day 73 - We left our accommodation at the waterfall at about 10am. Today's trek lasted just 3 hours and was downhill all the way. We walked overlooking some of the prettiest views we have seen, surrounded by lots of banana trees with a magnificent looking backdrop of green covered mountains. At the end of our trek we really had enough of Ted and his stupid stories about drainage systems that we wanted to scream - get the message, we don't care!! God such a know-it-all! Anth and I amused ourselves by doing the funniest impressions of him so that made us feel better! We had lunch once the trek was finished and then went to do some elephant trekking. This turned out to be more scary than fun as our elephant had a mind of his own and kept wondering off the path and taking us on what seemed like the most dangerous of routes! After the elephants, we went bamboo rafting again. This wasn't much fun at all apart from the last part where we went down some really fast rapids. After here we headed back to BMP as that was the end of our trek! Ilene suggested that we all meet up for a meal tomorrow night and for some bizarre reason we agreed! Ha I was dying to say no and give some excuse but felt to rude to say no and couldn't think fast enough for an excuse! Day 74 - Today was another lazy day. In fairness, we didn't wake up until midday so by the time we had got 'breakfast' and had a shower we didn't see any point in doing anything else until we met the Banes and Honneke at 7pm. Anth and I made sure we had a few drinks before we met everyone, just to make the night more bearable I suppose! It actually turned out to be alright and the meal only lasted for about an hour then we all said our final and long awaited GOODBYE to the Banes forever. Anth, Honneke and I went to a few other bars and had a few more drinks. We saw an elephant walking down the main strip of bars and he stopped every now and again so you could feed him a banana - RANDOM!! Day 75 - We realised there isn't much to do in Chiang Mai and as today was our last full day here, we celebrated by doing nothing! Ha! We did walk into town and had a swim in the hotel swimming pool but apart from that we just spent the day reading whilst sunbathing by the pool! We met Honnmeke again at night and had a really nice meal a quite a few drinks. We met another backpacker called Shaun as well and ended up having a really good night which was a nice way to round of our time spent in Chiang Mai.