We took a flight to Chiang Mai, which took around 1 hour, and although expensive we were happy about missing a potential 13 hour bus journey! When we arrived it was clear Chiang Mai is a much more laid back city compared to Bangkok, which we were grateful for.

Upon arrival to our hotel we were sold an evening all you can eat buffet with entertainement, based on the Thai hill tribe cultures, good preparation for our trekking we thought. It was a great night for 400 bht each, and our first taste of authentic Thai food, none of which we could identify to start with but all tasted great.The following day was an easy one with Aimee saving her energy for all the trekking we were due to do the next day! We took a stroll around the city and managed to find a good mexican with Burritos for lunch. We met our tour guides, King and Nooka in the evening to get prepared for the early start, and we were told to pack light and take nothing you don't mind losing or getting ruined! This filled us with optimism about the conditions we were about to endure. We spent the rest of the evening walking through market stalls which seemed like a trek in itself!

We were the only people booked on the trek, however in the morning when we were picked up another couple had been switched last minute to join us, and we were glad of the company. Our first stop was the local tourist police station, not on the original itinery, and I'd seen enough of police stations in Thailand already, but this was just a precaution in case we went missing apparently! Next up was the local market where we bought all of our food for the next three days. I also took the opportunity to stock up on snacks (Just in case!). The other couple on the trip Tim and Davina, mentioned they wanted to see the Tiger Kingdom, and the guides said we had time for a visit on the way, so that was our first stop. We paid to go into the Large Tiger cage and take pictures, a couple were quite sleepy but we were assured they are not drugged, but they do like to sleep around 16 hours a day, which I could get used to also. The third was quite lively and we got some good photos. Aimee was a little tentative with him so he kept swatting her with his tail, as he thought she was an insect! "Give him a good strong slap Aimee go on". We also saw a few baby tiger cubs from a distance.

After the Tiger Kingdom we hit our first activity which was swimming at a national park waterfall, as the other three were not keen I took a swim alone, (any excuse to get in all the pictures I hear you say) It was a bit cold and not the brightest day, but I enjoyed it anyway (I would come to regret this later when I have one wet towel for three days!). We then arrived at the hot springs where the others had no excuses as the water was steaming hot. We started our trek from here and moved into the rainforest for around two hours, a few steep uphill sections got the better of us but the heat was the real killer. We arrived at our first village where we would be staying for the night. Only 9 houses stood in the village so didn't get to see many villagers, apart from the ones we stayed with. I thought the house was like a luxury tree house which seemed fun, but Aimee thought otherwise and wasn't too keen on the toilet and bathing facilities or in other words, bucket and a hole in the ground. We were treated to another Thai meal of rice and massaman curry, followed by pineapple. After a long day our beds, or matresses on the floor, were calling us and an early night was reccommended since we would be woken by the local animals. Mainly the cockerel, this turned out to be good advice, as sure enough the cockerel did as promised, soemthing we were to get used to.

The second day of trekking was a bit wet in parts, and with lots of steep up and down hill sections, this made for entertaining sqeels and yelps as the girls lost their footing. Tim did suprisingly well even with his ankles made of rubber/jelly. Impressivley Aimee stayed on her feet all day, although Davina unfortunately didn't and got a mud bath to prove it. Even with the elephant rides to look forward to, there were a few moans of "not another hill" (There was a clue in the trips name, Hill tribe trek). It was actually harder than I thought, with constantly having to check for leaches on our feet, dodging tarantulas, getting a sure footing, and trying to remember to take in the veiws.

Finally we made it to the elephant camp, and were able to ride "Sumsiang" son of "Sumtang" who Tim and Davina had. The elephants well trained and owned by the Mahout tribe and they were present to give the orders and directions, which were followed immediately. The seats were fun, but riding on the elephant's neck was the best although scary at points, especially downhill. I was worried about leaning to hard on his head, but our guides assured us it's like us holding a baby chick (probably true in my case!). After diving into the trees for snacks along the way (the elehants not me) they got us back to our overnight village and raft camp, home of the Karen tribe.

We had that afternoon to explore the village and see their school which was really interesting and eye opening. The kids start at 7:00 to tend to there crops before school starts. There were also some boarding accomodation for kids from other villages, unfortunately we had arrived in the school holidays so the school was empty. It was good to see how the whole village operated, almost without the need for money at all, using their animals like pigs, chickens, cows and buffalo to trade for services and other goods. They also kept many dogs as pets but they don't name them, so they are all called dog I presume, which must get confusing? Many of the houses have solar power, to charge large car batteries. They use this mainly for lighting, but we did see some sattelite dishes and TV's which was surprising. Although they only get about 45 minutes of veiwing time per day, so the locals run from house to house when watching big event like thai boxing, which would be funny to see.

The whole experience certainly makes you realise what a convinient life we have with all the mod con's and it was good to experience how they live even for only a couple of days.

We were told that evening that due to the heavy rain and flooding, the river may be too fast and dangerous for rafting, and if that was the case we faced a long drive back to Chaing Mai or the option another trek, which was dismissed fairly quikly by the girls. So we prayed for no more rain, and inevitably the heavens opened! all night long we were woken by the rain, even before the cockerel had got started. However to our surprise the rain was not so bad up river and we were able to go bamboo rafting after all. Sitting on a bamboo raft through rapids is quite refreshing at first, but soon gets quite cold. I had a go at steering the raft with Nooka, but probably hindered him more than anything else. after about an hour or so, there was a section of river too dangerouse for all 7 of us so we had to trek around it. This was up a muddy hill in swimwear and flip flops. Not the safest route either with a 50 foot drop into the river on one side, and a trak about 1 foot wide. When climbing over fallen tree's on the trak, Aimee hit her outdoor pursuit limit and decided she's had enough and stood there and cried. But with the helping hand of the courageous Ash she managed to get going again in no time, and we were back on the raft. (Aimee "Can i just please mention that my legs were too short to fit over the log so i was litterally hanging on for dear life and there were spiders EVERYWHERE!!!") The last hour of the rafting was a bit muted after the breakdown, but we were all smiles once we made it to our lunch stop, that was until we saw what we were eating for the 7th time in a row, rice and pineapple!

The trip back to Chaing Mai was also eventful with one overturned truck due to the muddy tracks, and a few yelps from the girls when we occasionaly lost grip. We were glad of the hotel bed that night, although the severe flooding in our street ment a trip to the laundrette in knee high rainwater and wet weather gear. At this point we are really looking forward to cocktails on a sunny beach!

Now we're heading back to Bankgkok to get the overnight train south to Koh Samui. Sun here we come!!