Greetings, from a very tired pair of travellers still exploring Chaing Mai. Apologies for the delay in posting an entry, but we've been back to nature for the past three days! As the "soon-to-be-uploaded-snap" shows, we've had it with Tuks Tuks, and taxi's that always appear to have a broken meter, and opted for the humble elephant...more later....

Anyway, less waffle. Having bedded down in Chaing Mai to recharge our batteries somewhat, and enjoy the infinately more pleasurable hospitality of northern Thailand, we took up the option of a three day trek. I say took the option, we actively did seek out a suitable organisation to explore the wilderness of the northern mountains. Trekking is big business in this part of the country, some 200 operators in Chaing Mai alone, but not all are registed and a therefore a bit rogue. Thankfully, we'd been pointed in the right direction by the Rough Guide, which up to this point has been invaluable.

So how to you define trekking? The essence of most tours is to experience life with the remote hilltribes of the northern provinces. This in itself is a once in a lifetime experience as we both found later. We opted to book via Eagle House, an eco friendly organisation who put what you pay back into the hilltribe communities...and were considerable cheaper than the rest. We then spent two whole days in shopping malls and markets around the city trying to find size 2 walking shoes. Either all thai feet start at size 3, or maybe the thai people simply don't take their kids walking..we don't know, but our search was fruitless and equally tiring. Poor Suze, I can now sympathise with the shopping trauma she must endure.

That aside, we set off with a private gourp of 7, including us, at the rude hour of 8am (I say rude in that we're unemployed...and I'm assuming the unemployed don't wake till Jeremy Kyle which starts at half nine), having had to lug our "deceptively getting heavier" bags across half of Chaing Mai. The whole success of one of these ventures depends on the chemistry of the group, and in Lou and Mike we found two kindered spirits (both having just binned their jobs to emigrate to Canada, as you do) which made things easier from the off. A good guide is also essential, and in Date we had a right character who not only spoke fantastic english...but was eager to learn slang, which made for good banter.

Our first stop was with the elephants. These creatures are incrediable, and also rather hairy which was new to us both. The whole operation was run by the hilltribe themselves, so we were isolated in that respect from the tourist machine, and therefore able to appreciate these animals in their natural habitat (not some throw-away ride on the Khao San Rd). Man do these things eat, and no sooner have they digested half a tree, its back out again..crude, but I can't think of a better way of expressing it. Our alternative transport took us up through the forests, hiking across mountain streams, and eating the equivalent of a rainforest enroute. At one point, we were joined by a baby who...had she not been strapped down on the mother, would have eaten Suze...with my right leg as an appertizer. Cheeky little thing.

Date gave us plenty of opportunities to pose for numerous snaps, at one point making me ride the elepnnt thai style perched on the back of the neck. I won't be rushing to try this again. I can't even steer a moped, so an elephant would be taking the piss. I reckon Suze is thankful I didn't march us into Burma.....

We walked for a couple of hours deep into the hills, Dates enthusiasm for the wildlife around him being infectious, which made the trek all the more pleasureable. He was of hilltribe descent himself, and the passion for his culture was evident. The man was also a machine, striding at a tempo reaching that of the Royal Marines. The literature says trekking is for all types....but thats incrediably misleading. You need to be seriousy fit to do these tours, traversing gradients exceeding 45 degrees for the most part and then scrambling down even steeper slopes soon afterwards. Suze was like a mountain goat! I can imagine many rotund tourists soon regret signing up for three days.....

Tired, and dragging our aching feet, we arrived at the "Karen" hilltribes camp. These communities are incrediable. They have no need for internet, or even money, being hunters and gatherers living off the land. Rice and basically-anything-made-of-meat being the stable diet...with homemade "moonshine" (rice whisky) to wash it down. Its an expereince alone to marvel a simple life, free of politics and computers, that stress about little more than tending to the small groups of curious backpackers arriving on their doorsteps demanding a cool Chang lager. They weren't cold, but there's something more pleasureable about supping a beer around a camp fire when you're knackered and shivering.

Damn it gets cold at night up there! After eating a feast prepared by candlelight (including monkey meat which I sampled..tastes like liver, but like my pork on Masterchef, a tad overdone) , we bedded down in our "hotel"....a bamboo shack with rugs for matresses, and blankets to fend off the cold from our wafer thin sleeping bags. I remember our good friend Nick telling me before I left the UK about the importance of a flashlight cause "you'll be amazed how dark the world is". He wasn't wrong, and the windup torches (thanks to all who provided them!) became our best friends that evening...getting to and from the"toilet" (hole in the floor of a bamboo hut) and the "shower" (a bucket of cold water just behind the hut with a tap but don't worry, I preserved my modesty with a pair of swimming shorts....which helped cause my god it was cold!).

I can't put into words how cold it was that night, but not even a jumper, trousers and woolly hat helped. Never has the hiking socks with flip flops look the next morning, been more appealing. Suze reckons it will be all the rage in Milan next season.

We set off for the 6 hour-ish walk (I say "ish" in that Date's timekeeping was dubious to say the least...understandable seeing that he'd never owned a watch) to the boat camp..scrambling up and down terrain and taking our lives in our hands across the rickety bridges and makeshift ladders left by the tribes people. Trainers were more than adequate, which annoyed us cause we'd wasted two days hunting for walking shoes, but we were fortunte to be walking in the dry season. Date being a complete mentalist strode head in flip flops.

6 hours is exhausting, especially in the heat, but we were ducking in and out of cool rainforest and the sir-fried rice lunch wrapped in banana leaves and bambo twine certainly helped. You also have to dance around funnel web spiders, massive creatures that can give you a poisenous nip. It was pretty Indiana Jones...cept with a bandana (curse my appaling fashion sense, thankfully..as the pictures will show, that look is very much dead). We arrived at dusk to a welcoming camp fire, more glorious Chang and another masterclass in thai cuisine from Date. Thankfully, he opted for pork curry...and not frogs that were in abundance by the river....though they eat them as well. I'd have made the quarter finals with that dish I swear it...

Campfire banter (Date filled us in on the ladyboy culture and in return learnt numerous new words for his expanding vocabulary) and another freezing nights sleep later, we set off on the final leg.....by bamboo raft. I can't put this into words, and what pictures I was able to take should try and do this justice, but its an unforgetable experience. We meandeed for over an hour, through lush greenery and babbling rapids, till we arrived at the van. A short drive later, we were showering in the Mae San waterfall like a shampoo advert...a fitting end to our journey.

Travelling is all about once in a lifetime expeiences, and for the last threee days Suze and I have overindulged on them. I've never seen a night sky like the one we saw in that hilltribe village....billions upon billions of stars which no photo could do justice (I still haven't read the manual, I'm sticking to trial and error on that one). Suze remarked she'd never woken to a mist across a rainforest valley and the gabbling of gibbons. A hilltribe elder invited us into her hut to drink homemade tea by nothing more than a flickering fire to heat the pot and the slow bamboo raft down stream can't be put into words. In Lou and Mike, we hopefully made friends for life and in Date we found someone who wanted nothing more than to proudly share his culture with others. Its been an incrediable three days, and our weary bones but happy memories pay testament to that.

For now, we're taking day or two to relax a bit in Chaing Mai...shop for some new clothes (a serious change in diet has meant weight dropping off us both, so a belt might be in order before my shorts end up round my ankles) and recharge our batteries....again. Hopefully we'll squeeze in some days mooching around Pai further north (hot springs and desolate caves sound too appealing) before bidding farewell to Thailand and exploring Laos next door. Apologies in getting the pics up sooner, its a slow process....but very much worth the wait.

Till the next entry..all our love

Mike & Suze x

p.s Any updates on the transfer market much appreciated by Mike..limited access to the Sun and the various lies peddled by the UK media at the mo. Up the Villa!