Hi everyone

Finally feeling better after having being ill (dodgy stomachs) last Thursday/Friday Really knocked it out of us , so we had to postpone the trekking til Saturday.

We still made it to the boxing though on Friday night !!! We manage to eat a bit of rice before we left and got a free tuk tuk to the "stadium". We decided not to get the VIP tickets which were slightly more in price (and meant that you got to sit ring side) but we think that the people at our hotel (who sorted the tickets out for us) managed to pull a few strings as our tickets WERE VIP and we literally were RINGSIDE (might as well have been IN the ring!!! see the photos and youll know what i mean)

I was a bit nervous about it as im not a massive boxing fan, especially when Dom said that Thai boxing is more hardcore !!

The first lads to come out were so young, only about Haydens age!!! (13/14 maybe?) and they could have beat Dom up (sorry Dom hehe you know its true)

Weve put a couple of videos on so you can see what i mean

There were 7 fights in total, lasting between 10 - 20 minutes each roughly. There was an English guy fighting. He was really good and had loads of English supporters but unfortunately he didnt win against the mean looking Thai guy!!! His nose was a bit messed uo by the end of it, too.

The last 2 were women (again they were only young, maybe 16/17years old)

After all of the fights, it was pretty much a free for all!!! This guy who had been drinking all night and placing bets got into the ring and had a fight but he was just getting his butt kicked hehe we got back to the hotel at about midnight

Saturday morning we were getting picked up at 9.30am for the trekking

We got into the jeep that picked us up and there were only 2 people in there (the guy - named Stace - was from New Zealand and Venessa was from South America, they met when they were travelling across Oz)

They were a quiet couple, and he didnt really smile very much (hard work!!) but nice enough

And that was it !!! Just us 4 (its very quiet out here at the minute cos if everything thats been going on) We topped at themarket on the way there and Mr P introduced himself to us!!! He was small Thai guy, aged about 60!! He was going to be our guide.

He quickly went round the market to pick up some food for our trip.

We then went a bit further along in the jeep when we spotted the elephants!!! We had to buy bananas for 'gasoline' hehe - Stace and Venessa wen on their elephant first. Then we had to climb on (very wobbly!!)

It was a bumpy ride! But fun. We kept feeding the elephants the bananas and they kept sneezing everywhere (gross)

We then began the trekking (yipee!! you all know how i love to walk....hmm!) but after about 20 mins we stopped at a beautuful waterfall and had some lunch (egg fried rice) he said wecould swim in the falls but it was quite cold so we passd on that and just chilled out on the rocks and took photos

We carried on walking up the mountain, it was really steep and quite hard work but Mr P kept stopping and chatting to us, and showing us different types of herbs, trees, insects etc - very informative!!) he was a bit of a crazy dude & kept shouting "snake!!!!" and "crocodile" and making us laugh

Eventually when we arrived at the Karen Village (at about 4.30pm) he showed us our 5 star hotel....haha!! It was a building made out of bamboo, had no door just a hole in the side, and carpets , or should i say rugs, had been laid on the floor for us to sleep on...

Their village was very small with mainly houses made of bamboo, therewere animals everywhere, chken, pigs, dogs, buffalow....cockrels!!! (bloody things!!!)

At 7pm they served us our evening meal which was green curry , bamboo shoots , veg, rice etc

And then the children all gathered round a large fire just outside . They invited us 4 to come sit with them and they all sang !! It was awesome (couldnt understnd a word tho) but still great

We kept clapping and then they started another song

Some of the children singing were as young as 2/3 ...

At the end we gave them a bit of money and each one of them shook our hands and said thank you and goodbye

Mr P chatted to us for about an hour afterwards telling us loads of facts about the Karen Tribe (they are originally from Burma. Single women in the tribe wear white , and the men wear pink/red V neck tops which is a sign of strength. They are mainly Buddhists-animists. Marry as young as 15/16years old. Can only marry within the same tribe)

Then we met Buffalow Bill!!! He was one of the locals & was so sweet . He kept repeatin himself "hello im buffalow bill" and wanting to shake our hands and stuff. Mr P said he calls him Buffalow Soldier... hehe

Then we went to bed at about 9pm (Stace and Vanessa were tired but me and Dom couldnt sleep so Dom was making up stories about Buffalow Bil and had me in stitches, think we may have kept the others up...)

We slept awful! It was SO cold (cold as Leeds festival) & i was paranoid that Buffaow bill was still hanging around or that some animal was going to wander in!!

We were woke up buy Cockrels at 3am...4am..5am....im sure one was rtight outside ourt hut

We had brekkie and set off trekking again. Citing!

Eventually we met up with two other groups and went and had lunch with them

Then we went Bamboo rafting ! Oh dear ! We had to stand up on them while we floated down stream... Poor Dom had to help streer!!! hehe He was actually quite good by the end of it

We got absoloutly soaked (Stace still wasnt laughing...or even smiling much) but us three thouht it was great

Then we came back to the hotel - thank god

I was shattered ! Eek "Oh My Buddha!!"

If youre wondering why there are loads of random pics of dogs (apart from the obvious fact that we are, epecially beth, animal lovers) its because there are dogs EVERYWHERE which we have found out that The King is a huge dog lover and so stray dogs arent captured or even bothered by the locals! So they hang outside shops, hotels...everywhere! If you didnt like dogs youd be screwed!

Tonight were getting the train back to Bangkok!! Then think were gonna head to Kanchanaburi!

love to you all xxxx