Hello! Fran again. The day after the elephants (which were so bon) we decided to go trekking. Which was to say the least, interesting. We were already quite tired from the day before and in the car on the way to the trek we both fell asleep, which was not a good sign.

We started off by going to a 'hill tribe' village, which was basically one house with a stall in front of it where they pressured you to buy 'authentic' stuff which we had actually already seen in the markets, you can't fool us! I was in a very sceptical mood. They were wearing traditional Thai clothing, Anna and I were sure that they dressed up for tourists, so we asked our guide later on if they dressed up in his village and they said that they did.

We started walking through this foresty bit and it was boiling hot and there were mosiquitoes everywhere! Even though I was wearing long trousers i still got bitten loads and Anna's legs look like they have chicken pox. We were also sure that our guide was drunk, we stank of alchol and kept on making jokes about wisky, so we were in safe hands. He then stopped us mid walk and started chopping down bamboo to get his lunch, which were maggots, yum. He did this for ages and Anna and I were just standing there getting more and more bitten (we have found that the best thing for bites is tiger balm, its a revelation!) and more annoyed.

We then walked moreeee and met up with this other group who were quite interesting, they were on a two day trek and they told us that in the hut that they slept in there were rats everywhere, apparently when the lights went out they went crazy and were running across their mosquito nets and were in there bags, at this point we were so glad we were only doing the one day trek!

The scenery was beautiful, but you were too busy watching where you were walking and trying not to slip and die, that you didn't really have time to appreciate it. We then got to a waterfall, where we had a bit of a swim and had lunch (drunk guide ate his bugs). The lunch we had was like a rice patty which was wrapped in bananna leaf and looked really nice and was very filling, we then had some forest fruit, we are getting used to Thai cuisine. We tried to swim under the waterfall but the current was really strong, i got under but then i saw Anna being dragged away underneath the water and i was like 'ANNA NOOOOO' i thought she was drowning, so i waded out to save her (it was very dramatic) but she was fine, but her bikni had come off with the current, much hilarity ensued!!!!!!!!!!

We then did more walking for a couple hours and we were so hot, tired and muddy and our feet were bilstered and BROKEN that we just wanted it to finish. Then it did, thank god, i don't think we are natural trekkers.

Then we went home and slept for ages. The next day we wondered around some local markets including this huge food market with lots of interesting looking things in it, but we weren't quite sure what any of it was.

In the afternoon we went on a cooking course which was really fun. We started off by making chicken and coconut soup then Pad Thai and then Green curry and spring rolls, Anna did all the veggie options but we found out that they put oyster sauce in practically everything here, even when they say its veggie, it's not. At the end we were given cooking books, so we can recreate our amazing dishes at home. Anna and I were so good at folding our spring rolls really neatly and everyone else's was rubbish, we felt so proud.

We're moving to cheaper youth hostel today and are also going to the National Muesum. In the next few days we're going to mediate with the monks and go zip wiring, so we have lots to do.

Until next time! xxxx