Waking up before my alarm with only 3 hours sleep wasn't good. But after a shower and a bottle of water I was feeling ok, just a little tired. Had breakfast, of toast and omelette. Then it was time for the flying fox adventure. I've been wanting to do zip lines since being in Thailand, and I'm finally able to do it. Our pick up was last because of some Russians over sleeping, but we arrived at the Namung Safari Park. Because we were late, we had to wait for another group to finish before be could start.
After we had got all our safety equipment on, and adjusted ourselves to make it more comfortable.! We started on the practic zip line, that was about 15 meters. Looking super cool in our harnes, helmet, and gloves! We climbed the first ladder into the trees. I was last in the group, and at this point wasn't scared, I was looking forward to it, the first couple of runs were really good. You get some good speed behind you, and then you slow down by grabbing the wire with your glove. The 3rd run was where I had that urgent feeling of needing a wee.. Again I was last, and was watching as everyone get connected to the zip wire and leaned back, this run everyone was going upside down. It was now my turn.. Still needing a wee, I was just hoped I would piss myself; as being upside down it would be running down my chest and into my face before I would have chance to stop! Ha ha... I got connected leaned back, and the guide held my weight still. Feet up towards the wire, and dropped my shoulders, and Let go of the handle! As soon as I was in this position I was fine, and I got push off the platform. Amazing... It was so good, the adrenaline was the perfect thing when your feeling a bit hungover! The last run of this section just took us back to the main hub. Then we walked to the second section. This started from ground level, higher in the mountain, and we went along the zip wire into the trees. This time I went first, getting attached, I let go and started to move along the wire, I was so close to the ground, that I was moving through the grass... Then touchdown, I hit the ground, and was dragged along the floor for a second, before I was up off the ground again, I couldn't stop laughing, I then went the rest if the way up to the tree, I did have to help a little bit, as I lost speed when I hit the floor.
Only 2 runs left, the first was a really long one, getting loads of speed, I lent back, didn't hold on, and just let my body hang in the tree canopy, every now and then feeling the branches hit my arm. Our last run was going to take us back to the hub again. It was even higher, the tree moves around while we waited for other people to get there. The last run was the fastest! I can't believe how quick the time when. As we were running late, we had to get back to the hotel, as soon as we could.

We were about 5 minutes late, but then had to get back to our rooms to grab our bags, and then check out. I was already packed and was ready within 5 minutes of being back. sadly not everyone was so speedy, and we missed our ferry. It wasn't a major issue as we could get one an hour later, we grabbed some lunch and then it was time to go.

By now, I was glad just to be able to sit and read a bit, before my eyes got to heavy and fell asleep on the boat. I slept of most if the journey, and awoke because the bottle of water I was holding slipped out my hand, as a reaction I grabbed it before it hit the floor, but stupid me, hadn't tightened up the lid properly, so as I squeezed it to grab, the lid flew off, and most of the water ended up all over me..! I just laughed, and the Thai girl next to me couldn't stopped laughing. At least it cooled me off.

We arrived at the port on the mainland, and had a 2 hour minivan transfer ahead of us, I just slept most of the way. In no time we had pulled into the Thaksin Hotel, it looked ok, we got given out room keys, and time to freshen up before dinner. When I arrived at my room, it wasn't that great, bathroom was very dated with orange stains around the shower, bed was rock solid, I did have a nice view from my window over looking a temple building. Showered, dressed, and sat in reception where I could get free wifi. We had dinner in the hotel, and all I can say was that was an experience I don't ever want to repeat. I'll set the scene. A man sits on a stage by the door, playing on a keyboard, he was preparing himself for the karaoke that he was about to host. The room was dark, with standard looking furniture. Staff looked like they were 14, with no English, It looked like they hadn't seen tourist for a while. The Menu was handed out, although it was miss spelt, and in fact we were reading the ManU. When reading the ManU, we just started to have fits of laugher when we were reading the English translation for the Thai meal options. My favourite has to be the Yum Broken Boat- looks like they have just used google translate, I decided against the broken boat, and went for the yellow curry, with shrimp. We had a little while to wait for our food, but we were kept entertained by the god awful singing that was taking place on the karaoke stage. We did clap ever act, even thought they were bad. (However im sure Lisa would say they were better than me!) My dinner arrived, and what can I say, from the reviews of the table the meal I had ordered was hot, and not that nice. At least I thought the shrimp would be ok. I put my spoon into my curry to get a shrimp, when I saw legs... They hadn't peeled the shrimp, and that's when I could see all their little eyes poking out the curry... I tried to peel one without using my fingers, but it wasn't much use. The meal was a bit of a disaster really. Honestly it was f***ing horrible. I ate some of the rice, paid and left. I was just hoping that I wouldn't get the sh1ts after eating the tiniest bit of this curry. We have a 6 or 7 hour drive tomorrow, which could result in a shart, if I'm now careful. We took a walk to the Big C, around the corner, it's a supermarket, got a couple of bits or the cold that I'm starting to come down with, that is slowly making its way thought the group! I'm finally taking some of the medicine that I brought with me! I got to bed after a problem with my room lock, somehow I managed to double lock it, and it meant even I couldn't get on the room! As I was laying in bed, all I could think is that the hotel we are in resembles the shining. Alarm set for 6:10, as early start tomorrow. I was looking forward to getting out of this town. I think we might have been in the Twilight zone.

Happy Birthday Iain ;-)