BEWARE very long blog...Busy Week!

Hey folks, Well we have had a very busy week since leaving Bangkok on Monday night by sleeper train. Getting to the train station from our hotel turned out to be a NIGHTMARE. We thought that by getting a taxi at 5pm we would have plenty of time to get to the Train station for 6pm. OOOooppppsss We were wrong, once in the taxi for two mins we turned a corner and it was DEADLOCK traffic....not the kind like in Dundee after work we mean proper standstill! The taxi driver spoke very little English however he must have understood my body language as I started to FREAK out and of course took it all out on Marc. As we had no one else to blame we just sat in the taxi and blamed each other. The Thai Taxi man began shouting out of nowhere "we take the highway, we take the highway" so from there it was like being on a rally course.... Thankfully we got there in one piece and just made it in time. Taxi man chuffed cause he got a tip.

The sleeper train was alright, although only 6ft beds which made it a little uncomfortable for 6ft 2" Marc! After a few beers and a sing song from NINJA we slept alright considering. Arrived in Chaing Mai 7am Tuesday. Following a nap and hot shower we headed up the Dui Suithep with our tour guide.

Once again we were the only two on our tour, VIP treatment you can't beat it. So the Dui Suithep is a temple which sits at the top of a mountain in Chiang Mai. On the way up the mountain the tour guide told us the history etc. The King used to live up in the temple with his WHITE Elephant. A white Elephant is seen to be lucky in Thailand and everwhere you go there are lots of Elephant statues etc. Anyway I was very very excited that we were going to see a White Elephant at the temple until the guide informed me that it was no longer there.... (Beware blonde moment coming up) So all worried and concerned about this White Elephant I questioned why he wasn't there anymore what happened? The slightly bewildered guide answered, "well he died" oh god thats awul I said what did he die of? "I guess old age" replied Pun (our guide) still looking at me very puzzled. Then Marc piped up, "well Jamie it was over 600 years ago, how long do you think Elephants live for"

ANYWAY...that evening we went to a traditional Thai Dinner/Dance. The food was tasty and we got to boogie on down with the Thai dancers, Marc and I obviously showed them how it was done, ha ha ha

So on Wednesday morning we set off on our 3 day trekking trip up into the Jungle. Met with the other 9 trekkers and guide (Reeang) and drove for about 2 hours to the foot of the Mountain. We loaded up with some water etc and off we went.

First stop was the Bamboo Rafting...woo hoo, this was deffo one of the highlights. There were 4 of us on the raft. It was me Sophie, Mike and Marc (who was at the back guiding the raft with a 10ft long bamboo stick) Our guide had to be the most crazy Thai we have met yet! His main aim was to crash the raft and get us all wet, mission accomplished...SEVERAL times. Sorry guys no pics as we couldn't risk getting the camera wet, you can see our souviner pic when we return.

After all the excitement we had some lunch at a Thai village, Reeang cooked us all our meals himself MMMmmmm. Then we walked for about 4 hours in total, through Paddy fields, up a steep norrow sigle track through the jungle, stopping every now and then to look at plants, BEASTIES, and other strange wildlife, including a MASSIVE fat spider, check the pic! Feeling pretty tired, sweaty, and very very hot (39 degrees) boy we were glad to see a gigantic, spectacular waterfall, and the 4 hour trek seemed more than worth it. It was camp for the night in a bamboo hut with the roof made of Banana leaves, very creative, however slightly uncomfortable and the snoring German guys didn't help our sleep that night!

Day two of the trek was again a lot of hard graft, more steep hills and narrow paths in the extreme heat. When we stopped for lunch the heavens opened and we knew there was worse to come. We had to get our rain coats on and trek through a muddy, slippy, jungle...Not much fun. However with a fantastic group our spirits remained high, we all bonded so well that we kept each other going with different stories and tales of travel. Slightly behind schedule we arrived at a tribal village where we were to camp for the night. These Thai people live up the mountain and everything they eat and use is grown and produced by themselves. No TV or Electricity up here guys, just candles and slingshots!! The community consisted of 17 people mixture of adults and children, as well as that there were pigs, cows, chickens, dogs and cats most of the animals were being farmend for slaughter. Once we had dinner that evening we were given a "sing song" by the local kids...Fun Fun Fun. When they were finished it was our turn to teach them some songs. You can't beat the classics like "Old McDonald had a farm" and "Twinkle Twinkle", the kids loved it. Marc of course after having a few beers was more interested in teaching them "Roll with it" by Oasis. Have to say we were both very touched by the affection given by all the people in the village, a big eyeopener into how some people really live.

Day 3, so we said farewell to the village people and our big hike back down the mountain began. With the sun beating down we were all sweaty again in no time. thankfully after about 3 hours we reached another waterfall. Greatful to see some water we didn't hesitiate to jump in and cool down, ah bliss.....after about another 1 hour walk we had reached our destination. We were picked up by a truk and taken down to a village for some lunch before our encounter with the Hephalumps. Yeeee ha!

The fun begins....We had to walk over a real "shakey Bridge" to get to the Elephant camp. I was very very excited. Seeing the Elephants was so soreal. I kept pinching myself, a real Elephant and we were about to ride them for over an hour, woo hoo. Unfortunately my other half was not as excited or enthusiastic as moi, because he was indees s*** SCARED. I mean how could you be so scared of such a beautiful creature that is 10ft high and 5 tons??? I don't get it. Our Elephant was called Sung-Chai and he was 20 years old, the ride was bumpy to say the least, and once again we had a CRAZY guy leading our elephant. We ventured into the jungle up lots of hills and thorough a mega amount of mud until we reached the river, the water was initially about 2-3 feet deep but as we got further in before we knew it it was more that half way up the Elephant, I was killing myself laughing while marc was hanging on tight. Once we returned it was time to give Sung-Chai some bananas as a treat....Check out the pics. We wondered around the camp for a bit and to be honest I didn't want to leave. I gave Sung-Chai a kiss and off we went back to Chiang Mai. That evening we met with our fellow trekkers and hit the town, BIG TIME! Party Party Party, had a superb evening in a pub called "The What". Lots of Singing Dancing and Backpackers soaking up the atmosphere and getting tiddly.

SATURDAY - After a well deserved long lie in a comfy bed with a Matress we went into town and bought Markie a Guitar. He has been missing his guitar since we left home. This is no ordinary Guitar however as its WHITE, lovely though! That afternoon we went on a Thai Cooking Course, once again we recieved VIP treatment as we were the only ones doing the afternoon course. We made amazing food, Spring Rolls, Thai Stirfrys and Thai Curries. Yum Yum Yum, the food tasted exceptionally good and was made by our own fair hands. That evening we met with our trekking buddy's for a final drink and a sad farewell. (Again we had a ball, lovely bunch of people)

Yesterday we left Chiang Mai and got a flight down to Koh Samui.... We will keep you posted. Bye for now Jamie and Marc xxxx

PS Happy Birthday on Wednesday Tracy, Mwah xxx