Sunday 2nd November 2008

Today we arrived in Chiang Mai at about 10.45am. Touts were all around trying to charm us into taking up their offer of their guesthouse/hotels. We weren't inetersted in any, until one particular lady, not so persistant, offered us a free ride to her family run guesthouse 'Libra Guesthouse' which had rooms for just 200 Baht.. We decided to take up the offer and what a good decision it was!! The rooms were clean and basic and the bed was like sleeping on wood.. but the family that run the guesthouse were amazing.

The main reason for coming to Chiang Mai was to do a hilltribe trek. We were going to have a look around for the best deals for the trek, but the guy seemed genuine about his tours which looked perfect. The guesthouses tour included a jungle trek, accomodation and food, bamboo rafting, white water rafting and an elephant ride. We saw the photos from past treks and they looked awesome, so after discussing with one of the tour organisers at the guest house we decided to do the tour with them.

To fill up the rest of the day as our trek was to start the following day we decided to visit Doi Suthep, one of Thailands most Sacred Temples. Situated on a huge mountain the Temples' views were amazing! It was a little bit of a shame that the weather wasn't too great, but the suns rays coming through the clouds shone onto Chaing Mai looked fantastic!

That evening we went to the Sunday Market. The market was alot nicer set out than most of the markets that we have been to in Thailand so far, everything much more spaced out, cleaner and better lighting. Here, we saw glass making,a magician, fantastic musicians who were blind and a singing/dance show. The show was really good, girls who were aged about 10-14, with amazing voices and great dancers! One little girl who was clearly the best dancer got abit cocky and fell flat on her face (ouch!), it was funny!

We woke up early the next morning for our 2 day trek. After having a big breakfast we met up with 2 other couples who we were to do our trek with; Dan and Netty, Tony and Kate - 4 Newzealanders. We met up with 'B', our tour guide.. at just 23 years old it was so fascinating to hear and see his way of life in the jungle - and really good that he was so young and we could have good banter with!

After a short journey in the van we really started to get to know eachother, they were a really good laugh - lucky as we were to spend the next 48 hours with them!! After a stop off at a local market where the guides got our food for the trek, and further into our journey we arrived at our first stop, the waterfall! Bearing in mind I hate spiders, our tour guide 'B' spotted a hole in the ground with a turantula in...eeek!! and to make matters worse whilst walking to the waterfall we saw another huge spider in a web!!!!

The waterfall was beautiful, it was huge! We were all quick to jump into the waterfall.. all but Netty who was a little nervous so she decided to sit on the side and take pics of us all!! The lads jumped straight through the middle of the waterfall, apparently it was like being hit by bricks (the lads will never learn!!), and I decided to walk round the side.. which was still a mission!! It was crazy being under the waterfall.. we could feel the power of the waterabove us.. and the spits of water coming off the fall were so intense that it left me slightly blinded!!!

Anyway, shortly afterwards we headed to a natural spring.. I couldnt wait (It has being so long since I have had a hot bath - even hot water! and this was the closest I could get to that for now!!) The spring had several pools meandering off it.. The newzealanders all tried to get in, but couldnt as it was so hot, Chris tried, but could only but his legs in.. and after a little getting used to I got in! Surprisingly it was so so nice.. it was like being in a HOT bath! After about 3 minutes I got out.. and was like a lobster!!haha.. Chris and I decided to venture off into the manmade hot spring, which was a little more bearable! I even swam a length.. but then gave up. We headed out to join the others for dinner, fried rice, banana and a chocolate bar!

After such a relaxing morningit was time for the hard part, a 9Km walk over 3 huge hills though the jungle. On the way B got his machetti out and made us all hats out of huge canopy leaves, peterpan style, and walking sticks from bamboo. We looked hilarious! By the end of our first trek, we arrived at B's home, part of the Karon tribe. The tribal villiage consisted of quite a big patch of land set on a hill, with bamboo huts set on a platform used for differnt things i.e. bedroom, kitchen. Within the villiage surroundings were coffee and tea plantations, chickens and a huge pig!! The people seemed so relaxed, not a care in the world, and all worked together - it was great!

On the next part of the trek we passed B's dad just coming back from the Paddie fields with his dog.. apparently the dog can sense danger (Cobras, other dangerous animals - eek!!)We asked B and he has only ever seen 2 cobras on his treks - phew! At the top of the hills the views were really beautiful. We stopped at one point to take some pics and B gave us some sugar cane to try.. Chris and I didnt particularly enjoy it!

We walked right into the night where the sky became pitch black.. and we were happy to have finally arrived at our destination! The camp was basic, with a big eating area, shower cubicals and toilets outside, all made of bamboo! The bedroom was a huge hut on stilts, with matresses and mosquito nets to seperate us all! After a refreshing shower we all headed down for our meal. Expecting rice and meat we were extatic to find our meal was a HUGE buffet type spread.. possibly the best meal in Thailand so far!!! We hat Chicken and Potato curry, chicken stir fry with mixed veg, chicken noodle soup, rice bread and butter.. MMM!!

Whilst we sat around the table, B went off and lit us a traditional campfire for us all to chill and have a beer round after our meal. It was nice as it gave us time to really get to know eachother.. B gave us some local 'moonshine' to drink.. smelling of strong tequila - it was pretty gross, and very strong!! Later on as couples drifted off to bed, Chris and I stayed round the fire. It was really nice and peaceful.. Chris and I watched the stars and the fire was just dying out.. it was romantic!

We got woken up the next morning to a cockerill "cockadoodledooing!" - how annoying! after breakfast we headed down to watch the elephants being washed and prepared for our elephant ride. When ready, we all set off down the river. On the way we treat Laos (our elephant) with the bananas we had bought for her. The journey was really fun, until we bumped into 6 wild buffelos! One buffelo ran towards the elephants in a bid to scare them.. so the elephants were all getting eratic and making sounds with their trunk.. my heart was beating so fast as I was scared of being tipped off - but it was all ok in the end!

After the elephant ride we went bamboo rafting.. something none of us had ever done so it was pretty exciting!The rafts were large lengths of bambo all strapped together with poles in the middle to protect our bags. It was a real good laugh, whenever there was a big rapid we all had to sit on the floor.. so - we all got soaked!!!At parts B thought it would be funny to get a pole and pretend he was hitting an aneconda in the water to scare us.. but it would tilt the raft so we would fall in!! haha.

After 1.5 hours bamboo rafting we got prepared for the big white water rapids!! It was so so good.. Chris at the front of the boat, whild I was at the back. My position ended up to be a lethal one.. I kept flying up in the air when the rapids were big.. at one point I even pushed our instructor in!!!!haha.We played a few games when the quieter points came. One of which called 'donuts'.. where we span the dingy round so much that it tipped it.. was great fun!!

The trek was so fun, we had an amazing time and couldnt have picked a better group of people to go with.. our tour guide B was amazing, he made it extra special for us!

As Chris and I really love the Thai food.. we arranged to do a cooking course. We decided to go with 'The Best Thai Cooking Course', run by an amazing chef at his home. After picking up the rest of the cooking group we went to a local market to pick up the ingrediants for our dishes. Here, we got told a lot of interesting facts about different herbs, eggs and rice.. we got to smell them and feel them. The market literally had everything, and after the session we were free to roam around.

On arrival to the cooking destination we were really pleased to find the class quite small.. all hobs in a circle, with pans and cooking equipment laid out for us. The chefs stove was in the middle. Firstly he tought us how to make the basics: sticky rice, jasmine rice, spring rolls and dipping source. We quickly moved onto the serious stuff: I made Tomyam soup and thai red curry, whilst Chris made green curry. I made dunker noodles, whilst Chris made Pad Thai. I made chicken cashew nuts and Chris made a sweet and sour stir fry. Our last dish was really fun to make. The chef made us heat the woks, add extra oil, and the start of the dishes went up in flames. Only my flame wouldn't die out.. so Chris took over until it did.. it was hilarious!!

After cooking all our dishes we took them outside to sit together and eat. It was delicious!! The chef was a fun teacher.. he would taste the dish and say "unbelieveable.." without laughing - so funny!!

Chiang Mai has been a great experience.. Pai our next stop!