Sawadee

Well what a day we have had today it has been a real adventure and full of action. We had the day mapped out and first was our elephant trek, this was so much fun.The elephants used to be used for logging but are now part of a conservation project where they still work as it is what they know. Our elephant was a lady and as soon as we were on board she sprayed Mel with what can only be described as muddy snot, she was covered from head to toe. As we went round we fed her bananas (the elephant not Mel!!!) but she got to the stage where she would not move till we gave her a banana. It cost us a fortune to get through the 1 hour ride I bet we fed her 150 bananas easily plus sugar cane on top.

I made the fatal mistake of getting off the elephant with some bananas leftover and straight away I was surrounded by 2 babies and a Mum wanting them. Elephants are a lot hairier than I thought but are so much fun to be around, we even bought a recycled elephant dung photo frame!!!

After a leisurely time we then had to embark on our jungle trek to the Hmong tribe where we got to shoot crossbows and practice our hunting skills, it is also around this area that they have recently finished filming Rambo IV in the jungle!!!!

Then after a little more trekking we arrived at the Karen tribe to look at how they live and saw their weaving techniques and even picked up a few nik naks!!!!

By this time lunch was a welcome sight and we devoured our vegetables and rice like our greedy elephant earlier. Then it was onto the river for some bamboo rafting, it was surprisingly good fun and you got to go quite fast along the river , the whole raft trip was 3km and you could see the wildlife and the elephants drinking at the side of the river and also steer the raft through the rapids. We really could have done with a rest after such an energetic day but when we got back to Chiang Mai it was a quick shower then out for the Loi Krathong Lunar festival.

This is the last full moon in November and the whole of the city gets into it. The streets are decorated and there is a big procession through the streets. We paid to release a balloon into the sky (when I say balloon its like a giant paper lampshade from Ikea) It is supposed to take all your bad luck away with it and was amazing to do (see video.)

There was also fireworks and tomorrow we are hoping to spend some time on the river then release a banana leaf boat there as it is the main festival day and the town will be buzzing.

Stay Tuned

Lots of Love

M & M