26th August 7:15 pm
Chiang Mai

Well we have so much more to tell you... we thought climbing the family trail in Lamma, Hong Kong was bad...this trek nearly killed us both. We were woken on Tuesday morning at 8am by a knock on our door by a small Thai man asking for our passports for the Trek. I wasnt sure so i sent neil off with him bare foot to make sure the passports were safe and he got to head into town to photocopy them on the back of a moped with this little guy who we later found out is known as 'Brad Pitt' (our tour guide for the next 2 days) We were then picked up again at 9am and drove to the mountains along with a French couple, Xavier and Natalie and two 20 yr old uni girls Lexi and Gilly. We stopped off at an Orchid and Butterfly farm on route which was different and then heading to the market to pick up supplies for supper. After a little drive we stopped for lunch in a small village, drove a little more and found 6 elephants awaiting us and a lady selling bananas to feed them with. We climbed a platform and stepped aboard a small seat on his back for Me and Neil. He kept putting his trunk up for bananas and stopping until we gave him one!! Cheeky! (Laura i said a personal hello from you) We got off the Ellies after about a 45 min walk and was pushed by another thai man into a cage(which looked really unstable) and we were zipwired across the river.

This is where the pain began and the fun stopped. We walked UP the mountains through jungle conditions in the heat for the next 3 hours...im not joking...pure pain! Most of this was 70 degree angles and my legs at one point wouldnt lift themselves up anymore. A little break in the middle of this was a small waterfall where we stripped off into swimwear and jumped in..amazing! Just to clarify how painful the walk was to the village here are just a few quotes we said that made us chuckle after ...

'oh my god i am going to vomit' Neil
'F**k the Inca Trail.' Lynsey
Seriously Neil dont patronise me, my legs wont move.' Lynsey
Achievement? Id rather be in a hotel..or at home.' Lynsey
I cant help crying. Leave me alone' Lynsey
My body feels like i have been swimming im sweating that much' Neil

These are just a few...as you can see we are delights..especially me!!! ha ha! Once at the top (at last) we were in a hilltop village with a local family from the tribe. We sat with them and investigated the toilet and shower facilitys...MINIMALISTIC is an understatement. We chilled for a while and as it got dark i decided to have a shower. Neil had to come to hold the torch while i held a hosepipe with only cold water over me. Funny if you think about it now! Then the toilet was the same. Neil and his torch and me squatting..pleasant! Despite all of this our guide (Brad Pitt) made a beautiful Thai feast with various dishes which we ate over candle light under the stars. We drank a few beers whilst entertaining our selves with games/tricks and a bit of live music from a local. All in all the pain was worth it! : )

Bed at 12pm under a mosquito net on the floor of the bamboo hut. Didnt sleep too well but it was ok. Woken by about 5 different cockerels who were underneath our hut at 6:30am (as we were up on stilts) and had breakfast with our fellow campers and a few local children who took pleasure at coming to sit by us. The youngest being about 11 months old...very cute!

More walking but this time down hill through the jungle which was much easier although still very hot, slippy and potentially very dangerous. Stopped at another waterfall on route, much bigger than yesterdays but as amazing! had a dip, changed and then continued walking to the White water rapids. This was good and our last adventure in the mountains. We ate noodles for lunch an drove back very tired to our guesthouse.

After ringing mom (HAPPY BIRTHDAY again) we are heading to the town to meet our new French friends for a few drinks and some dinner.

Love to all, catch up again soon xxx

PS Si and Bex have a great hol-enjoy it! Rob and sam- cant believe you felt Laurels heartbeat thats ace!