So a short bus ride from Chiang Mai is Chiang Rai (don't get them confused now!). And as buses go this was one of the nicer ones, they even came around and served us with a drink and a snack. I won't comment on how they tasted but it's the thought that counts - right?!?!?!

Went for lunch in a famous restaurant in Thailand called 'Cabages and Condoms' and yes it does give them out for free! It's part of a charity type inititave to educate people about the dangers of AIDS and HIV etc, the posters on the walls make for some pretty entertaining reading while you're waiting for your food...

But the main purpose of our visit to Chiang Rai was to begin our three day hiltribe trek in the very north of Thailand. We watched a video about some of the hilltribes we would be visiting to understand a bit more about them and how they all differ. We were also given a few home truths about what to expect on the trek, from cold showers and squat toilets to leeches - arggggh! And by now most of us were starting to wander what we'd let ourselves in for. But no time to dwell on these things as we travelled to a small village just outisde Chiang Rai to begin our hilltribe journey with an overnight homestay with a local family. We had a few hours to explore the small village and then we were treated to a fantastic dinner by the family and local children came and performed music and dancing for us. Afterwards we thought it was only right to introduce the children to some of our fun so we played all sorts of kid's games, with ideas coming from Switzerland, America and the UK. Our beds that night were again all in one room, very cosy, but a lot more luxurious than the homestay I did in Cambodia - no sleeping above the cows here!

Our terk began the next day with an early morning tractor ride (another form of transport I've now been on!) to pick up our porters on the way to the foot of the hills. Most of us took the advice of having a porter on day 1 as the trekking is entirely uphill, and I was thankful that I dd. It wasn't so much of a walk as a climb, with ropes and things to hang onto. But I happened to have the smallest porter of them all carrying my bag, he didn't look more than about 14 and I felt so guilty, but the money you give them all helps supplement their income so it's a good source of earnings for them - still didn't make me feel any easier though! Everyone was very glad when we finally reached our lunch stop though and we all eagerly rummaged around in our bags to find out what yummy delights were wrapped in the banana leaf we had been given from the homestay before we left...and it was pretty good too, we got pad thai (a thai egg and noodle dish).

Our village for the first night was a Lisu village and after 14km we'd have been glad of anything that looked like civilisation. Well maybe not quite civilisation but our accomodation was a wonderful bamboo hut situated right at the top of the village looking out over beautifiul countryside. There wasn't much to do there when we arrived, other than have a freezing cold shower if you dare, but just sitting and taking in the view was enough for me. After dinner some of the village children came to see us and again peformed some of their tribe's dancing, but it was an early night for everyone as the temperature dropped and we sought warmth inside our sleeping bags. We were told it was about 10 degrees - that's like English weather!

Day 2 of the trek was also the King's birthday in Thailand. This is big cause for celebration as everyone adores the king, but for us it was just another day in the hills. I got up at 6am to watch the sunrise over our stunning view and it was definitely worth it. To be fair we had gone to bed about 8.30pm so it wasn't really all that early! And on day 2 I decided to carry my own bag, so I was quite pleased we were only doing 7km that day, although most of it still seemed uphill to me! This time lunch was fried rice in a banana leaf but still tasted fantastic and even better when you can just sit on top of a hill in the middle of nowhere and enjoy...

When we arrived in the next village, this time everything was much more basic. We had a bamboo hut but it was in the middle of the village square and surrounded by all kinds of creatures, chickens, pigs, dogs, cockerals etc etc, which made for an interesting night's sleep (or maybe that should be lack of sleep!). Our showers were again cold, if you could call them showers. It was more of a bucket of freezing water in the corner of a hut that you just threw over yourself - nothing like self inflicted coldness! But once that ordeal was over we were taken to see inside a traditional Akha house where there is just one room - men sleep on one side and women on the other and there's a small hole in the bamboo roof for the smoke to go through from the stove.

The highlight of this village was when the local butcher turned up at the village square with his catch of the day...as it was the King's birthday he'd killed a pig and brought all the meat on the back of a motorbike for the villagers to assess and buy. Apparently it is a real rarity for them to eat meat because it is so expensive for them, but they even put on a bbq for us later in the evening, although we were a bit dubious about how well cooked the meat was as they were checking it by torchlight to see!

So the last day of our trek arrived and thankfully it was all downhill. This was the best day, not because it was the last but because we actually had time to enjoy this day and look around at the scenery. We passed through a couple of villages, an orange grove and saw the different crops grown out on the hillside. When we finally reached civilisation again and saw our van waiting for us, they trek leader told us that we were one of the fastest groups to complete the trek, shows how much we were craving some clean clothes and a comfortable bed!

That night we went to the night market in Chiang Rai for dinner. Again great local food, nice and spicy, although beware of asking for the papaya salad spicy...not one of my better decisoins! The market was smaller than Chiang Mai and sold more local crafts rather than just the touristy souveniers, but it was a fairly early night for most of us to recover from the last three day's exertions...