I'm back from the jungle!

Today was a really nice day, I had about 10 or 12 hours sleep but it wasn't that good because my mattress was pretty much non existent and I was basically sleeping on bamboo. We got up at about 10am and had some eggs and toast for breakfast before setting off on our final day of trekking.

We didn't trek for long before reaching the biggest waterfall yet, there were lots of people there from other treks too. Rocky told us we weren't allowed to jump into the water because the current is too strong at the bottom of the waterfall. Us three just sat on a rock and watched people swimming around and trying to swim against the current. After about half an hour we carried on trekking but not for long, as we soon reached the last hilltribe village. I bought a new anklet because the one I bought in Spain last year broke, and Vix bought a really nice necklace (both of our purchases had elephants on).

After a bit our truck came to get us and took us to where we had lunch on the first day, it was yummy pad Thai and pineapple. I laid on a hammock and relaxed for a bit until Rocky told us to get ready for rafting, so we changed into our swim stuff and put our bags in a truck.

The rafting was brilliant! We sat on really long and narrow rafts made of bamboo, and had a man at the front punting, like a Venice gondola. He kept splashing us and shouting 'CROCODILE!!' which was scary at first but we soon worked out what he was up to. At one point a spider crawled across Vicky's back and I was considering jumping onto the bank and running a long way, but I managed to control myself. We saw two watersnakes as well! There were a few little waterfalls which was fun, but on one we hit a rock and Vix fell in! After a bit Vix had a go at punting, she was really good but one of the boys from another raft got in the way and she fell in front of the raft, I thought we were going to run her over but our man had super fast reactions and grabbed her out of the way. Another time Vicky fell in and took our guide in with her which was hilarious, he didn't seem to mind though. At one point the rapids were too fast so we got out and walked on the rocks next to the river whilst the guides navigated the waterfall - they have such amazing balance!

By the end we were soaked but it was so fun, the Canadians had a waterproof camera so when they put the rafting pics up I'll put them on here.

The truck met us at the end and took us back to Chiang Mai, which took about an hour at a half. The trek was so good, like nothing I've ever done before! I felt so filthy at the end though so I was so grateful to squeeze in a shower before Parn and her husband Ken came to pick us up. We tried to do some washing but I just can't get the dirt out, for £1 we can get 1kg of stuff washed and ironed so we are going to do that tomorrow instead!

This evening Parn and Ken took us to this amazing place where you sit outside on cushions and eat tasty Thai food, including deep fried banana which I love, and you watch lots of traditional Thai dancing. The costumes were incredible and the music was cool too, reminded me of the good old days of Ethnomusicology lectures. At the end we got to go up and dance with them, I have some good pictures of our attempts at Thai dancing! Quite a few Asian people, Japanese I think, stopped us on our way out and while we were dancing and asked to take our picture - apparently they are really intrigued by Westerners.

Just before we left we let off a big Chinese lantern into the sky, it was so pretty seeing them all float off into the

distance. Parn and her husband are so lovely and they are really easy to talk to, luckily they have good English!

After the dinner show they drove us to meet the other trekkers and Rocky and Tommy in a Reggae bar in town, it was really fun and we met some other travellers who are doing pretty much the same thing as us. It was weird seeing Thai people playing Reggae and dressed like Shaggy from

Scooby Doo. After a while they started playing Ska and then some Santana and stuff so I taught Vix and Vicky how to cha cha cha!

Afterwards, Tommy drove Vicky and I back to the hotel on his scooter, and then went back for Vix. In retrospect, three people on a scooter without helmets is pretty dangerous, but you get so used to seeing whole families on scooters here that it didn't seem weird. It was really, really fun whizzing along on the back though! (We promise we won't do it again mums, but Tommy knew the way and we didn't!)

It is nearly 3am now and Parn is picking us up at 8am to take us to an elephant show and an orchid farm so we should probably get some sleep!

Night night!

xxx