Bangkok and Chiang Mai

Our three days of hell ....

After Phi Phi islands i went to Railay beach off Krabi for a night, really nice quiet resort, however weather was so hideous we decided to catch a boat up to Ko Tao in North. Definetly a good choice, weather was hot again and we found a great friendly hostelts completely secluded from rest of island. We got to snorkel loads, eat great thai food and practice our fire dance routines ...i'm a pro now.... To get to our hostel was a fair hike ... we had to catch a 4x4 overland on the bumpiest, worst road i've ever seen! Free adrenalin sport!

Left Ko Tao to meet up with Sarah and Helen in Bangkok - and somehow they mangaged to greet me off the bus! coincidence or what! they did'nt have a clue where i was getting into or by what company, only that my bus arrived in Bangkok at 8.30pm!

Spent three super days in Bangkok - what a great city! hustle and bustle was manic! got woken up by cockadoodledoo's - exactly as i imagined it to be! We visited the Great Palace, Emerald Buddha, Leaning, Standing and Sitting Budha - all pretty impressive!

There also happened to be a massive rally going on- a fight for democracy or something. The protest was huge, and we got sucked into it somehow!!! Everyone in Bangkok -actually the whole of Thailand adore their King and they all wear yellow tshirts - also every monday (the day he was born) they praise his name and stuff! bizaree!

Left Bangkok for Chiang Mai and booked ourselfs on the three day trek ... hmmm....it all started fine ... we treked for a good hour to this waterfall whch was brilliant then had some lunch before trekking another two hours to the Karen Tribe - our guest house for the evening...as soon as we got there Sez decided she really wasn't feeling very well and soon ran for the toilet! the toilet was in a hut - hole in the floor ... covered with muck ... lovely! That was the end of Sez .... me and Hels felt fine, ate supper, had a laugh with the locals then got to bed... about an hour into sleep (we were sleeping on the wooden floor in a hut, probally surrounded by bed bugs!) i decided i needed to be sick ... (the experience i'll never forget!) then the inevitable ... Hels also felt ill! That night was pretty hideous!!!

Next day we had to trek for over four hours in the torrential rain, it was unbelivable! we had to walk waist high through a river and most of the time we were all sliding down on our asses because it was just so slippy! We had to walk past rice paddie fields and we got to see pretty cool landcapes, but considering our stomachs wern't that good... it wasn't that much fun!!!

By the time we got to first base, i practically collapsed and jumped to bed (well a skinny matress on a wooden plank) ! Managed to catch an hour's sleep before we went elephant treking. This was really cool (despite our guide being drunk and stinking of whiskey!!!) and i got to sit on the elephant's neck! The river was so high though we wern't able to trek for long as it was just too deep for elephants, gutted.

We arrived at the second night's accomodation, with the Lahu Tribe, but by this stage the rest of the gang (8 of us in total) were feeling pretty ill, so we all went to bed early!

Next day thankfully, we all felt a little better and were all quite relieved that we didnt have to do any walking!!! we got to bamboo raft - great fun! It's meant to be a nice gentle ride down the river which takes approx two and a half hours, but because river was high, it only took us 45 mins to get to the next stage!!! It was mental!!! Then from there we went White Water Rafting on level 4 - but unfortunately only managed to raft for 30 mins because rapids were too strong (level 7!!!!)

Arriving back in Chiang Mai was heaven!!! I've never appreciated a hot shower so much before! (whilst staying with the tribes we had to hose ourselfs down with a little pipe!!!)

Thankfully we're all slowly getting better!!! We're just having a rest now in Chiang Mai before we fly to Laos tomorrow. Been wondering aorund the city, and we went to chat to the buddha monks at one of the Wat's which was extremely interesting!

xxx

xxx HAPPY BRITHDAY SALTY AND BECS xxx