Borrat the bird man.

The following morning we were off early to visit caves which had been occupied by stone age people from 8,000 years ago until around 3,000 years ago. Our guide for the days visits reminded me of Borrat, one of Sasha Barron Cohen's characters. The caves were a 2km hike, near the top of a mountain, on the way Borrat entertained us with his repetoir of bird calls. He would make a call and a response would come back out of the jungle. He could identify all 500 plus species of local birdlife and his ability to spot them through thick undergrowth was astonishing.

After some seriously steep climbing we eventually reached the caves. Every surface was covered in carvings, some of people, some of animals that they hunted and some of tools that they used. The images were quite difficult to work out at first but under Borrat's expert guidance we were soon able to make them out for ourselves.

In the afternoon we visited a couple of Hill Tribe villages. The Hill Tribes were moved off their ancestral lands in order to make way for agricultures. The government built them breeze block huts near farm land. They are now expected to provide cheap labour for local farmers and their old ways of hunting gathering have been outlawed. Most of the people we saw in the villages were very old. I got the impression that most of the younger people had moved away. However, I was happy to hear that they put up two fingers to the government and still go hunting.

We had a trek through the local fields. Rice fields in various stages of cultivation gave way to banana plantations. (There are 26 types of banana grown locally.) In the distance tethered water buffalo bellowed at us. The countryside was stunning. All in all another great day.

That night it was back to Faulty Towers and G Adventures had the temerity to take us for dinner to the hotel that they use for the comfort tours.