Train Journey

We got to the train station a little bit early. Bangkok is rather different to the ones back home. We had 3 and half hours to kill so sat on the floor and played cards. There was a short burst of entertainment when exactly 6pm everyone stood up. We were both so confused!! But we soon cottoned on that the Thai National anthem was being played. STRANGE! Shortly after we made our way to platform 3 and an amazing train pulled up - we began to get really excited when we were told that ours was the next one! And that was the Eastern and Oriental Express from Bangkok - Singapore - Kula Lumpur!! So instead of this plush train we had a "slightly" lower standard one, an hour delayed and when walking from carriage to carriage you could see that tracks! The experience so far has been amazing, there are little cabins of 4 beds like bunk beds, with no door and one corridor that runs the length of the carriage. Our beds where right by the loo so got some interesting waffs!! Mel had her first experience on a squat toilet - it was interesting….have to have good aim! At one point this man came and told us to get out and move our stuff - turns out he was making our beds! Excellent service wouldn't get that in England!! We both slept really well but some of the noises were scary. A bit like an airplane in turbulence at some points. Finally made it to Chiang Mai although the only indication we had was a man walking down the corridor shouting "Chaing Mai…3 minutes".

We were escorted to our hotel, checked in and went swimming. We had a meeting with our trek group in evening, our guides name was "Jungle Man" we all told our names and he took the mick of Mels going "Male Male Female Male" followed by " HAHAHA Jungle Man joke!" we walked through the night bizarre and slept like logs!

The Trek

Day 1 - we met at 9am and went off in a truck to a local market where we could buy anything we needed but didn't have. Then it was an hours drive into the jungle! We started walking - bit of a climb to start with but then it was a pretty sound walk. We stopped by the river for lunch where we had fried rice that was wrapped in a banana leaf (it was so yummy!!). We then carried on walking to a waterfall where we had a 2 hour break and could go swimming and chill out. One of the ladies on our trip started giving the villager a massage and her boyfriend went to find us bamboo sticks for us to walk with. From there it was an hour walk to the village. Jungle man said it was all up hill and this wasn't one of his "jungle jokes"! We walked up and up and up. We stayed in a Karan village on the top of a mountain. Their ouese are all wood and lifted off the ground. The roofs are made of dried leaves which they replace approximately every 3 years. They had livestock like pigs and chicken. The views were stunning! So picturesque as there were just mountains surrounding us! We had dinner and then started to play a dice game that people we were trekking with taught us. The village kids joined in and it was really good fun. Only lit by torches and candles though as they had no electricity. But they had two solar panels which they used for their television. We learnt some Karan words such as hello "ohmatchubu", thanks "Tabluu" and 1 "tuurr" 2 "kee" and 4 "luii" (as the dice game was 1,2,4). Phrase of the day was "oh my Buddha!" - frequently used by jungle man.

Day 2 - The little kids were up playing the dice game again. We had breakfast and left the village. The first part of todays walk was uphill again - bit of a killer! But after that it was nice. Jungle man got us a bit lost though and we ended up trekking through rice fields. But we made it to the rice fields and had lunch, after a 2hr stop we took a MASSIVE climb up. We only just conquered that!! After that it wasn't too challenging and we made it to camp just before 4pm. After tea we had a camp fire which was lush. We just sat around chatting and watching the stars!

Day 3 - We woke up and had breakfast and left the camp about 11am. We had an hours walk through jungle and rice fields which both of us nearly fell into as the path was tiny and all muddy. We were picked up by a truck and taken to the bamboo rafting. It was good fun although our "driver" didn't seem to realize how long the raft was and bashed it a few times. We saw a snake climbing out the water onto a rock which was disgusting! Once off the raft we had some lunch and headed to the elephants J. It was so much fun! There were 3 big ones and a baby one which was playing games with the other elephants. It would speed up to the front and then just stand in the middle of the path not moving! The elephants took us through a bit of the jungle and up the river a little bit. When we went down a hill Mel was trying to take a photo and nearly fell out the seat! We also got to feed them! Overall it was a great experience! The truck picked us up and took us back to the hotel. We were shattered but had so much fun!!!

After chilling out in the pool we met up with Minnie and had a few drinks then we for a walk around the night bizarre. Needless to say, we slept like logs that night! Nevertheless, we had an early start and got to Chiang Mai bus station at 10am to take the bus to ThaTon which took 4hrs. We were sat next too all the monks at the back and for some of it they didn't close the doors. But we made it safe and sound to The Massinghams (Maekok River Resort) and it is lush! We have had really good food and going for a swim in a minute! Tomorrow we are getting taken to the school to start our teaching experience!