Hi Everyone,

Following on from the last entry, you will recall that I was on a 2 day trek in Northern Thailand and had finished the first days walking, we had had a lovley evening, if a bit boozey, but today we started with a lazy breakfast and then wandered down to meet the village Elephants watching them moving logs from the river before taking us 2 at a time for an hours walk around a clearing in the valley. These magnificently graceful animals lumbered along seemingly quite content, I hope so at any rate. There are a lot more people now who will not ride the Elephants by way of a private protest against their treatment. I didn't see them being mistreated but I know it must go on.

The day had started out misty and magical but once the sun broke through it became hot and brilliantly bright, with not a cloud in the sky it made for a highlight of this two days as we were taken up steep banks, along river beds all in the middle of no-where with not a sound to disturb the peace and quiet. The Elephants have amazing agility for such huge animals and ploughed on regardless of terrain carefully placing one foot after the other occasionally helped by the urging of the Manhout sat astride the top of their head. We eventually returned to the mounting stage where it was the Elephants turn for a treat, huge hands of bananas were ready for us to buy at 20Bht about 50p a bunch and feed them to the earger beasts. At one point I had three urging trunks attached to the front of my shirt, it is hard to say ' no more' when an Elephants doesn't want to let go! They are probably used to this and like most animals know that Westerners are a soft touch, so I bought another bunch of bananas and kept feeding them until they let go!

It was time for us to leave so we set off in the direction from which we had come on the Elephants and walked further down the valley past farms and small communities, rice paddies, fields of peanuts (didn't know they grew like that!) and various other crops, the land is very well tended and very fertile, we even saw the good old fashioned Spud being grown. We eventually arrived at a luncheon stop and met up with another group who had been doing a similar thing but who came from a different direction. Having eaten we were picked up in an open back van and taken to a rafting drop off area. We changed and were then driven again but this time up river to the start of the rafting. The water is not all that 'big' and only a 2 / 3 rapid, so it was not all that exciting, unlike Yellowstone all those months ago, but it was still good fun and our little craft did quite well. Once through the white water we arrived at the bamboo raft stage, now I know a lot of people will have done this and there is nothing really special about it. However, you are only supposed to have 4 people to a raft and we had all 8 of us. Consequently the poor old thing was sinking as we made our way, slowly, down stream. It was just so funny to see this thing graduallly sinking with us on it. By the time we arrived back at the original drop off point we were up to our waists in the water and the raft was only just about floating albeit semi-submerged, we were all in fits of laughter and didn't so much get off the raft, it was more getting out of the water. Still we did have a lot of fun and although soaking wet we did have chance to change before setting off back to Chiang Mai. I returned to the guest house and was the first to be dropped off. It had been a fun 2 days and I'm glad I did it, sleeping rough really appeals to me and like in South America, I have had some of the best nights sleep out there. Forget the cockroaches, the six inch spiders, the rats, the mice, the snakes, the soldier ants and everything else that can crawl into your sleeping bag, it is the shear peace and quiet, the tranquility that gets to you. It is completely different and there is a silence which presses down on you forcing you to think of nothing else other than your immediate surroundings. It is just so special.

So I was now back in the bustling little City which is Chaing Mai and I had to decide what I was going to do with my free time before setting off to Laos. You will now know what happened with the demonstrations in and around Bangkok and the effect that has had on this wonderful Country. I was glad to be in the North and far enough away from the Capital so as not to be affected by it at all.

The North is actually quite Pro the Government because there has been a lot of investment in the area, however the day I left demonstrations had started here supporting both sides and I was actually quite happy to leave and was fortunate that I had chosen to travell by boat from the north east of the Country into Loas therefore avaoiding any airports.

27/11

I have moved accommodation today mainly to have a change of scene and to treat myself to a bit of comfort prior to my two day boat trip into Loas, I had to change room because the first was really too noisy but having been given a lovely room at the rear of this place I now have a beautiful room with a TV (first time in ages) and a private bathroom, air con and a great big bed, marvellous! I have some catching up to do with photos, Blog, Journal etc so that is my task over these final days in Thailand on this occasion. As my new room is close to a very good music venue I have found I might just have to slip out for the odd 'jar' or two and listen to some 'lock and loll' and some 'Brues'

28 & 29/11

I have found a wonderful little coffee house which only opened its doors 2 weeks ago, the current promotion is a free piece of banana cake, chocolate brownie or choc chip cookie with your coffee so there is no surprise that I managed to find the place, is there? It's great though and is only 15 minutes from my room and has been the last port of call for me for the past couple of days. It is one of those little havens you find from time to time, tables for 2, lacy tablecloths, nicely cushioned chairs, quiet and quaint but with an air of purpose. The owners are lovely people and are keen to practice their English. I lookout this type of place in order to write my journal but it has to be said that not a lot of writing took place and not much was added during my visits but we spoke at length about my jouney and why I was recording the things I do and see. On my last visit they had a student who was studying architecture at University. Her name is Kim and I have now met a lot of people mainly girls who are studying the same subject. Although she was at a loss to explain why so many girls study architecture, I think it is probably because so many people seem to want to move in to interior design. I just hope the economy stays stable for them otherwise without the tourist industry there will no-where to 'interior design'. Be that as it may, Kim could talk the back end off a bus and so again nothing was added to my journal! I enjoyed myself though and it was good to talk about home to a total stranger, it makes you think about things and people you miss, not that I miss you lot!! Well. A bit, but only maybe! Don't go getting all big headed on me. Seriously. Although I AM having a fabulous time, I think there is no-where quite like home. One of the funniest things which has cropped up several times is that people are facinated with English history. However , locally they just can't quite grasp the concept of a Castle. I explain the best I can but when I tell them that some of my friends got married in one, well that does it, they are thrown even more. It is all great fun trying. So thanks to Liz and Leigh I have had many a happy hour trying to say that my friends are not six hundred years old it is only the building, although Leigh was looking a bit haggered when I left!

On that note, I will await an Email! I will take a break and make the final entry from Thailand on this occasion, later on, I'll just put the sign up - "Out For Lunch". See you soon.

Chris