Again, I had a horrible sleep and was unable to fall asleep. Think I again only got two or three hours in. I woke up early again and went to wash off and get ready, then our guide woke so up at 7 am. For breakfast we had hard boiled eggs, toast, fruit, and tea. Then it was time for us to get our stuff ready and head down to the river.

We loaded our stuff into the bamboo raft and the bags were held up by a couple of sticks. The raft itself was fairly long but not that wide. A couple of people started to get onto the raft and the front end of the raft started to drop into the river and the guide told them to walk towards the end of the raft. At that point a lot of us were worried that the raft was going to sink or be unable to support all of us plus our bags. I was worried that all of our bags would end up in the river and my camera would get damaged. So I was not pleased by the raft when we first started. However, after about 20 minutes, I finally realized that the raft was safe and that there would be no way for the bags to get knocked down into the water. The bamboo raft was nice; however, it was hot and because of the lack of sleep I was exhausted. In the beginning we had to stand up, but after about 30 minutes I decided I had enough and sat down. The scenary was nice along the river but the raft ride seemed a bit long. We ended up playing the word assoication game to pass some time. There were a couple of spots along the river where there were rapids and those parts were fun and we ended up getting stuck and hitting some rocks occassionally during the ride.

We stopped off at the Shan Village, where we had the opportunity to shower and had lunch; which was rice. Again, two elderly ladies came by with baskets of jewelry and other items. This time, I decided not to get anything because it was the same things as last time and I felt no obligation to purchase anything from them.

After lunch we hopped back into a songthaew and headed to our hotel in Chiang Mai.

Overall, the hilltribe trek was a lot of fun. It did require a lot of effort and you to be in fairly good shape in order to trek through the jungle. But it was neat that we walked a full circle around the northern part of Chiang Mai.

Once we got to the hotel, we all showered since we were disguisting after being in the jungle for two nights. Some of the girls went across the street to do some laundry, I decided to go down to the lobby and access wifi. I met up with some of the girls later on and we planned on having dinner before going out. Unfortunately, we only had an hour before we had to meet our guide so we decided to stay at the hotel and eat dinner at their restaurant. I ordered pork with lime and garlic and both I and Megan asked the waitress if our dishes came with rice, which she replied "yes." However, when both of us received our main dishes, I asked again if the rice was coming, and if we could get rice and she again said "yes." We eventually gave up, and decided to eat our main dished without rice. I was unimpressed with my dish as the pork was basically pure fat, but the other girls liked theirs. Alex ordered coconut icecream and that never came.

I do not understand the service in Southeast Asia, it has been pretty poor everywhere I have been. I also do not understand why they seem to understand what we are saying, or at least agree to what we are saying and then never get it right. Even in Vietnam and Lao, we would order food and the incorrect dish would come out and food would come out all at different times. Other times the waiter would just slide dishes onto your table without even saying what the dish was or reconfirming that that dish was for your table. It is just something I do not get; especially, when these countries are poor, you think they would ensure they get everything right so they do not have to waste food.

After dinner, we headed out to the markets. I ended up picking up some more little elephant figurines and two teas: jasmine green tea and apple tea. I was looking at getting some red wood sculptures, one of which was of a buddha's head and another of an man. But I didn't think I would be tempted to buy anything so I didn't bring much money with me. I got one of the shop owners to drop the price to 200 THB, but still didn't have enough. So I am hoping that I will be able to see and pick them up in Bangkok. While walking through the markets, I looked at some tanks tops and asked the price, but the shop owners wanted too much money. So I told them no and that I would be able to buy them for 100 THB in Bangkok. After having a similar conversation with another shop owner, one of the girls on the trip commented on how good I am on bartering; however, another commented on how I did not say sorry at all. But then I thought about it, and I thought I said thank you, but maybe not and maybe it was true. But think I am now used to how things go and after a month having to deal with the same things with the shop owners and having people try and guilt you into purchasing things, I have grown to be cold.

After we finished shopping, we went to watch the ladyboy show. It had the same performers as last time I went, but most of the shows were different. With them performing to different songs, in different costumes. It was good!

We then went back to the hotel and eventually decided to run over to 7/11 to get something to eat, since we were all hungry. Once we returned, some of the girls sat in my room, as Jade needed to use my laptop. Jade was in a hyper mood and she decided to "prank call" megan since she was in her room. And she showed us some videos until 12 am, when both her and Charlie decided it was time to leave. Alex and I later received a "prank call" from Jade around 1 am, which woke us both up from our sleep.

That was our last night together, tomorrow we part ways and I head to Bangkok and start my next tour on the 7th.