Don't want to leave!

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Ok so the next day we all got up early to go down to the rive Meh Khong to go on a raft. Now when I say raft I don’t mean a tiny little thing made of bamboo strung together (actually I went on one of those today but I will get to that) This raft is huge with two tied together. One has an eating area and DJ booth while the other had a big space for sleeping and also a kitchen and ‘bathroom’ (since it was actually just a squat toilet that leads into the river and a hose like shower thingo) We took the raft down the river which was pulled by a small motor boat to a temple called Kho Poon. It is special because the temple was built inside a cave up on the mountain and you get to it by walking up hundreds of steps that go inside a huge dragons body. It was really gorgeous and we walked up even more steps and a dirt track to get to another small lookout/Buddha shrine which had an awesome view.
We then got back onto the raft which we had to stay for the night. Unfortunately I had a small experience of what hell would be like for me. Stuck on a raft with a karaoke system and 9 willing members of the group who got completely pissed and snag all night long. For those of you who don’t know I can not stand karaoke and from now on I am not getting onto any boat/raft or thing I cant get off of without checking if there is karaoke on board first!

Anyway so finally we got off the raft in the morning much to mine and Megs relief to get on a two busses for a 4 hour ride to Ayuthaya, a former capital of Thailand. There we visited three different temples. Two were in ruins due to wars with the Burmese who burnt everything, stole all the gold and many of the Buddha heads which they believed had more gold in them. They are also stolen because the head is considered a valuable collectors item. The last temple we went to was similar to the others we have seen but unfortunately the large Buddha image inside was being redecorated (as most of them are every couple of years) so it was hard to see. But inside they were having a ceremony where long yellow sheets are thrown up to and wrapped around the Buddha image then thrown back down to be held over the head for 10 seconds for good luck. Our tour guide was so cute and encouraged to partake in everything that was going on in and around the temple including banging bells and feeding fish. He even showed us card magic tricks which was quite random and surprisingly impressive.

After that we went on a 14 hour overnight train ride which sounds pretty bad but it actually wasn’t. According to some of the more experienced travelers in our group the condition of this train was pretty good so I guess we were lucky to be so comfortable.

That train brought us to our current location, Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand.
After checking our bags into the hotel we were straight off to ride some elephants YAY!!! Sooo much fun, I recommend it to anyone. It was two to an elephant sitting on the back in a seat while the driver was on the head as we walked through the jungle. I went on with Jo and our elephants name was Buddha. And we got to feed them while we were riding them and if you fed the one behind you it would poke you with its trunk because it always wanted some more bananas or sugar cane. They were soooo cute. Then the driver let me ride on the head which was even more fun, dangerous, but soooo awesome. When they got hot, they would squirt water all over themselves and as a consequence all over us too. It was one of the best things we have done since we got here!

After that a few of us went to do bamboo rafting which I mentioned before. This pretty much involved skinny but very long rafts, the bamboo poles strung together type, which to people sat on while a Thai guy pushed it along at the front using a stick. There was lots of splashing by passing rafts and cheeky Thais but the little stream had some beautiful scenery and small rapids so it was lots of fun.
Tonight we were looking at the night market stalls which there must be thousands of! Got completely lost which was slightly scary but finally we made it back to the hotel to meet everyone for dinner and now we are all updating out emails and websites before we go out to get drunk.

Tomorrow I am off with a few of the girls for a 5 hour jewellery making class YAY!!!

Well that’s pretty much all I have to say now.

Thank you so much for your messages and comments.
I hope work hasn’t been too bad for you Christine and say hi to everyone for me. I have to admit though I don’t miss the work at all. It’s going to be hard coming back! I hope I hear from you again soon. How is your family?

Claire I expect more messages from you. What is happening in Melbourne?????

And Greg I will just mention you even though you totally don’t deserve it, but I guess I am just such a giving and caring person. Lol

Hope everybody is well and happy. Miss you all!!! Sawaat dii kah

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Comments

[christine]

hi again!!!
hi michelle!!! i am so jealous..... work is the same we are scan counting for the last 3 days.....12 hours shifts...yiak...good time to be away... everyone at work is ok......i will pass the message to them today....my family is well too...everyone is relaxing part from me..:(.... take care...... continue to have fun and enjoy your trip... Cant wait to see you back... xxxoooo