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Published: December 19th 2007
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So after a not so pleasant 14 hour bus journey we arrived in Chaing Mai. We hadn't really done that much research on Chaing Mai so when we arrived we were very quickly sold into doing a 3 day hill tribe trek for the following day. Our 1st day in Chaing Mai we decided we would take it pretty easy and have a wonder around. It also so happened that it was the king of Thailand's 80th birthday so we decided to pop along to his birthday party, unfortunately that meant that nowhere in Chaing Mai was serving Alcohol !!! What kind of a party is that !!!! Thousands of people dressed in Thailands national colour of yellow congregated around the city gate to give gifts to the king and let off lot's of lanterns into the sky. It really was quite a sight, some how I don't think the queen in England would get quite the same reception !!!!
We got up nice and early to begin our 3 day trek the next morning. We got to meet the group who were all great and went through our itinary. The guide D told us all about the different hill
tribe's we would meet and the waterfalls and elelephant riding we would be doing and then we were ready to head off on another adventure. We arrived at the first hilltribe to be greeted by hoards of kid's who immediately slapped a lovely wristband on and demanded 10 baht for their trouble. We had a wonder around the village and got to meet all the kids. They imediately grabbed my hand play 1,2,3 woooooo which we soon named it. After about 10 minutes I was soon knackered and we hadn't even started the trek !!! I then decided to let one of the little boy's try my shades on which I thought would make a nice kodak moment. Two seconds later he was running down the hill and through the village with me in hot pursuit. Luckily his dad cornered him off at the bottom which was good because I was about ready to pass out !!!
We began the trek soon after which began nice and easily, Karen and I were thinking we could handle this and also improve on our tans at the same time !! That was until we got to the first hill !!!!! It
was nearly vertical and there didn't seem to be an end in sight, this really did have me thinking I shouldn't have cancelled that membership to living well !!! Apart from the pain of the hills it was amazing and we got to see some absolutely beautiful scenery. We arrived at our base for the night at about 5 o'clock and all cracked open a well desreved Chaing beer !!!!
After wolfing down dinner and a few more beers we were greeted with our entertainment for the evening. All of the children from the village came into the dining room to sing and dance for us. It was brilliant and made all of those hills seem well worth it. After their performance they then enlightened us that we had to dance for them. We first of all had to do their dance and then we had to show them 3 of our own. Me and Dan (the only other lad) were the only ones to get the moves wrong, I blame the Chaing beer!!! We then had to show them what we were made of, I immediately sugested the Y.M.C.A from my days at O'neills, we then did the
macarena and finished off with our own unique remdition of the hokey cokey with some help from the youngest Thai girl!!! It was hilarious!!!!
After breakfast we set off for our second day of trekking which started with the hardest hill all!!! Karen and I got to about half way and were just about ready to be given oxygen!!! After some hardcore trekking in the morning we got our treat though when we reached the waterfall !!! Again it defiantely was worth the hard work!!! After an hour of fun at the waterfall we set off again for the final part of the day. We had about two and a half hours trek between us and the elephants. Karen and I had both been looking forward to this loads and I was definately ready to let the elephant do some of the trekking. The elephants were amazing there was 3 adults that we rode on and their 2 baby's that walked along side. The baby's were really playful and kept on running off and getting into trouble. They were all really well looked after and looked like they enjoyed themselves. It was really amazing and was the perfect end
to a really good day. When we got off the elephants the baby decided to play with us and charged at Charlie and the decided to headbutt me right in the crown jewels which wasn't very pleasant !!!
The next day we finished the trek by reaching the top of the hill which gave some great views of the town of Pai, we then set off for our bamboo rafting. This consisted as you may of guessed rafting down the river on bamboo. It was a really good way to finish the trip. We got into a bit of a Anglo/ Welsh/ Irish/ Aussie Race with England taking 1st place, unfortunately Karen and I came third after getting stuck between a tree and the bank, at least we were'nt last !!!
At this point we thought the fun was over but there was one last thing. The group leader asked if anyone wanted to ride on the roof of the van for the first part so obviously I was up there like a shot!!! It was a great laugh and yes mom I was fine!!!! That finished off a great few days with a great bunch of guys!!!
If any of you do read this thanks for everything and Charlie thanks for the extra medical attention!!!
So after our very tiring few days we decided to relax the following day and sort some things out. The following day we had booked onto a Thai cookey course (obviously Karen's idea !!) It was really good we learnt how to do 6 dishes each from scratch and we went to the market to get the ingrediants. We both obviously are now culinary genius's and will be opening a Thai restaurant when we return !!!!
That eveing we went to go and see the Muay Thai ( Thai boxing) It was excellent, we got to see 9 fights starting with kids all the way up to adults. It was very violent which you would expect but very entertaining. It finished with an English guy called Billy against a Thai guy who we'll call Brian. You would not of wanted to meet Billy on a dark street and he proceeded to beat ten shades of S**** out of Brian!!!
After our very busy few days we decided a day of relaxation and junk food was in order the following day
before another long journey. We left Chaing Mai by night train to arrive in the islands 2 days later, phew it's hard work this travelling malarkey !!! Merry Christmas Everyone and thanks again for all the comments !!!!!
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lisa dodds
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Oh what a laugh
Hi Both, i have just read your lastest blog and oh how i have laughed. Karen can i just say that the hill ceratinky did win by the look on your face. glad to hear that your both well and lets facing having the time of your life..........MERRY CHRISTMASXXXXXXXXX