Day 10: Bamboo rafting and the journey back to Chiang Mai

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After a slightly better nights sleep, but still not 'comfortable', we awoke to omelette and toast being prepared around the camp fire for breakfast before packing up for our journey down the river. The raft had already been built but after a quick tester Sunshine decided we needed a modification so he and his helper strapped on an extra bamboo pole to our raft. Similar to punting we had to use thin bamboo poles to steer the raft with Sunshine at the front and David and Louis at the back. The journey took in a few rapids which required good navigation and strong punting skills. We all had a go and it's definitely harder than it looks! The scenery was like something out of the jungle book with the greenery scaling hundreds of feet above us, twisting vines and banana plants galore. After 4 or so hours of drifting down the river we arrived at our destination and after our final lunch of Pad Thai we had a bumpy 2 hour truck ride back to our hotel. After a much needed shower we headed out for some pizza, after 10 days of Thai food a change was needed, then back for a early night (yes another one!).Baileys bit:We saw a little bit of wildlife including a kingfisher and a water snake, but it seemed Cat was more interested in the water buffalo calves, puppies and piglets. Before we left the village we saw a local drinking from a bamboo cup and Gareon and I asked Sunshine if he could make us one. Closer to our destination we had to 'pull over', wrestle down some bamboo and strap in to the raft. The owner of the restaurant then made 5 cups for us in about 10 minutes, a great souvenir of our day!

Daily mileage: 0 again the terrain and location didn't permit, plan on hitting the old city again in the morning after a good nights sleep!

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