Wednesday

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Hi all, This will be our last blog for our holiday in Thailand is rapidly coming to a close. We have had a great time and am not looking forward to coming home to reality. All except Lyndal who can't wait to get home to see a certain gentleman. Thailand is a beautiful country. With idyllic views at every turn, beautiful emerald green sea and white sandy beaches. Its cities and towns are bussling with people from all nationalities, different languages averywhere. New sights tobe seen, many smells (not all are very pleasant) and their electric power lines (and driving as everyone knows) are things to be seen to be believed. On Wednesday we caught a tour called Siam Safari at 7.45 and headed up to the mountains in an old english jeep with rusting tray and push forward windscreen. Apart from feeling like animals herded onto a cattle truck these vehicles have an endless source of fun and excitement. We arrived at a holding station (you think I am joking don't you) and then we were assigned to Nom (It means 'sleep' in Thai) our guide who had an eternal smile on his face no matter what the day presented. We then got herded onto another cattle truck and up the mountain we went. This tour was by far the most enjoyable tour we have had. We learnt how the Thai use absolutely everything of the coconut and the processes that they use right down to how they teach the monkeys to get the coconuts from the palms. We had water buffaloe pull us around in a cart and Endel and Lyndal sat on the bulls back. We then proceeded through the jungle and leart how they collect the sap from the rubber tree and how they begin the process of turning the sap into rubber to be sent off to the factory. A very simple process but very effective. We then watched a show about how they train the baby elephants and learnt about the ages of the elephants and how perilously close they are to extinction. We fed the elephants and then went and had a very restful ride on an elephant. It was a terrific experience. To finish the day we had traditional thai food. They showed us how to make curry and whilst Endel thought it was lovely, Lyndal and Barb burnt had all their taste buds burnt to the state of numbness. We then headed down the mountain in one of the cattle trucks , then onto our hotels for yet another exciting, scary, interesting, novel trip home. We gratefully fell into the beautiful which we are going to take home with us on the plane.

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