Slow boatn

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The slow boats are an experience for sure. We arrived thinking we would be crammed into a mini boat but it actually turned out we had a bit of space. The seats were ripped out of a bus and the boat made from what looked like old weather boards was about 20m's long. We came prepared with peanut butter rolls? Brought them on the side of the road this was the beginning of so many peanut butter rolls to come. Our first part of the slow boats took 9 hours there is pretty much nothing to do except look at the river bank but it was ever changing, we were even lucky enough to see some wild elephants grazing by the water ?. We saw a number of children jumping off rocks and a few flashing their willy bum bums at us ?. So many fishing rods constructed from bamboo stretched out into the river in hope for a tasty catch! The fishermen here make it really hard for them selfs in narrow wooden boats trying to untangle their nets, managing to not capsize and steering all at the same time. There is also an option for tourists to die here, it's called the fast boat, they are brightly coloured narrow pointed boats with a huge engine mounted on the back. Hilarious when you see them loaded with backpacks and the passengers wearing racing helmets. Not something we were keen to try, negotiating the jagged rocks and sand banks! We made a few mates on the boat a Canadian named Josh and a German who can speak Japanese called Maximillias. They had been staying at the same hostel in Chiang Rai with us. We had a nap at midday the heat got us pretty good! We were surprised at the little wildlife we saw but put it down to it being to hot! We saw so many hill tribes their houses constructed from bamboo and mud as well as a number of Families washing together in the river and waving out to us as we cruised past. The journey is in two parts so we stopped in a small jungle town, met by a sassy lady boy telling us that because we said no to his guest house that we had no respect for our selfs so we would never have any respect for any one else... Okay ?? we laughed as he continued to tell a number of others the same thing! A lovely lady grabbed us and told us a room for 100 baht a night and free whisky... The whisky had us sold. Three minute walk up this one road town and we skulled a few shots back ready for dinner! A little like little Britain the guy with the lady who owns the hostel also happened to own the restaurant, cooked then served us our food ?. We made a puppy friend that night who we gave our plates to lick! We were real westerners and all ordered steak and chips! We had a singalong to the Eagles then headed back up the road to our rooms our boat was due to depart at 9am the next morning. We woke in the morning to freshly made pack lunches to take with us on the boat. As we sat waiting to leave we saw two elephants wandering down to the water to pick up some supplies with their owners, amazing The second boat wasn't as comfy as the first the seats were wooden and two hours into it our poor bottoms were numb. We managed to spot two wild elephants eating on the river side and a few flying fish! The second leg took around 9 hours a long and hot ride but well worth it an experience we won't forget ! ⛵️

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