[h2]Phu Kradung National Park[/h2]

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Phu Kradung - a mountain that takes 4-6 hours to ascend. Sounds great, I thought to myself. A great challenge which would then allow me to see some wonderful views and sunsets/sunrises. So I decided to do it. The other 2 girls volunteering, Elaine and Lara, decided to join in the fun, too.

At the base of the mountain, after a looooong journey, we bought our tickets and paid for our accommodation (a tent) and we went to the trail. After 5 minutes I was starting to regret my aspirations of getting to the top of the mountain. It was seriously hard work, and I was sweating. After 4 and a bit hours we finally reached the top. My bottoms were all wet from sweat - sexy I know - and my top wasn't too dissimilar. I felt disgusting and exhausted. I'd even cried from exhaustion and frustration from not having yet reached the top about 30 minutes prior to getting to the top. But it was all over.

We walked to a cliff where we could watch the sunset, and that was beautiful. Definitely worth the torture of the past 4.5 hours! Then in the dark we went in search of our camp. We finally made it, after a stress from me and Elaine. Lara was the hopeful one and tried to calm us both down. We had a choice of a tent inside our outside. We chose nature. However, in the middle of the night, it had decided to pour down from about 2am til 7am. At one stage in the night, I woke up screaming because the wind was blowing the tent right into me and I thought it would collapse on to me. At least I was warm cos I'd brought along my sleeping bag 😊

However, in the morning, most of my stuff was wet - there was only one layer to this tent. And it was rather chilly atop this mountain. So the morning wsa rather grim, all of us cold but we decided to walk and see the sights up top before descending. I managed to get some good pics. Then we began our way down. To my relief, that was much easier. Phew. We made the bottom in 4 hours, and thankfully it wasn't as hot as on the way up. Blessings all around!

Then we went to Khon Khane and spent the evening there. It's a cute little place. In the morning we went to see the 9-tiered temple, which was gorge, and lunched at this lovely cafe. Where they make a good coffee and THE best chocolate cake. It was topped with an Oreo. Need I say more?!

Then we got the coach home and it was all good. I was relieved to get back home.

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