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Hello everyone,
Firstly let me assure you all is well here in Chiang Mai the only thing that is affecting us under marsall law is the fact that we have the curfew 10pm til 5am. Other than that I haven't noticed any difference.
We are heading off to Chiang Rai for a short stop and then head to the Laos border so will soon be out of the country.
Hope that sets your mind rest if you have been following the news and concerned about me.
Yesterday I did the activity known as flight of the gibbon. Basically it involves spending a couple of hours zip lining around the rain forest and we also managed to see gibbons.
I was the first pick up and 6.30am and we then picked up an older couple Jennifer and Ian from NZ and then a group from OZ, two middle aged couples and the son of one couple, Gerard aged 12 lol. Finally we picked up a lady who lives in Dubai and is a film producer but is originally from USA. She was there in Chiang Mai with
her family who had been on the zip line experience the day before. I think they must have had a young child with them and need to take turns baby sitting.
After all all the pick ups we headed to the forest which took about an hour and a half.
We filled out the appropriate insurance forms and stowed our valuables in lockers provided and then headed to get kitted out with our harnesses and safety hats. They gave us little head scarves before putting on our helmets to soak up the sweat and I guess keep things a little more hygienic re the safety hats. We gift to keep the head scarves as a souvenir!
We then claimed into the mini bus and drive to our start location about 5 minutes away. We were ten introduced to our guides Hobbit and Ton. Both lovely guys who spoke good English and made lots of little jokes as we went around. We also had our safety briefing and the do's and dont's as we go around the course.
It was much cooler in the rain forest and humid. We
could hear the calls and sounds of the insects and animals as we made our way round and could get a birds eye view of the jumble below as we zipped through the air. On the odd occasion we could hear the screams of the party before us as they made their way round the course lol. That if course made us feel,so much better and instilled such confidence in one lady in our group who was terrified of heights!
The first couple of zip lines were not too high may be about 40 or 50 meters but later on got much higher over 100 meters. Also they were fairly short compared to the one which was 120m long and the big daddy which was 800m long. I of course did the obligatory scream like a girl on each one, well,it had to be done just for the sake of it lol.
So we progressed round the course taking it in turns to go first. The lady who was scared of heights was understandably very nervous at first but as we went round she grew in confidence and at one point got hooked up
at the back launched herself off the platform and did her superman pose. I however just took the usual route and sat down and launched my self off.
Towards the end we had to do a bit abseiling from one platform to another and then at the end to get Dow to terra firma.
We were also lucky enough to see gibbons! Mum dad and a baby. They put food out to make sure they get fed and the best time to see them is in the morning which is why we went so early.
After the experience we came back collected our belongings, and I bought a souvenir photo and a magnum ice cream lol. We then all piled back into the van and stopped off at a water fall. It was only a little one and I clambered up to the top, over 400 steps! Only to find a small stream there so was very disappointed after all that climbing.
Then it was lunch time and we were serenaded by some traditional Thai music and I chatted to my fellow travellers from Oz.
Finally it was time to return home and on the journey back I chatted to Gerard and his dad about this and that until it was time for them to get off.
I got back, had a snooze caught up on my correspondence, and later headed out to the night market with Hannah who I met the other morning. We took a tuk tuk and did a bit of shopping. We wanted to get some food and Hannah wander chips so we headed for Burger King, but were told it was closing due to the curfew so we caught a tuk tuk back and went to the burrito place and are listening to the sounds of Elvis's lol, we were back in time for the curfew so all was ok.
Today I head off to a new town and possibly country and will keep you posted on my travels
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