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Published: March 17th 2006
One thing about traveling with a group like Intrepid is that you have almost no free time and are constantly on the move, its been over a week since my last entry & I've done so much that I barely know where to start.
From Kanchanaburi we transfered to Ayuthaya where we boarded a very unusual guest house. We were staying on a converted rice barge which could sleep just 12. We were ferried up and down the river stopping regulary to tour the local sights by bike. It was a fantastic trip, we saw an elephant training ground, a knife shop that sold everything from cleavers to samurai swords and of course there was was plenty of time for swimming in the river.
That evening we were meant to get a train to Chiang Mai but a mistake with the tickets meant we were stuck for rather a long time at the station. One girl was complaining that her hair made her head hot so being a bit bored i suggested that we shave it all off, a half hour later we had one very bald girl and a group of very amused travellers.
The first day in Chiang Rai we all went for an elephant ride, the guide took one look at me and pointed to the largest bull elephant there. The ride was great fun - we only plodded around for about an hour, but we were able to buy sugar cane to feed the elephants and at the end all the elephants went to a trough of water and gave themselves showers, inevitably I was throughly soaked. That afternoon we hired bamboo rafts & punted down a local stream, it was great fun but our guide wasn't very good and made an unfortunate habit of crasing into every large rock in sight.
The next part of the trip was also the best, we transfered to the far north of Thailand too do a three day treck. In the morning of the first day we were picked up by converted Japanese WW2 trucks and taken to the starting point. For 4 hours we trecked through a stunning but very steep bamboo forest. It was worth it because we were rewarded with a 76m waterfall by which to have our lunch, i was so hot that i even had a shower beneath it. In the afternoon the dense forrest was replaced by panoramic views across northern Thailand. When we eventually got to the village home stay we were treated to the local music and food, i even got a very welcome thai massage. After another days trecking we arrived at the second village which was much more rural and basic than the first, we had much more free time and we spent the afternoon playing a Thai version of bowles, cards and buying local handicrafts from the locals. On the third day we walked back to the main road stopping off to have fresh (from the tree) mandarins. It was an amazing three days and i feel i've seen much more of the real Thailand.
Yesterday we went to the Golden Triangle which is where Burma (Myanmar), Laos and Thailand meet, the three countries are divided by the confluence of two rivers one of which is the third widest in the world. It was a strange day, in the morning we went shopping in a Burmese market and in the afternoon we all got a speedboat across to Laos for a bit of duty free shopping.
This Intrepid trip is nearly at an end but i'm carrying on with two of the group to southern Thailand, Kao Tao and my PADI course, i really cant wait.
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George
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Scuba
I have looked up Kao Tao, it looks amazing!