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Published: June 22nd 2007
Koh Tao Sunset
Best way to enjoy a sunset - with a G&T Today is our final day of the trip and we are in Bangkok wating for our flight. We've spent about 2 weeks in Thailand, begining in the North in Chiang Mai. Our first day was spent exploring the city and sorting our (manditory in Chiang Mai) treking trip. We also enjoyed an excellent Thai massage which was well deserved after our 3 day journey from Luang Prabang! So the following morning we were awake with the roosters (as usual) and embarked on our 3 day jungle trecking trip.
The first day involved a 3 hour treck through the jungle and up a (very steep) mountain in the pouring rain, followed by the hot sun, followed by the pouring rain again then sun again...... until we reached the Lahu hill tribe village which was to be our home for the evening. After a meal specially prepared by our guide (the crazy Jay-Jay) we settled down in the bamboo shack for a good nights sleep, after being entertained by the village childern who sang for us. The following day we treked further (in fact the whole trip involved far more treking than we'd anticipated - especially up hills!!) to another village
Treking in Chiang Mai
The view towards the village where we stayed and then to a waterfall where we colled off before lunch. The afternoon was spent treking (again!) to a jungle camp where we stayed that evening. We slept well in the relatively freezing 25 degree heat, a bit of relif from the cities, despite the jungle symphony of noises!
The following day was much more relaxing and started out with an elephant treck. This was great fun if a little bit hairy as our elephant seemed a little over protective of one of the baby elephants in the heard and followed it everywhere - we were slightly concerened that the baby might run off and we'd be hot on its' heels! We bought some bananas to bribe our elephant to bring us back safely but this just encouraged the other elephants to grope around relentlessly with their trunks for the bananas. We got back on the ground in one piece ready for white water rafting! The rapids were pretty good and we got suitably soaked although we all managed to stay on the boat. Next we had a leisurely float down the river on a bamboo raft. Gareth took over the captaincy for a while and promptly managed to
Treking in Chiang Mai
The view from the village where we stayed beach us on a rock, Di was more sucessfull, even managing to park the bamboo raft.
After lunch it was back to Chiang Mai and we felt than another bone cracking massage was in order! This limbered us up for some serious haggling at the night market where we bought some supplies for our next destination - the beach!
To get to our island destination (Koh Tao) we took a super cheap (and super early) flight to Bangkok with Air Asia (proud sponsors of Manchester Utd. - guess whose idea that was......) followed that night by an overnight train to Chumphon. We arrived in Chumphon at 4 in the morning and took a hight speed catamaran to Koh Tao at 7am.
Koh Tao is a diving mecca and the water is perfectly clear and there is an abundance of marine life - it is also very cheap so Di did her advanced open water course. On the first dive at Chumphon Pinnacle she was lucky enough to see 3 sharks including one reef shark measuring about 2 meters in length. Whilst Di was diving, Gareth was spending his time relxing on land. The remainder of the week
Treking in Chiang Mai
Swimming at the waterfall on Koh Tao was spent jetting around on our hired motor bike, watching movies and sunsets and eating cornetos.
After another overnight train journey we arrived back in Bangkok (for the 3rd time) to have a few days of shopping. Gareth has replaced the contents of his rucksack with new shoes and clothes for princely sum of around 30 pounds! We also went to see Thai boxing which was very brutal but fun to watch. All that remains of our trip now is a pre flight Thai massage, our last Thai meal and a 12 hour flight back to reality. All good things must come to an end unfortunately!
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Interested Reader
non-member comment
Excellent blog
Found your travel blog really interesting and descriptive which makes for enjoyable reading, really gives the feeling u are there with you. Excellent photo's especially the latest ones. It is obvious your trip has been a very special time for both of you. All the best with your future travels.