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I know - 2 entries in the space of a week!! We've excelled ourselves... but I thought it would be wise to write an entry (a) before i get beaten to a pulp by trudes this afternoon when we go to try out some thai boxing (trudy has done a load of kickboxing before which is apparently very similar to thai boxing so she obviously has a distinct advantage - i'm planning on resorting to biting if needs be - apparently pretty much anything goes in thai boxing); and (b) before we leave thailand tomorrow to go to even less civilisation as we head into laos...
So since Trudy bear last updated you a few days ago we went on a fabulous thai cookery course and learnt how to make delights such as pad thai, green curry, spring rolls, and a few others - and yes we had to eat everything we cooked so effectively had a large starter, 4 main courses and 2 puddings in the space of about 5 hours. I ate myself to the point of near sickness of course (you can never have too much rice) and trudes was a little more sensible but still
barely able to move at the end. We'll be trying out our new culinary skills on you when we get back anyway (providing we can find the ingredients - there were a few random "if you can't find that just chuck in some ketchup" type comments so not entirely sure it'll be quite as good when we do it again - just setting expectations there...).
Last night we got back from a fabulous 3 day hill-trekking trip from Chiang Mai. It was wonderful to get out into the countryside after smelly bangkok and the temperature was slightly more forgiving than of late (35 rather than 40 and actually chilly at night). We had fabulous little Thai guy called "Mr P" as our guide whose english was great and had some brilliant catchphrases ("Enjoy your life!" before every meal was served; "No money no honey no baby!?" and of course "same same but different" when explaining pretty much anything). We had a lovely group of us plus 5 french/swiss folk so the franglais came in handy and we even improved our real french a boatload. We did a bit of elephant riding amd feeding and and then trekked to a
little village where we spent the first night with a local hill tribe - sleeping on a wooden floor in some bamboo huts (need another thai massage) and woken up by pigs snorting and cockerels cockadoodledoo-ing. There was no electricity and the facilities were well, basic (sometimes it was hard to work out what was suposed to be the loo!). It was great to see the way the villagers lived and in the evening they lit a big fire and all the children from the village came down to sing us a load of songs. Really sweet and they'd even learnt how to say hello and thank you.
Day 2 of the trek was lots of walking and basically sweating lots trying not to spontaneously combust before gettting to our 5 star accommodation - this time a bamboo hut in the middle of the "jungle" (or so Mr P called it) beside a waterfall. No running water meant showering consisted of getting into the very brown very cold water at the bottom of the waterfall (the shower in our hotel last night was very welcome!). There was very little to do in the evening so games master trudy corrupted
the french by teaching them a load of drinking and card games and that passed away the evening nicely before another sleepless night at one with nature.
Day 3 consisted of more lovely trekking and then an absolutely hilarious bamboo rafting trip down a murky brown river. We thought it'd be pretty tame and peaceful and didn't intend on getting wet but it became apparent within 5 minutes of being on this thing that not getting wet was simply not an option. We spent so much time avoiding srinking the local water and sticking to bottled but on that trip we swallowed pintfuls so fingers crossed we don't get ill! Most of the rafts sunk at least once and got stuck and there seemed to be some sort of local party/holiday going on along the riverbank so the locals were out in their droves and took much delight in absolutely drenching the tourists in full-on water fights (interspersed with offering us their drinks!). Some even held their breath and hid under water until we got near then jumped out and splashed us and tried to pull us off our raft or jump on to join us! The Thai people
Elephant riding
On our 3 day trek from Chiang Mai are such a smiley happy friendly bunch and this totally topped off the trek and we were actually shivering a little when we got out of the water which was SO nice after the heat. We got back to Chaing Mai with a lovely warm feeling after that trip but never have we appreciated flashpacking so much (apart from perhaps raffles - thank u patsy!). Long showers and a good night's sleep and now we're ready to kick seven shades out of each other!
If we (or should I say I) survive the boxing we're heading up to the border with laos tomorrow before betting on a 2 day slow boat ride down the Mekong River in Laos. Who knows what that'll bring, but if it's even half as good as the last 3 months we'll be very happy chappies!
Hope everyone's really well and sorry for not being quite as succinct as trudester...
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Jess
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wow!
Great to hear all the news, even if I am a) now late (oops, didn't expect written entries but fab to read) and b) going to turn up to the pub slightly green with envy at all the things you guys have been up to. Keep them coming. xx