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Published: March 3rd 2006
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sunrise from a canoe
6:45am Khao Sok National Park Except for a few very, very hungover mornings, I don't think I've stopped smiling since arriving in Thailand. Today is the last day of my two weeks with an Imaginative Traveller tour group and it's been completely amazing. We began our travels heading north from Bangkok to Chiang Mai on the first of three night trains. After a short stay in Chiang Mai we were off for a three day hilltribe trek around northern Thailand. It was the most amazing three days. We hiked, rode elephants and took bamboo rafts down the river. We stayed in two different villages and though we were a little seperated from the villagers it was really interesting to see the villages were water buffallo wander around freely with the chickens and pigs. W'd hike in the day and spend the evening around a bonfire chatting and drinking beer. One of the villages even offers thai massage which was amazing after the long hike. the only flaw in the whole trek was that I had just started taking my malaria pills and felt sick the whole time (went away after a couple of days though).
Back in Chiang Mai we spent our time shopping at the
Rafthouses
Khao Sok National Park night market and drinking buckets at the lovely Rooftop Bar. Buckets are a lovely mixture of a bottle of Rum (or I think they can also be made with whiskey), Thai Red Bull (super strength) and Coke all poured together in a bucket with several straws thrown in. It's a,azing how much damage those things do... we've since had a few bucket nights and we all wake up the next day with bruises and memory loss. I also took some time in Chiang Mai to pick up a cell phone and Thai SIM card which I love.... it's fun to lounge on the beach and get a call or text msg from home. But before we get to the beach...
We spent a couple of days heading back to Bangkok. This was supposed to be the end of my time with the group but I was having to great a time and most of the group was continuing on to a south tour which I decided to join (in the end everyone from the first group stayed on for the extra week). Now we took the night train down to Khao Sok National Park. The train down was supposed to
be a quiet, restful evening to regroup from the rest of the week but then someone bought a whole bunch of buckets and in the end everyone had a little too much. I should probably explain that night trains here have a restaurant car that turns into a bar/disco car at night. Anyway very very hung over, we made our way to Khao Sok park. The first night was spent in treehouses and the next two were in floating rafthouses. the raft houses were right on the huge lake in the park so you can literally dive out your back patio (each bungaloo had a little patio) into the lake. And the water was bathtub warm.... it was so warm it didn't even cool you down to dive in. We spent three amazing days tubbing down the river, exploring underwater caves, taking canoes out at sunrise and just floating around the lake. It was the most relaxing three days of my entire life. We just hung out with the group and the other people staying there and got to know the guys that work there (the locals here are amazing... sooo much fun). I could have been there a year
the group
last night (Ao Nang)
and still not been ready to leave. I'm actually hoping to get back there in a couple of months to do some more lakeside lounging.
From the park we went south to Ao Nang (by Krabi) and to the beach. Today the whole group rented a speed boat and went Island-hopping. We visited both Koh Phi Phi Islands and a few other small ones. The water is incredably clear and many of the islands have white sand beaches. I've never been so close to a sunburn in my life (we'll see tomorrow I guess).
I'm having an incredable time with the group... there are some really fun people on the trip and we all get along well.
I've done so many things I wouldn't have done otherwise (I ate a cricket!!!) and it's given me an excellent opportunity to adjust to Thailand and make plans for the rest of my trip.
Tomorrow I think I will take a boat with three other girls from the group to Koh Lanta for a few days before heading back to Bangkok on the 7th. I'll spend some time in Bangkok setting up Visas for the rest of my trip and then take the
night train north to meet up with one of the local guides we had for the trek. We're going to spend a week exploring Northern Thailand (gotta love the personal guided tour) and then go to Laos for a week before he heads back to work and I move on to Vietnam.
So I think that's all caught up now. This computer doesn't have a USB port so no pictures today but I'll have a few days in Koh Lanta to find a place so hopefully there'll be pictures up very very soon on this entry and previous ones as well.
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Lennea
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Photos Please
Nicole Dearie, Maybe you could use that new phone to take some photos and post them. How are we supposed to live vicariously through you withought pictures! Hmmm?