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Published: January 19th 2013
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Goodbye Ko Tao hello long boat trip and even longer bus trip to Bangkok, bought some valium for the 10 hour bus ride, on other travellers (and my sisters) advice unfortunately wasn't the best plan ever. We were meant to arrive in Bangkok about 5.30am and at around 3am it was lights on and "Bangok everyone out" shouted up the stairs EH?! Valium was still in effect so we managed to get totally mugged off by a tuktuk and driven in a big circle only to end up 2 minutes from the bus stop doh!
Next was the hotel search hell; 3 hours of rejection while lugging our bigass rucksacks left me disliking Bangkok already. I was finally in a bed by 6.30am for a fwe hours sleep before our big day of sightseeing in Bangkok or not! Everything we wanted to see was shut but some random on the street gave us a pretty good itinerary and a tip for a cheap tuktuk although I think any tuktuk would have been cheaper than the valium one. We saw a standing buddha, a sitting one, a big mall and went on a boat; it was better than I've made it
Elephant Ride
Possibly the most uncomfortable I have ever been sound there 😊 Had a night out on the famous Ko San Road but 3 buckets in we gave up and were in bed by 1am - flop!
Off to Chiang Mai the next day, I don't rate Bangkok so was glad to get out even if it was another long bus trip - no valium this time its far too pricey in Bangkok. Got to Chiang Mai and were dropped at the hotel only to find there was no room for us even though we booked so we sat in the lobby for 3 hours waiting on a room, Cec had a nap and I read some books (btw getting through the kindle books mighty speedy if anyone feels like sending some Amazon vouchers my way - jokes but also not) finally got one and it was sweet! Comfy beds and a tv with movies in English - loving life!
We spent 3 days exploring the old and new city, seeing temples, going to markets, eating street food and trying to find a bar that wasn't full of pervy old men and young Thai girls (hookers). Chiang Mai is really nice but the gross old men make
Chiang Mai Trekking
The only shower available for 3 days me cringe.
Trekking Started off crammed into a truck with our trekking group to go to a market where our guide bought all the food for the 3 days then back in the truck to go ride an elephant. We climbed onto the seat on their back and off they went, it was so uncomfortable even more when I sat on the elephants neck - I much prefer the first time I did it in Malaysia where they were no seats and we could swim with them, I was happy to be off it by the end.
Next stop was lunch then on with the trekking, we walked over some rice fields to get to the bottom of the mountain (probably technically a hill) then it was all UP! It wasn't the toughest walk but combined with the heat and my genetic propensity for sweating, I was basically a drowned rat about 10 minutes in. After 3 days of that I resembled a shrivelled old prune I'm fairly sure I lost 95%!o(MISSING)f the moisture in my body.
Showers apparently don't happen in the jungle, the only one was the freezing waterfall where our homestay was on the first night - I was in it for maybe 2 seconds. You can't imagine how dirty I was after 3 days - I had a tan! (back to casper now I've had a proper shower). That evening waqs spent around a campfire drinking and playing games although I resisted the urge to whip out the campfire classics I learnt from my dad.
The night in the hut was cold and uncomfortable but all part of the fun and the next day was all trekking to get to a hill tribe village we were staying in. Taught some of the group shithead and had another night around the campfire though this one had a show - the tribes children came and sang us some songs and shook us down for money.
Last day was a morning walk down the mountain and then on to bamboo rafting which is essentially floating down a river on 8 pieces of bamboo tied together but its not watertight so you sit in a bit of cold water the whole time. I tried steering at one point I thought it was going well then the bank was coming up fast and tree branch came out of nowhere and attacked me! Had a cartoon moment, teetering on the edge, trying to stay on the raft flapping my arms like a loon but it didn't work I fell into the cold, cold water. When our rafting run was over it was back to Chiang Mai - trek times done and dusted.
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jen
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ahem i am not taking the blame for your valiumed up loserness thank you! x