Day 8 - Wake up to the sound of rain would you believe. Early for breakfast as we have the 2 day trek with overnight stay in a the remote village of Ta Ong. With much trepidation we got on the songthaw with our guide from the lodge and Simon, another guest at the lodge.

Another bumpy road for 1.5 hours (usually only 45 mins when the roads are in a better state) where along the way we discovered Simon was French and that songthaw's are particularly good in water! We arrived at a small village to meet our local guide but he was nowhere to be seen, apparently he was in the rice fields working. After much searching, we managed to find another guide who led us off on our adventure. First port of call was to cross the river, so shoes and socks off and across (through) we went! It may be worth mentioning that both guides were in flip flops at this point and would not change for the whole trek, don't ask how but they did!

After 2 or so hours of trekking through what can only be described as thick jungle, we stopped for lunch, in the middle of a jungle stream on some rocks. Chicken and rice, perfect. On we trekked through thicker and thicker jungle and across bridges made of one piece of bamboo, interesting for the size 13's! In the middle of the afternoon we finally made it to Ta Ong which was, as they say "miles from anywhere" (but they still had a satellite dish but no electricity). We sat down and met the local village people and learnt that they are completely self sufficient, living off their rice fields, animals and fruit plants, absolutely amazing. Then came the bombshell - the 'guesthouse' in the village where we were meant to stay had a termite problem and the roof leaked! We were the first trek of the dry season so the house hadn't been used for months. Whilst we were being told about the alternative accommodation (a mattress on the floor in one of the villager's homes) we were also informed that the toilet and shower were not working either! I think if we had known both of these things in advance and mentally prepared ourselves it wouldn't have been so bad - but we hadn't so the news didn't go down too well. So much for our sense of adventure!

We had a great dinner with one of the families - chicken soup, chilli sauce, sticky rice and more sticky rice! Then it was off to hit the hay, literally! All four of us were staying in the one room on the floor and as the rain was still coming down on the tin roof it made for an interesting night of (no) sleep whilst we tried to comfort each other with a clench of hands!

To be continued......