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Sawadi - kaa!
Or in English, Hello! Again I'm having problems uploading my pictures, so these will have to follow.
So last time I wrote was in Ko Tao, and last Saturday there I did my first ever scuba dive, which was incredible - if I hadn't already booked my travel up to Chiang Mai for the following day I'd have stayed and done the 4 day Padi course, because it was just so good!
We met our instructors at midday and they went through (on dry land!) the basic skills we would need to know - like equalising our ears because of the water pressure, which we had to do each metre we went down, how to empty our mask of water, etc, and also the different signals for communicating underwater. Then we took a boat out to the dive site and had a practice of these in shallow water - then swam straight out for our first dive. I think we went to about 8 metres and it was brilliant. It was amazing how natural it felt - I think all that snorkelling helped! But we'd never been able to get so close before, and the fish and coral were great. We both chose to do the second dive at a different site, which involved going down a rope to 12 metres, again it was incredible. Made me even more determined to come back to Thailand - a Padi in Ko Tao is definitely on my to do list!
On Sunday night we began our long journey to Chiang Mai. This involved catching a taxi at 3 to the port for a boat at 4, which took 2 hours and landed at Chumphon. At Chumphon we were meant to get on a vip bus but they had overbooked, so we ended up in a bumpy minivan which took us up to Bangkok. 9 bumpy hours later (and earlier than scheduled) we were on the Kho San road from where we caught a taxi to the airport - arriving at 3.30 am for our 10.45 am flight. So there we had a huge exercise in time killing which I did mainly by trying (not too successfully) to sleep with my head/a hand on each of my bits of baggage. It did cut out a huge drive north though as the flight to Chiang Mai only takes just over an hour, so it was worth it.
Chiang Mai is much less touristy and much more "Thailand" than the islands we'd come from - a refreshing change. After finding our guesthouse (recommended by a chat with a helpful man at Bangkok airport) we booked ourselves onto a trek for the following 2 days. That evening we somehow found some energy to hit the night bazaar which was definitely worth it, one of the biggest and prettiest markets I've seen - started stocking up for my return!
On Tuesday our trek picked us up at 8.30 am and our first stop was an Orchid / Butterfly farm - quite small, but pretty, and the Orchid is the national flower of Thailand so I suppose it's quite important! We then visited some of the hill tribes, including the long neck tribe, and saw their village and learnt a bit about them from our guide. The women of the tribe wear rings around their necks, originally to protect them from attack by tigers in the jungle. They have the first ones put on when they are five and then a further ring added every 2 years from then onwards. Most of the women sat ouside the huts, weaving and making scarves and things to sell - the men, we were told, would be in the rice fields or hunting in the jungle. This was an interesting stop but still felt a little touristic walking round (if that makes sense?!).
After this we stopped and browsed a food market which sold everything, literally - including fried crickets and grubs (no I wasn't tempted to try one, I stuck to some bagged watermelon!). We then drove to another village where we ate Pad Thai for lunch and then began the trek to the village where we were to spend that night. This I think is one of the hardest walks I have ever done - when we arranged to walk to a hilltop tribe, it somehow didn't occur to me that this would involve climbing a huge hill! This was not made easier by the 40 degree heat (never have I been so excited to come across a hose pipe) and the fact that we were carrying our water and overnight bags on our backs - though was helped a little by the bamboo walking sticks our guide carved for us. The hike took about 4 hours altogether and ended up the opposite extreme to how it started - in a thunderstorm and torrential rain. So we arrived exhausted and absolutely drenched to the bone, I don't think I've ever been so thoroughly soaked in my life!
The village we stayed at was the home of a tribe originally from Mongolia, and housed in bamboo huts about 5 or 6 families. Our group of 6 stayed in a hut and were cooked a rice curry dish for dinner, which we ate with the guides - we were even able to buy a can of warm beer, which went down so well after that walk! Was exhausted enough to sleep like a log - thankfully or I think I'd have lain awake thinking of all the possible creepy-crawlies that were about...
The next morning we started the day with an hour long elephant trek, which was one of the things I'd looked forward to most, and so much fun - though scary at times! After breakfast we began our walk of the day - nowhere near as hard as the previous days (mainly because it was mostly downhill), though a little uncomfortable in our soggy clothes and trainers! We had a break after a couple of hours at a waterfall where we jumped in for a swim. After this it was about an hour on to our lunch and afternoon stop - white water rafting and bamboo rafting! So Ellie and I arrived thoroughly exhausted back in Chiang Mai last night at about 6 o clock. Again we found some energy to hit the night market though - there are some bargains that are just too good to miss!
Today we went and visited the Doi Sathep temple just outside of Chiang Mai - a stunning temple with amazing views out over the city - as you will see as soon as I manage to put my pictures up! Tonight we have an overnight bus down to Bangkok from where we plan to head out to Kachanuburi - the final stages of our trip... hope it's a bit comfier than the last time!
Much love, xx
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