Hi Everyone

How to describe yesterday? Mad, busy, and chaotic.... Started off with an orchid and butterfly farm (the tame part of the day), pretty small but interesting. The locals made jewellery from the orchids by drying, pressing and glazing them - really beautiful.

Throughout the day we visited 5 or 6 different hill tribes. The tribes came from different places, some from Burma, others from China and some originally from Thailand. None of the hill tribes are recognised by the Thai Government as their populations are generally very low. One of the tribes we saw were the Karen Long Necks. The tribe believe long necks are beautiful, girls from the age of 5 wear heavy brass rings around their necks, arms and legs. One ring is added around their neck every year until they are 22. The rings cause the collarbones to collapse and extend the neck. It was interesting to see, but also sad in a way.

The next part of the day was spent doing more adventurous activities. We were taken to an elephant park in the middle of a rainforest and spent an hour elephant trekking. Climbing on was challenge enough, never mind clinging on for dear life when it was going across the river or down a steep muddy slope. We got used to it after a while, definately an experience. At the park they also train the elephants to do tricks. At one point in the show one was banging a drum with his trunk, one was spinning a hoop and the others were playing the harmonica .. in tune! We also had the chance to hike through part of a jungle to see a waterfall. People forget it's monsoon season here, we had a fair amount of rain, and the paths were very muddy and slippery. The waterfall was stunning though!

After all this we still had more to do. White water rafting and bamboo rafting were next. After a two minute briefing session on how to survive should the boat capsize we were on Mae Tong River, battling the rapids. We got wet.... very wet. This was from the rapids, but also because we got attacked by another boat - we obviously had to fight back. Last but not least was bamboo rafting. Not sure if we can call it rafting. All 7 of us from our tour were on the raft, most of it was under water. We sort of just floated down the river.

Today, has been a bit more relaxing. We decided to go and get a Thai massage. There's loads of beautiful spas all over Chiang Mai, but no ..... we went to Chiang Mai's Women's Correctional Institution (basically the prison). Inmates with 6 months left of their sentence are trained to become masseuses. The money they make gets saved for when they are released. The women were lovely and very professional. It was a bit painful at times, and we never knew certain positions were possible. They use all their body weight and pressure to get the blood flowing!

Tomorrow we're leaving Chiang Mai, and heading back to Bangkok then onto Kanchanaburi. We're aiming to be on the Thai islands early next week - after a busy few weeks we're looking forward to some time on the beach!

Love From

Joanne and Emma x