Sat 15th March.

Today we got picked up at 8.30 for our trek. It was called a trek but there wasnt much trekking involved. Was a really good day though. We walked through the foresty jungly type thing into Hmong Village. This hilltribe was less primitive then we were expecting but it was good to learn a bit more about the Opium and how this has changed the ways of the tribe. About 40 years ago the men were allowed multiple wives and loads of children because they were earning a lot of money through working in the Opium industry. Because they had lots of money they also had lots of time to smoke it. Since the Government intervened and tried to stop them using Opium illegally there has been a lot less money for the tribe. The government gave them other crops to grow to survive off of and make money from. The men could no longer support a big family so nowadays have one wife (they can have more if they have enough money to support them), the men work harder to get money and the women stay in the village doing chores and making handicrafts to sell to the tourists. This also means the drug is smoked less by the tribe members nowadays......although the guide did offer that if anyone wanted to try it he could take us to do so as long as no one took any back into the city. No one took him up on the offer!

Then we headed elephant camp. We were both a bit dubious about this as we werent sure how well the animals were looked after,but both decided it probably was similar to riding a horse and the elephants seeemd happy enough. We plodded around for about an hour (which doesnt get you very far on an elephant) and was quite daunting at times as it is surprisingly hard to stay on an elephant when it is going downhill!! We went through a river which was cool as the elephants all drank and then sprayed water over their backs (and us).

Then we stopped for lunch which was another Thai buffet but again very good. Then headed to another village...The Karen tribe. There are 4 sections of the Karen tribe and we visited the White Karen. This name comes from the Thai girls having to wear white until they are married (uaually marry around age 16-20). This was pretty similar to the other village but the Government offer their support in different ways. They educate the kids by sending them to live at school from monday to friday and they can use the hospital system. They also provided cattle and crops for their survival. A lot of their money also comes from tourism...selling handicrafts to toursits trekking and selling goods at markets in Chiang Mai.

Then we stopped at Maewang waterfall for a quick dip! the water was soo nice and much needed! Our last stop was bamboo rafting down the river, we thought this was going to be a bit boring but actually turned out to be the best part of the day. There was a guide at the front of the raft punting, 3 of us sat on the raft and then another guy punting at the back from our tour group. We had the guide who wanted to go the fastest and splashed most people and sank other rafts...needless to say we ended up soaked but it was really good fun. One poor Japanese girl really hadnt thought things through and was wearing a white Tshirt with no bra...for some reason our guide seemed to spend more time splashing her than anyone else!

Back to prison after our outing and then out for food and cocktails.