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My first trip out of NZ was to Thailand. I did a 10 day tour with Kumuka travel. There were 16 in my group and it was a real mix of personalities, nationalities and ages. I got to Bangkok at about 11pm so just headed straight to the hotel for bed. The hotel was definitley the nicest I have ever stayed in. The next morning I met the rest of the group and headed off for a trip around the sights of Bangkok. Had my first ride in a tuk tuk, went on a boat ride up the Chao Phraya river, then to the grand palace and Wat Pho both very colourful and impressive, we had the afternoon free so a group of us went to some markets. The next day we headed to the floating markets then off to Kanchanaburi to visit the bridge over the River Kwai. The next day we visited Hellfire pass which prisioners of war built the pass from Thailand to Burma. Next we drove to Ayutthaya and had some lunch by the river we got a bit put off our food when we saw a badly decomposing body floating past!!. We spent the afternoon doing a bike tour of Ayutthaya on very old school bikes, lots of ruins here of very old temples. after a well deserved shower out the back of some dodgy pub we went out for dinner on a rice barge and then caught the night train to Chiang Mai. Arrived there early the next morning went to another temple with a great view over Chiang Mai - had to climb alot of steps to see the view though. That night we went to the Night markets which were great I did most of my shopping here. The next day was the start of our jungle trek, our destination for the first night is a village about 4 hour walk away. The track was very slippery as it is the rainy season so there was lots of falls along the way. We stayed with the villages in there homes, the accomodation was very different to the hotels we have been staying at for the past 4 nights, there was no electricity or proper toilets, but after 4 hours of walking mostly uphill in very humid conditions we were very happy to be there. We got the next morning off walking as our mode of transport was elephant. it was amazing we spent an hour and a half on the elephants going down river and along the river bank when the river was too deep. We stopped for lunch then carried on to the next village on foot. It was a similar set up to the night before except they had a shower (just a hose on the wall really) but it was the best shower I have ever had. Lots of really gorgeous kids at this village. The next day we were off walking early again but only for a couple of hours then we got to do the final part of our journey by bamboo raft, that were made right infront of us which was very impressive to watch. We got back to Chiang Mai late in the afternoon had a real shower and caught the sleeper train back to Bangkok. Arrived at about 8am the next morning I just spent that day walking around markets, getting a Thai massage and a manicure. That night was our final night as a tour group so we went out for a few drinks. I flew to London at noon the next day, really wanted to stay in Thailand longer as I loved it so much, alot of my tour group were staying on and heading south to the beaches. I was very organised and got to the airport in plenty of time but managed to loose my passport at the airport, very stressful experience - I cried, luckily some good person handed it in in time for me to catch my flight to London!!!!!
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