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OK i know ive been slacking with my blog. Im gonna try and make up for it now but im in a bit of a rush because we're going to a full moon party in a bit!Ok so i think i left you when i was in Chiang Mai. To sum up i really like Chiang Mai- it wasnt overly beautiful and there wasnt huge amounts to do but at that time in our trip it was perfect. In India me and Emma stayed together most of the time. Neither of us felt safe enough to go out alone apart from in Goa really. So in Chiang Mai we got a chance to split up a bit and spend some time exploring by ourselves which was fun as i could wondering around for as long as i wanted discovering things as i went. We then headed to Mae Sot for a stop over before Um Phang. Not a lot happened in Mae Sot as we were literally were there for one night. One thing did happen though...In hostels/guesthouses/hotels/beach huts/bungalos we have a general unspoken rule that neither of us use the blankets provided. However cold it gets we never go near the nit infested blankets. We put extra jumpers on, rap ourselves in sarongs use the sheets and towels provided but never the blankets. In fact when we first walk in a room if there are blankets on the beds we take them straight off. Well when we first walked into out room in Mae Sot I thought to myself 'what nice big fluffy pink towels they've provided us with.' Later Emma told me that initially she had thought the same but then realised it was a blanket that looked like a towel. She also told me that she had thought 'I bet Sophie thinks its a towel. I bet she uses it' but then she thought 'No, Sophie isnt that stupid!' Well turns out I am as i plodded back from the shower to our room I noticed that the 'towel' wasnt towel material and also noticed that it smelt kinda musky... like a blankets! As i walked back into our room I said to Emma 'I think im in a blanket!' Emma cracked up and told me to go and have another shower!!The morning after the towel/blanket incident we told out motorbike drivers that we wanted to get a coach to Um Phang. Unfortunately they misunderstood this for we want to travel in a tin can all they way to Um Phang. We waited where the motorbike drivers left us and a vehicle that looked like it was used for moving cattle pulled up. The driver called out Um Phang and for a brief moment I thought that this must be for all the luggage. This thought was burst when all the other people waiting piled in. There me and Emma were with all eyes on the only westerners in the tin can. There were about 30 of us piled in- there were people sitting on the roof, on the floor and clinging on to the back. Miraculously I managed to sleep the whole 5 hour journey! In the end it wasn't bad at all it was a lot cheaper than a coach and much to emmas annoyance and resentment I managed to sleep!! Hehe!Um Phang was a tiny tiny village but very very beautiful. We stayed somewhere very nice and friendly and had a double bed each!! The two days we spent in Um Phang we spent with a Thai family who sort of adopted us. It was really nice to be in a family environment for a little while and to feel looked after for a bit. There were 10 of them and me and Emma never really figured out who was married to who or whos child was whos but for two days we had 2 mums 3 dads and 5 brothers and sisters. They hardly spoke any English and the Thai we've picked up is very limited so we had whole conversations with a lot of smiles, laughing and gestures, this I've come to realize is the language understood by all. Our first day in Um Phang we went to see a waterfall with the Thai family we had a lovely morning and we all went swimming in it and took some great photos. Then we went orange picking and to a temple. In the afternoon we went elephant riding…Elephant riding was not something I was too bothered about doing but Emma really wanted to do it so I thought I'd go along for the ride turns out I probably should have left it to Emma. Emma happily skipped onto the elephant I was a little wary and followed cautiously behind as I began to get up the elephant decided to stand up and do a huge fart. So I was left dangling with Emma clinging on to me and me trying to cling on to the elephant. The smell was very bad to say the least. This was a not a good start. Lets just say the elephant ride was a once in a lifetime thing. Thankfully I wont have to do it again! The Thai family very kindly offered to drop us at our next destination- Phitsanulok as it was on their way home. Instead of sitting in a tin can for 10 hours we got to sit in an air-conditioned mini bus with leather seats that reclined. The journey only ended up taking 7 hours in the mini bus and we stopped at markets and nice placed to eat. We were very grateful. We liked Bangkok so much that we decided to have a one day one night stop over there before heading to Surat Thani. From Surat Thani this morning we got a ferry to Ko Samui. Ko Samui is incredible. It's a big shame that its so touristy. Me and Emma do all we can to avoid westerners at the moment because they tend to burst our traveling bubble. So its taking a bit of getting used to being here. Tonight we're getting a speed boat to the full moon party so that should be lots of fun!
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