BTW sorry for the lack of grammer and spellling but when you are paying by the min for internet there is no time for that!!!!

so where were we...oh yeh we were treking to the elephant camp in the jungle, when we got there we had noodles, this place is so amazing, each of the elephants have there own minder who has been with them for years. the elephants take tourists on walks through the jungle during the day and then they are free to roam around the jungle at night - i thought this was amazing that the come back every morning but our leader said that they are really cleaver and they like what they do, they arnt chained up or restricted in anyway. sian and i were on one elephant -sanjy i think his name was! check out vid! he was enormous!! and so beautiful! it was so scary being so high up and they waddle from side to side, the path that we took through the jungle was really thin and had shear drops either side - we put our trust in our friendly giant and...closed our eyes!!!! hehe! they were just the most calming and sweet animal - we love chan chan chan (that thia for elephants) and we were singing the elephant songs to them that our leader taught us on our trek!

the elephants to us close to our next tribe village but they are not allowed into the village as apparently if they see the banana trees in the village they will remember and then the next night go and rade the tribs banana trees! they are so cleaver!

this village was bigger and had a school for the trib children to go to...we swam in the river and stayed in another wooden house but this time we had a room with the aussy girls -talk about loud snorers! that evening we had a walk round the village we made lovley spring rolls for dinner! we sat around the open fire while the local school children came and sang and danced! they were so sweet and funny! we also had one chap from the village who had been drinking alot of wisky and we think smoking abit of opium too by the looks of him join us for the evening...he was so funny singing songs and talking to all of us with his little english! he was trying to sell one of the school children for 30 bart and even went down to 20 ( like 40p!!) after none of us were taking him seriously! the poor kid! everyone we have met here have been so lovley and funny! the thia people really are brillant fun!

that night our leader Sung got out the guitar for a good old sing along and with all sense of reality gone out the window sarah even piped up with a solo! awfull!! hehe!

went to bed that night with the aussies snoring, the roosters making a racket and the dogs barking all night...when you are in a wooden hut it feels like they are all in your room too! no a wink of sleep for either of us!! sian and i have now resorted to having a thia beer every night for a sleeping remedie only of course!!

next day it was raft day! they made the raft in the village especially for us! when i say raft i mean raft not boat - literally bamboo strung to gether with long leaves! we had to stand the whole time - about 4,5 hours! as we were sailing down the river it was once again spider heaven with all the sandy banks covered like minefields of funnle webs!!! i was so upset! didnt cry tho even when one spider was on my leg! but i am now serverly traumatised- i thought facing your fears helped you...um i dont think so! it was really lovely tho and really showed you the jungle from a differernt perspective! after the raft we finished in a little village where we ate lunch and sianny fell in love...with a little sad puppy who adored sian and cuddled up to her foot! she was besotted! awh! see pics peps! sian was dead serious about bringing him and his flees home! ha! got back to chaing mai on the truck thing back to a hotel and had showers!!!! wooohoo! no washing properly for 3 days! it was great! so we were really proud of oursleves for our true thialand experience that we decided to treat ourselves by having some much needed western food - cheating i know but can you blame us - we were all done with noodles and rice, instead opting for the chicken salad, tuna sanwich and chips!! yum yum!

last day in chaing mai we went and had our thia prison massage!! the convicts were fab and did an amazing job on our very sore legs from the trek! and it only cost 150 bart for 1 hour!i think we were amazed at how they managed to get us into some very funny positions for stretching!! finished off the trip at the pool sunbathing!

tonight we travel by coach then the boat to the islands!!! sun sea and sand here we come!!!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx