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After a brilliant night and lots of beers we woke up surprisingly fresh in our little fan cooled bungalow. We got up and headed down at 9am for breakfast. Toast, eggs, sausage, fresh fruit, juice, all the time with Thom asking if he could get us anything more to eat!
We finished and said our final goodbyes to the mahouts who had taken care of us so well, and the five of us from dinner set out on our day of adventure with our new guide 'Moon'.
In the songthaw we got as we drive to our first destination about 30 minutes away, a hill tribe village. Not particularly enjoyable as it all felt a bit staged, and it was filthy, but we did get a little interesting insight into how these places work. 30 mins later, we were back on the road.
We got out 30 mins later, and began our jungle trek. It was a good hour hike to our final destination, stumbling over rocky cliffs and walking over logs used as bridges and walking platforms, it was hot, but really quite beautiful. The destination was worth it as finally the waterfall and pool came into view. It was beautiful, tumbling clear water and a natural pool below, we inched our way into the freezing waters. Once in it was lovely, and we splashed around for a while before drying off and laughing (paul commenting on pink nipples) on the bamboo platform above the river, next to a hastily assembled wooden 7-11!!
It was a quicker walk back as they always are to the songthaw, where it was now one o clock do of course out came a meal of chicken fried rice, still warm in the banana leaves it had been wrapped up and stored in. These people just didn't stop feeding you!
Back in the car, it was a short drive to the white water rafting centre, where we all nervously approached the boats choosing not to think about all the cracked helmets etc. before setting off, we learnt all the commands. 'over left/right' meant we all had to go over to that side of the raft. Forward, forward harder, backward, backward harder, stop are all fairly explanatory. But 'on the job' meant back to your position.
We set off and it was really enjoyable. Water levels were low so it wasn't too rapid like, but there were quite a few thrills. A hilarious incident where we not beached on a rock and despite being instructed to get to the sides, the front, the back, we were all just crammed together pissing ourselves until the guide had to get out and un beach us!
It was a pleasant hour or do down the river, local kids would splash us and we would splash back, we past elephants on the banks of the river, and stormed into a group of girls in a raft as the had stopped, almost squishing one of the against the rocks. It was a really lively trip, such a shame we couldn't take a camera though.
After a while we came to a river bank where we were to get off onto the bamboo rafts. Now these aren't really rafts, or at leader not for five westerners. It was about a meter wide and five meters long, and predictably just long sticks of bamboo. With all of us on, we sat at least six inches underwater. David at the front doing a dry dubious job of steering with a long bamboo stick. Again, we had so much fun floating down river, looking around at other groups who seemed to be taking it all very seriously as we passed them or them us. We were just really enjoying the day. All over we got back and said goodbye to our river guide ('thank you, you're wellllcooooome') changed and got back in the songthaw for our hour and a not trip back to the hotels in Chiang Mai, just before we pulled out, we were given a polystyrene container each full of chicken pad Thai.they just don't stop feeding you!!
We were all shattered on the way back, but swapped email adds so we could share the pictures we'd taken over our stay, and David and I agreed to meet up with Paul and liz that eve for a final drink before they moved on to the islands down south.
We got back to Chiang Mai, said our goodbyes and one by one were dropped off at our hotels. We showered and changed and via email confirmed we'd meet up with Paul and Liz that night at the Bat Bar, a roof bar of the Pornping Hotel. After a ridiculously long walk to get there (that we didn't need to do, we just went the wrong way) we got up to the 22nd floor to find the guys who'd got there ten minutes before. After a couple of jugs and a tower of Chang and a few chicken and beef kebabs, we decided to move on as it was so quiet up there.
Down on the streets we paused to get Liz a watch at the markets, before moving on to find a bar. I decided I wanted to go up this sleazy arcade of bars, and we took a seat at the top near a Thai boxing ring, ignoring the please of all the girls as we did so.
Once we say down we got immediate attention from the girls, who eyed Liz suspiciously, and enjoyed a fight between a young Thai lad and a Thai dwarf (who was seriously kicking some ass). The dwarf won and came around collecting tips (for which Paul and Liz negotiated a photo with the dwarf). The fighting now finished for a while our attention turned to all the sad old white men being seduced by the girls, trying to dance with them to the latest tunes, before invariably going back to their hotels girls in tow.
We moved on to another bar where you were encouraged to write on the walls any messages you wanted to, and had some laughs with street vendors passing by the bar. Playing thumb wars with a young lad selling crappy roses, buying ridiculously offensive wrist bands (I'm ashamed to say mine said 'f*** retards') and Liz buying a vendors hat, we enjoyed a beer before moving on for our nightcap at 'Ben's Bar' a trolley on the street selling cocktails. We all had a long island iced tea as I remember, and had a good laugh, trying out my iPhone app Thai to varying levels of success and generally being drunkards, until it was time to say farewell to our new friends. We went home and collapsed into bed. It had been a long day.
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