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Greetings! its been a long time since my last entry but ive been trekking in north thailand and was cut off from the world for some time. chiang mai is so much better than bangkok, its much more chilled out and not everyone here is constantly trying to rip you off! first night here we went to watch the FA cup final where i met up with Carlito (they call him that here) and sam. was good to see some friendly faces but we only had one night on the lash cos i was off trekking the next day and carl was leaving for cambodia.
trekking was amazing! best thing so far, we had a great group of people (mainly americans) and some really funny guides. our first day was by far the hardest actual trekking but me and chick really enjoyed the challenge. weather was the hottest we've seen in asia which made the climbing that much more exhausting (loved it). several hours later we arrived at the village where we would spend our first night. this was everything we expected and the locals treated us really well (if only for our money). our hut was basic but clean and our guides had ensured that a cooler filled with cold beers was always full. sitting on the balcony overlooking the mountains (amazing views) we got chatting to locals and our group members. it was only when it came for a couple more bevys that i noticed the french in our group were taking note of every can we had and although my french is pretty basic is was obvious that they were making a point to have more than the english. not wanting to rise to the challenge as i was happy with chatting to everyone i just ignored them. chick on the other hand proceeded to challange the biggest french guy to a france v england drinking competition. sixteen cans later and a whole load of england/france banter chick was victorious as the french guy could only manage the fourteen (these were mini cans).
next morning we set off towards our second village which was 5 hours trek away. chick was feeling a bit rough but�it was all self inflicted so no simpathy-�a quick dive in the river soon sorted him out anyway.�on route we were guided to a couple of waterfalls where we all had a swim and a laugh. it was only when i seen a watersnake come past when i decided to move on otherwise i would have been there all day. next came the elephant riding which was really fun. me and chick got the biggest elephant but he was a greedy b****** and wouldnt move unless we kept feeding him bananas (even the elephants demand payment). white water rafting was next on our cards and was something i'd really been looking forward to. our guide informed us that as this was the dry season in north thailand that the rivers werent as rapid as normal however i still loved it and ill definitely be looking to do it again soon on our trip. bamboo rafting was very slow and a bit boring however when it got a bit exiting when a herd of elephants were blocking our path further down the river. i was steering the bamboo raft at this time (with the help� of our guide) but the elephants refused to move. it was only when one elephant started charging at the rafts that our guides had to take action with catapults and bamboo sticks, harsh but better than being victim to an elephant charge.
we are back in chiang mai now and happy to have our basics back. we went out with carl and sam again last night which was very messy but really fun. carl didnt make it to cambodia as he got to bangkok and realised he only had 2 pound in his account. next for us is pai which we leave for this weekend. hope you enjoy trekking pictures, i have loads more but takes to long to upload. stu
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