Today we booked ourselves in to a very touristy tour to Doi Inthanon national park, we got picked up about 8.30 and started out on a 2 hour drive south of Chiang Mai.

Our first stop was at the highest point in Thailand, it's about 2500 metres and unfortunately there was little to see as it was quite cloudy. At least we can say we've been there, the temperature that high was about 8 degrees so pretty nippy compared to the 35+ days we've been used to.

Next up was a Mong market where there was plenty of freshly grown produce to buy, Rach and I went half on some sliced melon, so refreshing.

We grabbed some lunch and got chatting to a nice Chinese couple in the tour with us, they were nice people and kept apologizing for their "bad" English.. Better than my Chinese ;-)

So after that we headed to a small village and it was quite uncomfortable, for me at least, I'm sure these guys don't want a load of tourists walking round taking photos of how they live, I'd be right annoyed if someone did that to me. Some of the women were
weaving scarves and table cloths, these take a week or more to inish and sell for 250baht (£5) at a market. Rough deal.

Next up was a few waterfalls, the last one we visited was pretty hugemongous, must have been a 25 or 30 meter drop, was pretty amezin so I jumped the barriers and went for a little paddle to cool down.

On the way back Rachel fell asleep and I have a hilarious photo, I'll try and get it up on flickr soon.

Tonight we've just gone to a few bars and enjoyed a few beers with out 100 baht spaghetti bolognese.

Chiang mai is preparing itself for the new years festival next week and I think we will both be sad to leave it behind, it's been so nice here, will have to come back, the people and atmosphere is awesome.

Wow, last night was mental! The thunder storm lasted through to the
early hours, the sky was lit up with lighning and loudest cracks of
thunder I have ever heard, it was like a bomb going off.

We woke about half 7 and blearily made our way outside where we had
yet more rice and veg to eat for breakfast, thankfully there was toast
and jam so that went down well.

We set out about 9.30 and none of us wanted to walk another step,
regardless we had to (unless we fancied staying on the mountain).
We walked for half an hour and fortunately it was slightly easier
(still harder than anything I've ever done before, but easier none the
less).
Our first stop was at the elephant camp, these beasts are crazy big,
we got on to the little seat they put on top and started riding
around, it quickly turned out that our elephant, Misuzu, was going to
be particularly mischievous and fancied going for a meal, we went a
bit off course and after a light snack (a few trees!) we met back with
the others, the driver (what do you call an elephant driver) let us
get out of the seat and sit on the elephants shoulders with our legs
behind its ears as it walked along, it was pretty fun, they're a
really odd texture and have long prickly hairs, there's a bit behind
their ears that is really soft too - random.

Next up was a few more hours of walking through the jungle, our guide
Noom almost caught us a snake! At some points we were walking along
these little mud walkways about 8 inches wide next to a very big drop
down the mountain.

You can not understand the relief we all felt when we came in sight of
the river and waterfall we were stopping at next, we hopped over 2
small logs over the river and stripped off before jumping in from the
top of the water fall, it's only about 4 or 5 metres but it looks a
lot higher when you have to jump from it. We managed to persuade
Rachel to jump too, check out her blog for a video.
It was the best feeling ever to plunge in to that river, cool down and
wash all the jungle crap off.

After a little waterfall shower and a swim we had yet more trekking,
yay, here the group seperated as 2 of the guys were doing a slightly
different itinerary.
We continued on until we got to a small farm in the middle of nowhere
yet it still had running water, electricity and satellite tv! crazy,
there were 2 tiny little puppies crawling around playing with baby
chicks, it was surreal.
I was completely screwed by this point, did not want to go 1 step
further and felt pretty sick, I think the lack if sleep and no meat
made me feel pretty bad. Luckily this is where our truck was picking
is up.
We drove for about 40 minutes and arrived at our next activity, white
water rafting.

The river we were going down was quite small but the rapids were fun,
if a little slow, we got stuck a few times and it was pretty good to
have all that water to cool down in, after the rapids we jumped onto a
bamboo raft that took us further down the river for 15 minutes into
some civilisation.

As we were going down the river it was so cool, there were monks and
children playing in the water and we had a little water fight with the
kids. Everyone is alway so happy here, it's amazing. We passed under a
few guys building a bamboo bridge over the river, fascinating stuff.

This was the end of our little trip and we arrived back at the hostel
an hour or 2 later, sooo tired buy we could not go to bed, it was the
hostel owners birthday so we all went out for a meal n had some drinks
(from a bucket).

So that's about it. Laters peeps.

We got up early this morning thinking we were infor a gentle trek and
some nice scenery, never expecting to have such a crazy day.

We got picked up at 9 by our guide Noom, he was born on the mountain
we were about to climb. We picked up a few other guys from their
hostels, a nice couple from Switzerland and 2 Canadian firefighters,
we headed to our first stop, a butterfly farm, that was pretty lame,
we then moved on to a local market where they were serving loads of
cooked bugs and odd offcuts of pig trachea, intestines etc. Rach and I
took the safe option and just got some Oreos. Ha!

After a short drive we arrived at 1st base, we started walking and
after about 5 minutes were faced with a mountain, the only way was
straight up, the guides cut us some bamboo walking poles and it got
hotter and hotter and tougher and tougher as the day progressed.

We eventually made it to our first stop after 2 hours of gruelling
heat and extremely tough terrain, Rachel had to be helped out quite a
lot but we were here, a bat cave, unfortunately batman and robin were
out but we did see a few of the little critters hanging around.

The guides had been collecting plants all day for our dinner and after
another 2 hours or so of trekking we got to the village where we would
be spending the night. I tell you it was such a relief, mylegs were
about to give way and we desperately needed more water.

We're staying in a little bamboo hut with about 10 beds side by side
on the floor (very cosy). The first thing we wanted was a nice shower
and what we found was interesting to say the least, imagine an open
bamboo hut with the worst toilet you've ever seen, now imagine a pipe
up the wall next to it with a tap that shoots out cold water. The
shower was brief but refreshing, we would have washed in anything
right then.

After a short relax and a cool beer dinner was served, we all sat
around a huge table, the food was amezin and there was enough to feed
us 4 times over.

After dinner the guides and there friends from the village joined us
for drinks (one villager got very drunk and was singing to Rachel ..
"Baby i loooooove yooouuuu" it was so funny. A few of them played
guitar whilst teaching us some puzzle games with matchsticks.

Then the thunder storm came, all of a sudden we had a tropical
downpore and wind that could blow you over, our clothes and towels we
had out to dry scattered everywhere and even the locals said they'd
never seen it like this! So now we are tucked up in our beds looking
forward to tomorrow when we should be elephant riding, White water
rafting and jumping off of waterfalls before returning to the hostel

Night!

It's been a busy day already, we arrived at the station 3 hours late and
hopped into a tuk tuk, our hostel was a bit of a shock to begin with, it's
like a student house with people and stuff everywhere, as we arrived a group
of rather loud girls were leaving and making a right fuss and we wondered
what we were walking in to.

We got chatting to Hayley and Ryan in the living room and decided we'd all
head out for a full body Thai massage they had heard about at a womens prison!

After a very long and confusing tuk tuk journey (driver got very lost -
twice!) we arrived and oh my god it was amazing, I've never been felt up by
a female Thai prisoner before but I sure can recommend it. The little thai
lady (about my age) laughed because my body kept cracking so much, I thought
I was falling apart when she put me in all these random positions and pulled
me about, it was really good, digging elbows in and finding nerves I never
knew existed. Lastly she lay behind me and picked me up backwards on top of
her with her knees! I swear your body isn't meant to do that, my back was
making the oddest noises.

Try at home tip: pull your toes (in a pull my finger type way) it feels so
odd!

After that unique experience we headed to a little local restaurant nearby
and the 4 of us had a cooked meal and a drink each for a total of 173baht.. you can live like a king here!

We've booked ourselves onto a trek tomorrow and Thursday (camping over night
in a forest somewhere) we'll be riding elephants and water rafting as well
as lots of scenic walking and what not.

Think we'll spend a while chilling at the hostel then head to the night
bazaar tonight for a wander and some food.

It's nearly 7pm and we have made it on to our train, currently "speeding"
our way to Chiang Mai. So far it has been incredibly bumpy and noisy,
thankfully the iPod keyboard is really good at guessing what you are trying
to say. I really hope it flattens out a bit through the night.

We should be on this train for over 14 hours (there's been a delay), luckily
we have a nice American guy next to us called Evan. He's a bit of a geek web
developer with an ipod touch too so been chatting away to him and drinking a
few bevvies. Dinner will be arriving shortly, I'll let you know how (or how
not) to eat soup on a bumpy train!

...1 hour later...

Ooook then 2 interesting experiences, soup was rubbish so eating it was not
neccesary, the majority of the rest found it's way ok.

The other was the little squatty loo whilst on a moving train. I now have a
new low for toilet hygiene comparison purposes.

Our bunks have been set up and Rachel is on the top (I convinced her top was
best, muhahaha). They are pretty comfy but the train is still bumpy as
anything. I really hope that Rachel doesn't spot the cockroaches before we
go to sleep! Tonight will be interesting!

... In the morning...

Ok well sleeper trains suck, they should be renamed try and sleep but fail
miserably trains. Managed to get 3 or 4 hours sleep but like a half hour at
a time. Rachel spotted a cockroach but we were pretty much up by that point
anyway, was rather funny and she's paranoid now LOL.

On the plus side the view from the window is pretty amazing, heading through
large farming plains with mountains in the distance. Banana trees and tiny
kids riding mopeds to school.

Just been informed we have about 30 minutes left which means we've now been
on here 15. Not sure what we are going to do in Chiang Mai today, maybe go
temple hunting, will ask at the hostel when we get there to drop our bags
off.