Chiang Mai ended up beinf brilliant, we had so much fun we didn't mind the other group and they went off and did their own thing. We took a sleeper train up there which was so comfortable: huge beds, a privacy curtain and air con. lovely. Arrived at about 8am and went off to book our white water rafting trip the next day. Then went to find a hostel. We tried to get into Julie's guesthouse which is in Lonely Planet and looked lovely but it was full so we went to this grim little one called Nat guesthouse round the corner. It wasn't very nice, lots of bugs and a bit dirty. and a really wierd guy sharing our room but I suppose that wasn't their fault. We got a tuk tuk to Wat U Mong which was really pretty and had lots of tunnels and a lovely lake. Rachel got shat on by a pigeon. Spent the afternoon lying in a really pretty park, but we couldn't move as it was so stupidly hot. That evening we went to the night market which had so many beautiful things but I was good and only bought a bracelet. oh and a top. There was then a mini monsoon while we were at the market so we got stranded there for a few hours. Rachel Bella and I left after this so we would be fresh sor rafting but Mike and the others stayed out and woke everyone up laughing at about 4.30am.
Sunday we got picked up and went rafting and it was soooo good. We went with a company called The Peak who are brilliant, really professional but lots of fun, they have the best job in the world. They drove us down this winding dirt track for about an hour, several times it looked like we were going to fall down a ravine into the river. Got there and had lunch and taught how to do everything and then got into our rafts. On the way in a huuge spider crawled up mikes leg and all the girls screamed. Then we set off. it was just brilliant, so so fun. We went down lots of little rapids and 5 or 6 big sets where we were just flying all over the boat. Half way through we had a really long drift down river with no rapids and we all got out and swam and floated along with the boat. The scenery was beautiful, we got all the beauty of trekking but got to stay cool in the water. I can't bum on about it enough if you're going to Chiang Mai you have to do it, it was one of the best things that we've done travelling.
Got dropped off at the train station and caught another lovely air conditioned sleeper back. They are so much more comfy than our beds here. We though we were getting in to Lop Buri at 4am so we all got up and dressed and then the attendant came and told us that we were running 2 hours late so we all trudged back to bed. Got a bus back to Twin House in time for breakfast and ready to start 'Culture Week' with real gap.
Culture Week is worse than Introduction week. There is even less to do and even more 'free time'. On monday we had a chat to some monks. I'm sure mike will have a rant about how most of us feel about some of the monks out here so I will leave it. Tuesday we set off for our temple stay which I was really looking forward to. It started off really well, the girls had a really nice little house to stay in and there were mats to sleep on and pillows which I wasn't expecting. We all had to rent these white pyjama things which made our group look like a group of mental patients. They were great I loved them. There are quite a lot of photos of us dancing in them and looking like idiots. We went to a temple and a really sweet monk taught us how to meditate. I don't know if I did it quite right but it was very calming and it was good to have someone teaching us how to do it properly. mike fell asleep. Then we went to where the boys were sleeping and did some chanting (which wasn't that great) and some more meditating. that is where it all started to go a bit wrong. We did some sitting meditation which was good and standing which was harder but ok. At this point lots of inch long flying ants started appearing. First they would fly around our heads, then along the ground, then they would have lots of loud buzzy spasms as they forgot how to fly and fell out of the air, lost all of their wings, crawled all over the ground and then died. We did walking meditation which was impossibly hard and the bugs were a bit offputting and then lying meditation which was awful as by this point there were bugs all over the carpet and they kept flying into our glowing white pyjamas. And it kept getting worse. Outside the windows we could see there were thousands (I am not exaggerating) of bugs underneath the lights, and the girls had to go through these to get to our dorm. The worst bit was the staircase to our floor. The bugs were like a solid wall and walking through them they got everywhere, in our hair, ears, under our clothes. As we walked and our feet lifted off our flip flops they would fly underneath so you would squash five or six with your feet with every step. Everyone was screaming and running around and it sounded like a horror movie. We managed to get up to our room and pull our group in before bolting the door (someone had left the bathroom lights on and there were hundereds in there, opposite our room). After blocking up all of the doors and windows (more were creeping in underneath the door) we turned all the lights on and each of us grapped a weapon and set about killing all of the bugs in our room. Five minutes later we were surrounded by hundereds of squashed dead bugs. Everyone then wrapped up in sleeping bags, rain macs, eye masks... to stop any bugs from landing on us as we slept, and swearing at everything we went to sleep. The next morning we woke up at 5am to do some more chanting and meditation. It was still dark and we had to go through the whole things again. It was awful, I am so scared from that night I now have a proper issue with bugs. When it was light and they had all died we could see piles inches thick of dead bugs. The wings were everywhere and it was just really disgusting.
Enough about bugs for a while, we went off with a monk as he walked round the town and collected food from all of the townspeople for the monks to eat. Then more meditation. Had some of the collected food but it was all cold and not very nice. And then finally we got to leave. I really enjoyed it and in ways it was hilarious, but it was also so so horrible and awful I would never ever stay there in the rainy season again.
Got back at 1pm, free time for the rest of the day. Thursday two massage instructors came to our house and taught us how to do Thai massage. Mike was my partner and hurt me so so much. I screamed in agony and laughed the whole way through. That lasted 2 hours, rest of the day was free time. Friday we went to a zoo which was really cool. There were bears that weren't behind cages, just dunks in the floor, and loads of lions and tigers, and orangutan that you could hold and a really big aviary you could walk around with lots of peacocks and vultures. Oh and 'rabbit paradise' which was an island with lots and lots of rabbits on. There were some baby angora (? the really fluffy ones) who were lovely. Then to a market that was crap. It was a local market for people to buy their food and childrens toys and tables. not really for tourists. Then back to twin house and more free time. We had a toga party that evening which was really good. Our gang played drinking games in Nina and my room first of all and got very drunk on a horrible mix of thai wiskey and something in between tequila and vodka. Then went to the bar where hardly anyone else was dressed up and just kept on drinking. Very funny but I can't remember that much of it. Lots of people were very sick the next day. Saturday I just lay around sleeping and watching south park with the gang.
Sunday we left for 'the resort' which sounded very exciting. Oh and we went to a Thai Tesco superstore which was very cultural. The resort had big room and air con so I was happy. Although the en suites had to be reached by a balcony which was the worst idea in the world and meant I had to deal with some more of the horrible flying ants that evening. mike was very nice and went and squashed lots of them for me. We spent the day playing in the pool and playing basketball. Next day the trekking lot (including mike, lucy and bella) left us and we have now come back to twin house. and i have to finish there as the internet cafe is about to close and i am being chucked out. xx
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