Stacey's Travels

So the plan for the last 4 days in the sun in Krabi & Phi Phi didn't quite go to plan. That was because the sun was no where to be seen for the last few days.

Although we did make it out on the day trip to see the sights including 'the beach' can't say was that great considering how many other people were also there! We had about an hours worth of sunshine before it rained for the rest of the day - so romantic sunset in the evening for us - we were back on land well before that.

So what to do when it rains - go for another massage of course :-) and manicure & pedicure. Then hire a DVD player and watch lots of movies for the rest of the day.

Luckily we were in Krabia and not Phuket - so am safe and well. Feel so sad for all the people on that plane and can't help but thinking that it could have been me. Am now back in Bangkok and flying back to London tonight. Looking forward to seeing everyone there.

Can't believe that's 4 months over already. Oh no now I need to think about things like a job and somewhere to live.. Oh at least that can wait until tomorrow.

Stacey

So back in Chiang Mai on Saturday - survived the bus ride ok, and spent the afternoon/evening shopping for souvenirs & gifts. We had some dinner at one of the seafood places at the night bazaar which turned out to be a bad decision. Without going in to any more details then the fact that I was ill and all we did on Sunday was move to a better hotel with air conditioning so I could sleep for the rest of the day - and a ban on seafood for the rest of the trip. Needless to say that was a low point.

Luckily was feeling much better on Monday for a visit to the Elephant Nature Park. http://www.elephantnaturefoundation.org/go/park

They were fantastic. It is a nature park - the lady that started the park, 'Lek' is amazing. She has rescued all the elephants from different places - either logging or trekking or begging on the streets. She started about 10 years ago and has about 31 elephants there now. Some of their stories are so sad! There were elephants with really bad deformaties because of broken legs/backs and them still having to work. When they go through the training to work they are treated horrendously and in Thailand they are treated as livestock so have no legal rights. The numbers have reduced by 95% in the last 10 years. They think there are now less then 3000 in Thailand. All really sad - but on the bright side the elephants that were there were really well looked after and looked happy.

We picked up their food from the markets on the way there and then feed them lunch when we got there - bananas and watermelon for the one that we were feeding. Then we had lunch ourselves and after that went down to the river with them and got to wash them. They smell! and are huge - but were really gentle at the same time.

The baby elephant Papaya gave us kisses - he was inlove with Emily - she got about 15 kisses. He was so cute. After that we learnt some more of their stories where they had come from and how they had been rescued. Then watched a documentary on them, we also got to meet Lek the lady that runs the place. We even had a show put on for us by the No 4 male elephant known as the 'Gigolo' as he attempted to, then suceeded in mating with one of the females. Then another chance to wash them in the afternoon and of course to buy some souvenirs.

Here's a link to some of the pictures (trust me there are many more ) http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=20674&l=4e047&id=625845518

On Tuesday we did another cooking class (yes another one). It was just the 2 of us so we got to choose what we wanted to cook which was nice and the girl teaching was lovely and told us lots of other storied. Tuesday night we caught the overnight train down to Bangkok and then flew to Krabi. Stayed overnight there and today caught the ferry to Phi Phi.

So now on Phi Phi which is lovely - you can still see lots of traces from the tsuanami - but there are lots of tourists here and a fair amount of building work going on so things are getting back to how I imagine they may have been before then. We're planning a trip tomorrow around the island - to see 'THE BEACH' beach and other sites which should be good. Then a couple more days of relaxing...

Have finally updated some photos from the last couple of weeks..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stacey_chap/tags/uploads08sep07/

More plans for the next couple of days - another cooking class and we're going to the Elephant Park on Monday... will update after that.

Stacey

Although the original plan included white water rafting and trekking I have to admit - it hasn't happened. Instead we've spent the last 3 days in Pai lazing by the pool reading, sleeping and relaxing. So really not much to tell.

We're heading back to Chiang Mai tomorrow morning - not looking forward to the 3 hours of winding roads hoping that the early start will mean I'm tired enough to sleep through it.

Will update again when I've actually got anything interesting to tell :-)

Stacey

Friday we decided it was time to do something instead of just travelling on buses so we booked in for a day's cycling tour around the countryside, visiting some of the local villages. The description sounded quite good and I thought would be similar to the trip I did in Vietnam.

The tour was great - and was really good to see the countryside and the villages - but my mountain biking experience (ie nil) and a very hot day - meant it was VERY HARD WORK! Cycling was through dirt tracks for most of the day - will admit I walked up most of the hills. Lunch was under a bamboo hut in the rice fields and was a treat of different Lao dishes - really tasty.

In the afternoon we stopped at a weaving village and watched them demonstrate - fiddly work, it takes them 2 days to finish 1 scarf. We bought about 10 between the 2 of us - figured was better then at the night markets in town. Also had a taste of the village brewed - Lao Lao whisky. Not going to be a beverage of choice. Left there about 5pm - thinking we were nearly home. Only to be told we had another 25km to cycle. Admittedly it was on the road - so a little easier - but I was dying! Didn't think that my legs were going to work at all - never mind to get another 25 km.

Got in at 7pm - stopped long enough to get some chocolate then headed back to the guesthouse for baths and sleep. We were too tired to even go out and get some food, so chocolate for dinner it was and sleep!

We had booked on another tour Saturday - but figured we may not be able to move so delayed that by a day. There was a lot of whingeing going on on Saturday - and much justification of food that we were allowed to eat and of course another massage that I just had to have! But all in all recovered ok and had a nice day just wandering around town.

Sunday we headed off for our kayaking trip ( this is the info blurb from their website http://greendiscoverylaos.com/lp-k-23.htm ) a little wary of what it might involve. There were 2 French girls that joined us and the 2 guides. We drove for about 2 hours out of the city where we got dropped off in one of the villages - again being the entertainment for all.

With Emily and I only falling into the river twice (at least we managed to keep the kayak the right way up) we had a great day - the rapids were quite small and actually not that many in the end - apparently the rivers aren't as high as they would normally be. So most of the day was spent floating down the river - very enjoyable.

We stopped at about 4:30 to stay at a village for the night. The village was very basic - no electricity, although they had a tap with running water. There were 45 families living in the village, about 250 people. Lots of kids who at first were scared of us and running away - but eventually ventured closer. Was actually when we started taking photos of them that we won them over - they loved seeing them on the screens. And we became village photographers for all of the families. Lots of fun.

We stayed overnight there in one of the house. Our guides cooked us a lovely dinner and a couple of rounds of Lao Lao shots. We stayed upstairs in the house on matresses on the floor covered with mosquito nets was just like camping. Woke up with the roosters at about 5am - but managed to snooze for a couple more hours before we breakfasted and set off again.

Kayaking today was a little more effort - the river wasn't flowing as fast and we were getting lazy :-) But still had a great day -and caught some sun inbetween the rain showers.

I'm trying to upload my pics now - but not having much luck - so will send this as it is and then try again next chance I get.

Tomorrow we're flying to Chiang Mai - to stay in the North for a week or so - plans for some more trekking, elephants and of course another massage or 2..

Hope everyone is well.

Stacey