Oh My Buddha!

We have returned from the bush! Although we are definitly a lot less pretty than when ew first went in. The bug bites on us are disgusting - not just musquitos but gross blood sucksing flies that levae ur skin swollen and red, and ants that give u bumpy bites that hurt! Not to mention all the scratches and bruises all over us. But we did have us a lot of fun.

Our first morning the group of us (Steph and I, Arie and Alex, Jacko, and two new people Kym and Jason) got driven about an hour away. First off we got to ride elephants which we have been excited about since way before we left Canada!!! Elmer, our elephant, was much like us in that he couldnt do much without eating in between. It took us a very long time to go not a very far distance cuz he kept on eating and eating and eating. It was so much fun though.

We then hiked for awhile until we got to our first waterfall of the trek where we went swimming and cooled off. After a few hours of hiking in the jungle, we always ended up at a waterfall for cooling whcih was alllwaaayyss nice and very appriciated! We hiked for a bit longer after then played a game of football (soccer) on a dusty soccer pitch that was very slippery!!!

The first night we all slept on mattresses in a little bamboo longhouse-like room (very "THe Beach") after eating yummy green curry, playing a round of Kings and hanging out by the fire. The village was beautiful and a great place to stay although the showers were the coldest thing that exists in the world (and we have gotten used to cold showers!).

The next day was rough. Around 6 hours of hiking altogether with the last 30mins being absolutly brutal and almost killing us. WE finally got to our place for the night which was right on a waterfall which doubled as our shower. Unforntunatly we only had bamboo floor to sleep on that night and also this village seemed to be the coldest place in Thailand. None of us really slept at all, it was the coldest night of my life (and I have been camping in -40 degree weather!).

The final day our muscles were shot and going downhill was extremly painful! A faily of dogs followed us the whole way, they were so adorable and entertaining. Finally, we got to our rafting site where we piled onto bamboo rafts and went down the river where chaos ensued. There were many times when we thought for sure we were going to die. A lot of raft jumping and torturing each other in the freezing cold water. And we almost lost yet another pair of flip flops!!! But in the end we emerged alive, still with shoes, and very very very very very wet. *no pics cuz we didnt have our bags*

Last night we relished in being back to normality. Went out for a large dinner then Jacko, Steph and I finally had messages while Arie got herself a pedicure. It was fffaaabulous. And only 8$! Still hurting, we might have to go back tonight! After messages we headed to a Thai boxing match! Very cool, weird and kinda funny at times.

Now we are trying to figure out our next steph. Going to Laos either tomorrow or the next day. Its going to be very hard to say goodbye to Thailand =(

**picture uploading is not co-operating today so thats why the lack of pics**