Chiang Mai

Hai there folks...

We're still in Chiang Mai.
Fatinha and I went into a little shop with beautiful jewels and so on. I told I was going to drink a coffee and go online. Here words were:"Don't leave me here alone!" with a look in her eyes like: "I won't be able to resist".
And yep, 20 min later she came here and showed a ring and a bracelet she just bought, haha, but the prices are very low, so better here then in Antwerp, no?
Yesterday and today I did a trekking in the mountains north of Chiang Mai.
First a ride on elephants (ok, typical touristic, but it was fun), then a walk into the mountains for 4 hours.
I have to say nature here is fantastic, I didn't see any special wild animals yet (nice butterflies though), but the rain forest smells fantastic and has amazing colors.
A yeah, probably you heard already that when it rains in a tropical country it is lots of water falling from the sky. Well, I discovered that it's really true! When it started to rain I took my rain jacket out of the backpack and by the time I was wearing it I was completely wet (underpants as well). To get an idea: go and stand with your cloths/shoes... under a shower. It's the same sensation.

The destination was a mountain village where we (we= me, Irish and Canadian dudes, a Belgian couple and German girls) spend the night in some local bamboo (!!!) huts.
Was nice: peaceful and very friendly locals with limited touristic behavior. Some of the group tried the Opium pipe! I didn't, opium is a step too far, but the result of the drug was rather relax, people who smoke a joint or drink a few beers look more waisted/stoned.

Today we walked down and did some rafting (Lesse by kayak is booooring!).
We got stuck on a big rock. I wanted to be the hero (again?) to put the raft good. I went into the water to push better but the water was too strong. I got stuck with my foot in a rope and the water kept me down! After a (too) long time I was able to loosen the rope and breath again... Lesson for today: stop trying to be the hero!

While I was away Fatinha had lots of fun (shopping in freedom!!!!) and did a visit to the long neck women. But that's for her to tell.

Tomorrow we'll return to Bangkok and we'll continue our travel to the neighbor country Cambodja, not to smoke opium, but to visit Angkor Temples.

I'm sorry, no pix because it's not easy to put them from our camera on the local PC's. Fatinha will show them in Belgium with GREAT pleasure over and over again!
She's sitting next to me and says:"WE are going to show them with great pleasure!". Hehe, she's correct, the first time I will show them with great pleasure.

I didn't try Thai massage yet... :-(
More stories later, time for Fatinha and for dinner.

Salutos,
Maarten