Back in Chiang Mai and survived the hilltribe trek in the mountains. Aside from a few minor scraps, bruises and sore muscles. Definitely challenging and out of my comfort zone, but you need to do that every once in awhile. Keeps everything in perspective and you appreciate what you have.

My advise for anyone that wants to do this, is start your trip with the trek, then go to the islands where you can sit on a beach, drink Singha beer and get Thai massages for nothing.

Day 1 - Left on Wednesday morning and stopped at the local market for food and provisions. The trek the first day was the most difficult. We hiked for 6 kilometers (about 3 miles if I did the math right), which was majority straight up the mountain. Stopped in one Karen village to visit. My guide has been doing this for 18 years and knows all the tribes people. Ended the day at another Karen village where we spent the night. The scenery and views were beautiful throughout the entire trip. It was just me and my guide the entire trek, however, another group stayed at the same village so that made it more fun. The group consisted of one American that is going to university in Rolla (small world), two young guys from Australia that were crazy and hilarious (fits the bill for all Aussie's I've met) and two couples; one from Holland and one from Germany. I was glad they were there because we had a ton of laughs around the fire, getting to know one another and solving all the world problems.

Both days the weather was perfection and couldn't have asked for better. Warm (but not humid) during the trek, but chilly at night. I would guess around 45 degrees. We slept in open air huts that are built on stilts so the pigs and chickens can't get to you.........yes, I said pigs and chickens. No mosquitoes or any bugs for that matter so that was good, but the tribe supplied us with mosquito netting anyway. I had gotten malaria pills from NW Travel Clinic, which I was instructed to take two nights before being in the mountains. I took them the last night in Phuket and felt so sick that night and the entire next day in Chaing Mai..........nauseous, headache and was having very strange dreams. When I told my guide that first day in CM, he said I would not need them that there were no mosquitoes this time of year in the mountains. The rainy season had just ended in October and it was the best time to trek. He was right and glad I didn't take any more so I felt back to normal by the time the trek started.

The villages are very primitive........no electricity, however, they did all have fresh water from the mountains that they filtered and ran into the village. The first night I did use it to 'shower' (or more like hose off), but it was so cold. Felt good after the long day of trekking though. There were 'toilets', but I use the word loosely. More like the local asian toilets where you squat over a hole and then flush with water by hand. Quite the balancing act needed. My biggest fear was that I would need to go during the night. It is pitch black and really didn't want to have to do that.

My guide cooked both dinner and breakfast everyday and the locals let me try what they cooked also. So hot and spicy and they got a good laugh at my reaction. They eat noodles and rice at every meal.

Day 2 - Started the morning after breakfast for a 2 kilometer trek to a Lisu village where from there we took elephants to the next village. At first I was happy to rest my muscles but after an hour on a elephant, your behind doesn't feel very good. Slept in a Lahu village that night. The people were a little more interactive than the first village, but still very quiet. That was the only disappointing thing........I thought we would have more interaction with them and listen to stories and how they live, but that didn't really happen. My guide and others were from one of the villages so they did all the explaining. There was one little boy in the Karen village the first night that was wanting to play, but then would run away. The next morning as we were hiking out of the village, he came running out of his house and yelled while waving, 'goodbye falong' which means foreigner. I thought it was very cute.

Day 3 - The Lisu village is situated on a river (Mae Taeong I think?), so in the morning we took bamboo rafts for about 2.5 hours and from there picked up by truck and driven back to Chiang Mai. The rafts were about 15 bamboo stalks wide and you stood on them. The river is low so there were many rocks and rapids. My guide and the other guide did a great job and we never spilled over. Saw others that did and the water was so cold. There was one that kept on sinking and the guides were laughing at their friend and calling his boat the Titanic. He was literally cutting down more bamboo to rebuild while the tourists sat on the beach.

The entire country is preparing for the King's 83rd birthday. There will be celebrations everywhere. His birthday is December 5, which shares my brother. Coincidentally, he's the 'king' also.

Well, that's it for now. Flying to Bangkok tonight and staying near the airport. Will need to be at the airport by 6am.

I'm trekk'd out, wated out, buddha'd out, shopped out, tuk-tuk'd out and might even be thai fooded out! Well, maybe one more noodle dish.

I will upload pictures either from Bangkok or home. Computer just too slow here.

Lagone (goodbye) for now.