By Soul Solutions on
Monday, 14 May 2007
  After a lot of culling etc we've finished playing with our pics we're uploading our pics.
If you want the short version the best of is here:
http://bronwenz.smugmug.com/gallery/2845629#152503668 
and the rest can be found here:
http://bronwenz.smugmug.com/Vacation/298124 
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By Soul Solutions on
Saturday, 12 May 2007
So we skipped the tigers, and watched 2 more movies...Next - Nicolas Cage which wasn't bad and Shooter - Marky Mark which filled in time. So now we're at the airport..and waiting for our flight like 4 hrs away..and then home. Been a great trip.
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By Soul Solutions on
Thursday, 10 May 2007
 So we fly into Bangkok again today..only a few days before our journey home. We're over temples and after something to do...so we go for a journey to the cinema to see Spiderman 3. The movie is crap by the way...so mushy and BORING!!!
The interesting bit was getting our tickets..they have 3 classes of tickets, and when you buy you pick your allocated seat. So there's opera..which are big cushy pairs right at the back of the cinema which are about $15 each. Then there's "honeymoon" which recline with the lifting arms (like at AMC at Sunnybank) which is the back 1/2 of the cinema..these are about $5 each and then there's standard..which is the stiff normal seats like you'd find at BCC at Carindale..these are the ...
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By Soul Solutions on
Thursday, 10 May 2007
So we slept in today..so there really wasn't much point in hiring a car. Instead we used the vouchers i'd snigged at the airport with free transportation to the monkey place. So we get the hotel to call for us and are booked for the 1pm pickup...yay...time for some breakfast/lunch before we go. 
The place we're going to has the monkey training school, bungey jumping, and buggies. We're met in our transport by other small groups that are going buggying or bungying. By the time we get there we're considering the buggy rides but i've got a nasty sore on my leg that i'm trying to air so it scabs..and I really don't want to get dirt in it or rub it against the supplied overalls...so i'm not keen.  Read More »
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By Soul Solutions on
Tuesday, 8 May 2007
Today we get a private tour to the handicraft villages in Chiang Mai. Our guide has forgotten us so the hotel rings him for us. Works out well as it gives us some time to grab breakfast. There's somethig wrong with his van...it keeps beeping like there's a door open..oh well.
So we visit a silk factory, silverware factory, umberella factory and lacquerware factory. All give you a little intro to show you how they make the products and then you're in the store. There's lots of cool stuff, all hand made with lots of detail etc. I buy a couple of small things that will fit in my bag and won't break. If you're a shopper you could spend forever here...there's so many different things you could buy. 
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By Soul Solutions on
Tuesday, 8 May 2007
We get up pretty early for a huge breakfast..we're talking a whole watermelone, 3/4 loaf of bread + a huge dish of something else...my foot is so sore (I can hear my Mum saying "why do you play those silly games?") so i strap it up tight and hope for not too many hills. 
So we set off...what's worse than hills for a sore ankle...crossing a river with round, slippery rocks. We cross this river not once...but probably 20 times...i seriously lost count. We'd cross, walk along the bank a bit and then have to cross again. It's still raining a bit so all the tracks are also really slippery.
We walk/cross the river for a few hours and then go cross-country till we reach a hut for lunch. Lots of food ...
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By Soul Solutions on
Tuesday, 8 May 2007
We get up and are met with breakfast...too much food again...won't be complaining about being hungry. So today we go to see a tribal elder, a cave (no crawling this time) and sleep in the Karen village.
We meet our guides for the next 2 days. One speaks a few words of english and the other none at all. So off we set and get to this little village where we take a seat. The guys sit around smoking, and drinking tea. They've picked up some corn husks on the way and use them as cigarette papers. The local chickens etc are running around the woodstack looking for food.
We get some handmade bracelets which the elder (not sure what the correct term for him is) then puts on our wrists. They look a bit like friendship bracelets that were all the rage when i was in late primary school.&n ...
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By Soul Solutions on
Tuesday, 8 May 2007
So this morning we get picked up for the start of our 3 day jungle trek. It's raining so we'll be needing our raincoats...So after a 1 1/2 hr drive to Chiag Dao Nest we get our brekkie and organise our bags. We've culled down the medical supplies to only essientials and are taking 2 changes of clothes each..plus all the camera gear.
So first it's a 40min ute ride with John and I swished in the front trying to be as unobtrusive as possible with the gear stick for the driver. Here we meet our first guide who takes us down a ridiculously steep driveway and wander through a village to a hut where we leave our stuff. Here we get 2 local guides to take us to the cave. I was thinking we go to a little cave and just check it out...how wrong was I.
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By Soul Solutions on
Friday, 4 May 2007
While at the cooking course i went to show some monkey pics...but couldn't find them. On closer inspection all the pics from Wednesday - monkeys, and night pics of ruins are gone!  I'm hoping they're in a directory and the camera is having issues witht he card or something....
To top things off my ipod is playing silly buggers and won't download pics..so the card had better not die or i'll be very, very  . So i've switched to a different card and crossing fingers those pics are still there and that it doesn't loose any more.
So we're off on a 3 day trek tomorrow so no more internet for at least 3 days. Let me know what's going on at home etc.
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By Soul Solutions on
Friday, 4 May 2007
Today we learn how to cook. We get picked up and taken to the cooking school. We are joined by 2 Brittish boys. So after choosing the dishes we want to eat, our instructor takes us to the market to buy the ingredients (an no..we don't have to buy the live chicken and kill it). 
Our guide takes us through and goes through all the different ingredients. There's lots of different looking veges e.g. eggplants that look like mini-watermellons etc.
Then it's off to cooking. We make 6 dishes..all very yummy and are given our cookbook to take home. It was all really easy to make..just gotta see if we can get the ingredients when we get home. Definatly recommend doing a cooking course..very full now... ...
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