Chang Mei

We are currently in Chang Mei which is so much nicer than Bangkok...its much of the same but on a more relaxed level. We were only asked if we wanted to see a ping pong show once!!!
Today we went on an elephant ride which was great fun. Chris and I shared an elephant whose driver(?!) was hugely stoned which explained why our elephant kept walking off the tracks and tearing up anything in its sight with its trunk. We fed it bananas along the way which started out as a pleasant experience until we ran out of bananas and this huge trunk would suddenly become our view and blast elephant breath, snot and god knows what else! Think jurassic park!

Next we went on a bamboo raft down a river which was so so relaxing. I decided to stand up the whole way which was a big mistake as being at the back of the raft I took the brunt of every rock we hit. I kept my balance most the way until I heard Chris shout 'Oh God!' and before I knew it we were headed for the foliage on the bank where there was the hugest tree branch in front of me. I tried to be a jungle Jane and jump over it but realised that this was highly unlikely so instead got smacked by this log right into the water. Totally lost my sunglasses and as I started to look for them it dawned on me that I was stuck in the river while the raft was moving further away!! I grabbed a big boulder and clung on for dear life watching everyone laughing at me. I tried to stand up but the current was so strong it was impossible so I had to let go and I was swept down the river smashing my knees and bum on the rocks until I got back to the raft. It was really funny but now I have a huge bruise on my knee as well as hundreds of ant bites. I actually look like I have rabies!! By the end of the ride our raft was literally falling to pieces so it was really difficult to balance which, is when Chris took a slip! He did not fall in to the river but right on his back in the middle of the raft!!! So so funny!

All in all it has been a great relaxing day. Every bit of food I ate today was lovely and I have stopped taking my malaria tablets so was not sick. Yeah!! Tomorrow we leave ChangMei as we begin our adventure to Laos and I cant wait. We have to travel on a bus for 5 hours but after that we spend 2 days on a boat which sounds like a lot of fun. So for now its good bye to Thailand!! x