The day finally dawned... we realised we should have started packing a lot sooner... and Gunny managed to drag me away from the kids!
This was where we stayed in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand.
Dinner by the pool was beautiful...
We had just one afternoon to see the local temples before heading off on our jungle trek.
On the way to the wilderness, we stopped to see the butterfly/orchid display which was gorgeous.
The sheer variety of orchids was amazing. I didn't realise that orchids grow hanging in the air!
We also stopped at the Mae Taeng market and there was so much fresh produce - there were eels swimming in bags and fish still flapping on big steel trays! The herbs and greenery was also abundant and very aromatic.
So many chillis, so little time....!
We drove out to the starting point for the walk and en route our guide was presented with two kittens as a present (as pets, not food!). The Thai people consider white cats with blue eyes especially lucky.
We walked for a few hours to the first village for the night. We were staying with the Karen hilltribe people. This was our bed...
This was the view... every shade of green imaginable...
And this was our dinner! Our guide carried all the food and cooked for us.
We took lots of photos of bugs for Zac!
And other insects...
Someone in the village had this 1 month old monkey as a pet! He was so cute, I wanted to bring him home to show the kids!
The obligatory elephant ride. I could not believe how agile and nimble these creatures are! We walked mostly through the river and our graceful pachyderm handled the extremely steep and rocky banks with ease and never put a foot wrong.
Our second hilltribe village by the river.
We also went bamboo rafting!!! Our local boy steering at the front was also fly fishing as we travelled. However to our alarm his line got snagged and apparently fishing line is hard to come by, as without hesitation he leapt into the river after it, leaving us drifting faster and faster downstream! He caught up eventually and we only came close to capsizing once or twice...
To our surprise, we also spent half an hour in Laos during a speedboat ride around the Golden Triangle. Snake water, anyone?
Gunny whacking the elephant gong.
Eventually it was time to leave Thailand and head down to Pangkor Laut, Malaysia. Here is our bathroom!
We stayed in one of these villas. The sound of waves crashing in the evening was very peaceful!
Ling & Ryan's wedding was beautiful and very emotional for everyone! The tea ceremony afterwards was a great way to relieve the tension as well with lots of laughs. Here we are dressed up at the beach (Emerald Bay) for the reception.
A mug shot of the gang with the wedding couple front and centre!
Pangkor Laut was a very beautiful and relaxing way to end our holiday, and would have been very hard to leave...
... if it wasn't for the kids waiting excitedly for us at home!
Congratulations to Ling & Ryan on their marriage!
A big thankyou for Judy for minding the kids for the first two days we were away.
And an enormous elephant sized thank you to Jac & Andrew for driving over from Canberra to stay and mind the kids for the rest of the time!!!
