Oh My Buddha!

D's birthday morning turned out to be a bit of a grumble. We had somehow managed to bag the only two non reclining seats on our 10 hour night bus to chiang mai. Vision ten hours of a rampacked bus; D sitting bolt up right in said chair whilst R , controvertialy slightly more reclined, was suffering regular involuntary twitches thanks to the incessant squeecking of one passenger's fully reclined seat, to which they were, of course, blissfully unaware. Add to this, arctic aircon (a force which even our sleeping bags couldnt reckon with), a driver who insited on bombing it up every road AS FAST AS possible regardless of bends, turns, potholes or other vehicals and our jealousy at fellow passengers valium inducede states. we were not happy bunnies ; particularly when on arrival, at 7am, our bus company spent a good halfhour trying to sell us their full range of services.

Next we ventured to julie's guesthouse which had cult status in the Lonely Planet (aka the bible) as a packpacker haven. it diodint dissapoint - legend has it there is a man still there after 5 weeks.... We founds a delectable mix of chairs, sofas and cool thai cushions, pool table, an incredibly friendly reception area, honesty bar and roofterrace, along with hamocks etc. after D shamelessly announced to everyone in the vicinity that it was her bday we rented bikes and set out for a delish bday breakfast. aftre a snooze and freshen up, we decided to sample some 'authentic' thai culture - a muay thai boxing match - recruiting several other julie residents along the way. the highlight was the blind boxing round - picture three blidfolded men thrashing around and hitting anythign that came in their path - usually the ref...From here we went to a grungy warehouse style rooftop club with psychadelic murals and uv lights. we played bodyguards to the boys against the notoirious 'ladyboys' (who ahd allready instilled fear with their chearleader renditions of YMCA). Sunday evenign promised spectacular bargains at the night market however a little dissapointed we were drawn in to some fabulous live singing and after bumping into some more julie residents heade back for a pool tutorial. R's (inital) ability to pot only white balls, plus the chalk smeared on her face, marked us out as beginners but aftre some handy hints we soon improved...

aftre a few more days spent in CM, we decided it was time for a trek, cue P our tourguide aka 'happy hippy' our favourite thai. After meeting the group, day one began with an elephant hike, our fav member of the herd,was the incrediably boisterous 2 year old who did nothign but cause a nuisance of himself,holding the entire group up with a good bit of arse scratchinhg and other antics...and finally making off with D's shirt (whihc we did manage to reclaim you will be glad to hear..) The afternoon was concluded with a surprisingly arduous trek - 3 hours in the blazing heat - to reach our hilltribe 'bamboo hotel' as P had taken to calling it. the route was described in terms of 'little buddha' 'medium buddha' and 'oh!my big buddha' (think buddhist oh my god). Day two we spent rambling between beautiful waterfalls and had our first dip and sunbathe in thialand..at last! the evening was concluded with P's multiple 'bullshit' games which bamboozled us all but were surprisingly entertaining. We ended up spending mch time with P, helpin him cook (having a munch, sampling homemade whisky or moonshine as its called. it was really interesting getting a thai perspictive on politics - especially given the situ in Bangkok. the third day was a combination of white water and bamboo rafting where we well and truly earned our reputation as the squeeling english girls, needless to say we were attacked from all fronts...

as we arrived back to julie's, st patrick day frenzy was well under way and after initial enthusiasm , the trek took its toll so we abandoned the party people at the club entrance...this was rathewr amusing after rising the followuing morning and seein the faces of last nights die-hard ravers (whom one thai main literally pointed and laughed at) we were later to cross paths again at our Pai riverside bar under more fortunate circumstances..