Ratilanna Riverside Spa Resort Chiang Mai

... was a member of the Karen hill-tribe and spoke the language. After some 4 hours of trekking through beautiful landscape and some elephant riding we spent the first night in a village up in the mountains.....though we arrived at night and were housed at the very edge so as not to disturb the rest of the people. However when we kindly asked one family invited some of us in their home and answered all our questions (translated by the guide), offered tea and ...

... Mae, who taught the cooking class I attended today...all single and all eager to have new friends. I feel so lucky.....I receive daily emails or visits to my apartment from various different friends with invitations to join their activity of the day. <br>I now understand the enticement that Thailand has to offer. I have become very comfortable, almost too comfortable....but no worries, I will be home to the USA ...

... s as classy as the Tiger Kingdom.<br>We were a little disappointed however as the monkeys were not as well looked after as the tigers. There were lots in small cages and others chained to posts by the leg. Buying a little fruit for $1 for them sent them into a frenzy! However sitting in on the &#8220;show&#8221; meant we saw the &#8220;training&#8221; they do with them to teach them how to climb and collect ...

... down rocks like a dead cow and hit the sharp ones at the bottom. This did not help my nerves or my mood. Fi, I could see was already in her element and was prancing around gracefully. We climbed to the top of the waterfall and looked down. It was quite a sight, the first of many. After this we began the real walk. I was not happy. Uphill in Thailand apparently really means uphill and I struggled through the first 5 minutes before almost crying ...

... from the type of massage I've experienced before. The ancient Thai art of massage is linked to yoga and is all about working with pressure points and releasing energy in the body. Done right it is amazing. <br><br>After lunch we worked on the pressure points of the legs. So much to remember! Really enjoyed it though. I partnered an older French guy in the afternoon - I don't think I pressed hard enough though as he kept encouraging me to push down more. He ...

... hung out with Lek, Nid, Manod, Jessica, Chai, Kai and Pat. They are kind of a 'family' that centers around Lek's business - Chai and Nid's place of work - a bar called El Toro. Last night I went out dancing with Lek's daughter Jessica and I was thinking about how much fun we've had because of them. They took us to a gorgeous waterfall, helped us with our paper marriage (and were our witnesses), took us to an outdoor hotspring ...

... obuya" to the tribes - a general greeting/thanks in their dialect. The ride went on for quite a while and some of the views down the river were quite cool. Do not know how far downstream we went, but elephant speed isn't that quick!<br><br>We got off the elephants about mid-morning and got onto the bamboo rafting. [Apologies if this section isn't as detailed as ones before it, but I have done all this before, and will undoubtedly write this ...

... we headed up to Chiang Mai on the 16 hour overnight train. We decided on the cheaper option of 2nd class fan sleeper. Which meant that you got your own bunk, a fan shared between 4, and a curtain to hide yourself away from the other 39 people in the carriage. The train was not too bad, but it was 2 hours late getting in, and extremely hot in the middle of the day. Chiang Mai Chiang Mai is a really nice place, we found a brilliant hostel ...

... a reminder of my journey, the oppression of indigenous peoples everywhere and an advertisement to that all too general world since, lara nodded in approval of the gesture. telling me how she'd been six months in bangkok with an internship as part of her medical degree in barcelona, lara introduced me to claudia, her travel companion on a similar scholarship from portugal. adorable lara kind of had that penelope cruz, emiliana torrini cute look about her, a tiny catalan ...

... to a very nice gentleman's house and yard which he had set up with little tables under trellis' where one could order, beer, of course. Ice COLD beer mind you. A hard thing to find in these parts. He also offered palm reading (ahh, now we get the signs) as well as a bizarre version of golf which somehow utilized six irons, nets, and a mostly unmowed field with some flags - it looked too complicated and tiring so we skipped that part and concentrated on beer. We were ...