Trekking and Waterfalls

Last night for Billy’s birthday we went to an Italian restaurant about a 20-minute walk away, but we got a car that had proper seats, doors, roof, suspension and seatbelts; it felt so good to travel in comfort again, my car will feel like a limo when I get back home. The food at the restaurant was expensive and as a whole, small portions, except mine which seemed to be a decent size, although it was worth it as the food was very nice. I had a calzone with some cheesy garlic bread, there was so much flavour in the calzone and the outside was cooked perfectly, although in Thailand they don’t like to give out knives for some reason, so I struggled with a spoon till I gave up and had to request a knife. Tonight’s dinner cost me £36 which is so expensive for Thailand, although I probably should mention I also had a bottle of red so that was probably the main reason, but the food was more expensive than what we have been having. After we finished dinner, we went looking for somewhere to have a couple of drinks and a dance but there was nowhere that seemed suitable, so in the end we headed back to the hotel and all sat on a large seating area with some music. I headed to bed at midnight, so not too late as I did not want to be too much of a nuisance to others in the hotel or my room mates as I tried to get ready for bed. I succeeded in not disturbing Daisy and Georgia in my room as I got ready. I felt as if the dynamic of the group made a slight change last night, by this I mean people started mixing more. I also believe that for a couple of days, I forgot the real reason I was here and rather than living in the present and enjoying the moment, I was concerned about what others were thinking of me, so I was not allowing myself the opportunity to be open to listening to people and tonight, when I did begin talking to everyone, I realised that actually, everyone here is nice and they are not as intimidating as what I initially thought and simply, are all here for the same reason as me; to discover new things as well as allow themselves the time to grow. It is amazing what the power of a change of thought pattern can do.

The alarm went off at 7.30 this morning and once again I did not want to get up but rather than not sleeping well, it was as I had been in such a deep sleep that it took me some time to properly wake up this morning. I have to say that although the bed looked uncomfortable due to such a thin mattress on a camp bed, it was probably the best night’s sleep I have had the entire time I have been away. Breakfast this morning for everyone was fruit juice with egg on toast, which they cooked fresh, so it was still warm when it reached my mouth; this was also probably one of the better breakfasts I have had in Thailand.

Today we were going to be visiting the third largest national park in Thailand called Khao Yai, so we all had to wear long trousers due to the many different animals, as well as insects, that live in the rain forest. When we arrived at the park, we met our jungle tour guides who also gave us socks (although they reminded me of

Christmas stockings) to put over our socks and trousers to protect us from any leeches in the forest before we were taken on a trek through some of the forest; it was not as hot as I had expected it to be in the forest although the humidity in the jungle did seem to change rather quickly, meaning, at times, I was absolutely dripping. The trek was only an hour long and I wish it had been longer as the park was so big, and we hardly saw anything in the time, although we did manage to see gibbon, hornbill and bear prints on the tree from where it was trying to reach honey. We also got told a lot about the different trees as well as smelling and tasting some of the bark from the trees – I must admit though I was not impressed, to me it just tasted like wood. The rainforest was very dense with loads of different types of trees, vines and shrubbery; there was not really a path set out as I had expected but rather just working your way through the trees as best as you could. After our trek, we

made our way to the waterfall that was featured in the film ‘The Beach’ if you have heard of it. I was quite underwhelmed by the waterfall as it was smaller than what I expected but it was still pretty and made for some good pictures. Despite the short time in the park, I did appreciate the small bit of exercise as lately I feel as if I have been so lazy and by the time I return home I will be so weak.

We must have returned to the hotel around 3.30 which allowed plenty of time for a nap before dinner; I feel as if the past few days have just really taken it out of me and I am definitely looking forward to my 2 weeks on a beach at the end of this week. I think if it wasn’t for Daisy and Georgia, I would have ended up missing dinner again but thankfully they woke me up, so I went out with them back to the Italian restaurant as everywhere around here seemed to be as equally expensive but tonight, we did all go on the cheap with only getting water as well as basically the cheapest meal you could find so my meal only came to £2.20 but yet it was still plenty enough and full of flavour that I enjoyed it. I think tonight's portions were bigger than they were when we went in the large group yesterday. Tonight, I had the house special spaghetti which had sausage, ham, prawn and, much to my surprise, chilli in it. I never realised there were whole chillies in it, so thinking it was a red pepper, I ended up eating it whole and then my eyes just ran, and my

mouth felt on fire, that was a very quick lesson learning they were not red peppers.

The strange thing that we have all started realising over the past few days, is that to a lot of people, we are an attraction; we have noticed people taking pictures of us in the streets or asking us for a photo with them. Everyone waves at us and it is strange, as they act as if we are something special when all we really are is tourists trying to explore the culture. The way they act towards us is borderline between creepy and flattering.

Tonight, everyone seems zapped of energy, so it is just an easy night in with a bit of music with the occasional Oreo thrown in.

The picture above is everyone on my Thailand tour from top left to

bottom right is Billy, Lucy, Anne, Lucy, Casper, James, Daisy, Lucy, Hope, Josh, Emilie, Lucy, Claire, Georgia, Me, Katherine, Verity, Michella, Melanie, Jack, Emily, Julia, Britt, Alba, Kirsten, Elle and finally Bas.