Thailand itinerary 8

ummm...sorry, back to the trip (its been a very busy month more about that later).

Just a last few things about our Thailand trip which we haven't gotten too yet.

Day 8: Chang Mai Mega Tour
Awake in a rush because our alarm didn't go off and the "back up wake up call" wasn't clearly communicated. So we wake up at 8 am to a knock on the door to say our tuk tuk has arrived for the tour. We are out the door in 5 minutes, no coffee, combs and toothbrushing optional.

After picking up the other tourists...including 4 spanish tourists who meet on the tour bus and are fast friends within minutes, we head to the first stop of the day--the orchid & butterfly farm. As big of a biology geek as Nathan is, after a few photos the first priority becomes finding a coffee shop at the butterfly farm.

From there we headed about an hour into the country through some gorgeous lush hills on a barely maintained road. The first adventure stop--white water rafting. Nathan and I had more dangerous tours on our first kayak trip down the Iowa river, but it was fun and the kids with us had a great time. As long as we were wet, our guides dropped us at a waterfall for a quick dip. Several pools of fast moving water were the best jacuzzi we could ask for.

We had a lovely lunch before heading out for an elephant ride through the forest. Seeing these beautiful animals up close was wonderful. Following our elephant ride, our tour took us back to the river for a bamboo raft ride.

We finished our day with a walk to a hill village which featured members of the Long Neck Tribe. The girls wear brass rings around their necks to "protect from tiger bites". The Long Neck Tribes are Burmese refugees which are displaced around Chang Mai.

After a long day, we headed back to Chang Mai for a quick dinner before heading out to a Muay Thai boxing match. Nathan took hundreds of action photos of the night but caught a few fantastic ones.