Day 8, 8/9/05 Chiang Mai, Mae Wang
Well after a lazy yesterday back to it today.
Had early night so didnt find it hatd geting up this morning and was picked up from our guest house at 8.30 along with Graham and Gilian from Ireland. Then headed off to pick up another couple Jeroen and Marjolein from Holland.
We drove for about an hour before parking up and heading into the jungle. 
Heading towards a Hmong village we followed yet again slippy steep paths,
crossing a little bridge and mostly walked uphill. We walked for about 45 minutes and reached the hill tribe.
Our guide for the day was Nino and talked us through the history of Hmong tribes, they originate from china and like most hill tribes are Ethnic minoraties living in Thailand.
Althoug found it strange when some of the children were walking around with mp3 players or something similar, even spotted a box for a 20 inch colour tv which made me laugh, no signs of electric though.
We had chance to grab a quick snack,
Nino the guide loved these things, we all tried a bit, very chewy and nutty….
We then headed back to the van and onto an Elephant camp were we went elephant riding into the jungle.
Mixed thoughts of this……… seemed cruel for the elephants but guess they may not be here if it wasnt for their job. 
Again still commercial cause every 10 mins or so you came accross someone in a hut in the jungle selling bananas for the elephants 20 baht and drinks. As a typical English guy because I could I bought a Singha beer from one vendor and rhode my elephant with a cold beer in one hand, it was a first for me.
Time for lunch which was rice and a mixter of vegetable and fruits in different sauces, went down a treat.
Off to our next hill tribe then, which was a Karen tribe originating from Myanmar.
They specialise in making woven clothes which can take from a week to a couple of months to finish. We were given the oppurtunity to buy some which we didnt and the whisked off to a waterfall that I dont know the name of. 
The day finished with us bamboo rafting down the river Wang and came very close to capsising in white waters within the first few minutes but then it settled down alot and we glided along for around an hour taking in all the sites and sounds of the river and surounding jungle. No pics of this though for obvious reasons, camera stayed in the van although I did think about risking it.
A very good day with some very nice people but the trip as I think we all felt was some what commercial but then I guess thats what we create as travellers.
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Tags: Travel
Brett