Thailand

We have made it to Thailand, certainly the most developed country so far along our travels, and a welcome rest. After the 2 day boat ride we were met on the Thai border by the Karaoke bus... yipee. It had eddie and I in stitches singing at the top of our lungs in a language we had never heard before. This place looked like fun.

We are in the north-west corner and have just arrived back from a 3 day trek into the local hill tribes. Sadly the usual problems of ethnic minorities, alcoholism and petty theft(not from us this time) but it was relaxing sitting around the campfire in the evenings. The were 9 of us and the usual mix of oddballs. Eddie and I felt like grandma and grandpa on the trip as they were all under 21. There were two particularly strange Canadians (brother and sister so they said) who didn't speak the whole time. Apparently they lived in the middle of nowhere so they had never learnt the art of conversation.

We have met a couple of nice people living in Chang Mai teaching English and eddie has organised to go rock climbing with them tomorrow.I am thinking of either going and reading a book ie slightly less energetic, or else a sleep in followed by another massage- very addictive. We had one the other day and eddie had the contortionist style Thai massage and I went the relaxation oil massage. It was all going ok until i found out the whole body massage was exactly that- whole body. Its a while since i have had a women rubbing oil all over my boobs. Maybe she confused it for my back as i am a tad flat chested....

I spent all day today at a Thai cooking course .... i might be able to rival Ros (Mrs Barrett) with her spring rolls now. Learnt also how to make all the curry pastes and curries from scratch as well as tom yum and pad Thai to name a few. Hope I can find all the ingredients back in brissie