Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Effervescing Elephants and Jungle Jaunts

Pimp my pachyderm.

Mai is thirty-four years old and partial to a banana. Not the fruit, you understand, but the whole, bloomin' plant, which she can happily wolf down in seconds. Saves time peeling them, don't it.


Ever get that feeling that you're a long way from North London?


Watch out for the large bloaty mammal in the river. That's right, the one in blue shorts.


This was excellent fun - not an experience we're likely to forget in a hurry. Never mind swimming with dolphins: this is hardcore pet therapy


We stopped at this lookout point so that we could get a good view of the clouds.





According to the Thai-way Code, one should drive on these roads at no less than 80km/hour, observing no particular preference for either side of the road.





Stile-ish Jules, makes for the hills.





Our first stop. Jules and Mikal commune with the exotic wildlife.




Potato soup, Thai style (i.e. sitting on the floor).

Meet Mikal. Our friend from The Netherlands. He's quite safe, you know.









See: here he is being quite charming with the lovely Tomoka, our other fearless trek-type-person.






Tomoka is from a city in Japan that we'd not heard of. She is a dentist, so we all felt shamed into making a great show of our, already impeccable, oral hygiene.


Mikal toasts his tootsies.









Well, you would, wouldn't you? I mean, there isn't a tea-cosy for hundreds of miles.




Tomoka had never played Sodoku before.


Damian had not performed well in his Camoflage practical.





In the distance you can see the village we stayed in on our second night. It took more than an hour to get there, though, because of the severe slope and a downpour. Serves us right for going a-trekkin' in the rainy season.















This is our night of cultural liaison. That is, we drank the local Thai fire-water: 50p a litre and distilled from old plastic bags, I reckon. It doesn't encourage one to leap from one's bed the next morning, either.














The team.










How do we keep meeting such fun Dutch guys? This fella was no exception - more hilarity from Den Haag.






The end of our trek - it was back to Pai for a massage and a hearty burger. Oh, and more Thai whiskey. Will they never learn?




2 comments:

Anonymous said...

arrgh, footprints in the butter. again! Is a panorama full of banana plants called a bananarama? thats a lot of As. Talking of which, I'm off to Glasto, now... I'll raise a smile to you both on the long day. hugs and kisses. Marius

Carrots and Olives said...

Have a great Glasto - please Buddha, no rain.