Chiang Mai Adventure Day!

After a much much needed good night's sleep, we woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to face our day of excitement!

We told everyone to be ready for breakfast at 7.30am.

Breakfast was buffet style and there  seemed to be something for everyone. 

Our first stop was elephant riding. Some people had stubborn elephants, some had speedy elephants. Fabio even got to ride on the elephant's head! 

After our somewhat bumpy ride through jungle and river, we headed to the local school to donate supplies and visit. The school we saw has 550 students, most of whom are hilltribe children from the surrounding mountains. About 200 of them live there as boarders because their villages are so remote there is no way they could come and go everyday. School, boarding and food are free for the students. After a bit of a walk around, our kids joined in an impromptu football match with the local children.

Everyone was STARVING after running around, so we waved goodbye and drove on down the road for lunch.

Ha! I just had show that last photo of everyone keeping busy after lunch.... gaming! Who needs friendly conversation, right?

After lunch we went to a Karen village and learnt about some hilltribe customs. There was an old lady weaving cotton and our guide, Khun Tik, explained how they get all their colours naturally. Some of us bought some souvenirs in the village.

Then we went on a long hike through the jungle and down some steep stairs to Mae Wang waterfall. It was beautiful and we were si hit but we weren't allowed to swim because there was too much water. We could only dip our feet in the rock pools.

Our final and most exciting activity of the day was bamboo rafting. We'd all been told to bring extra clothes to change into. And boy did we need them! What an exciting journey! Granted, the water was only knee deep most of the time, but we had rapids, rocks, ants, a few water snakes, student raft drivers (our students got to steer!).... unfortunately I don't have pictures of any of it as we all left our bags in the vans. There's just this one pre-raft shot...

After rafting we came back to the hotel and had some free time. Then we went for dinner at a restaurant on the river. We also had a cake to celebrate Rida and Inez's birthdays.

What an exhausting day! Can't believe tomorrow is our last day in Chiang Mai. Arts and crafts day here we come!