Well, 4 days of trekking through the hilltribes, do I have something to blog about!

Day 1

The first day started with a stop off at the markets to buy food for the journey, then we headed up into the mountains in the back of a ute. The road was incredibly steep and narrow, while it was sealed, there was only really room for one car on it. There were heaps of blind corners, everytime our driver came up to a corner he would beep his horn to indicate to anyone coming around the corner that he was coming. We drove along this road for almost an hour, before coming to a village, where we met our porters. We then hiked to our first village, in just over an hour. My group was all very fit, we did the hike in about half the time that the groups usually do it. Our guide struggled to keep up with us, while the porters had no problem, because they are locals to this area and used to it.

In the first village, the women all dressed quite well, wearing purple and lots of bright colours. There were around 20 people in this village. They all came to us and did a tribal dance for us, where we joined in. The interesting thing about this dance was that the music was very simple, they had a 3 string guitar, and only played 2 chords, with plain straight strokes the whole time. The dancing was just holding hands in a circle around a fire, and stepping sideways, stopping every few beats to stomp on the ground. Our guide told us this is the only dance and song that they do, and they will do this over and over all night. And they loved it. I found that really odd that they could get so much enjoyment out of the same simple thing over and over and over again.

Our dwelling was a simple grass/bamboo hut, where all 15 of us slept. The beds were simply a raised floor on each side of the hut, with grass matts. It was very uncomfortable, I hardly slept that night. Our guide made us a really nice tofu green curry for dinner, I think it was the best green curry I've had since coming to Thailand, it was very spicey.

Day 2

I was woken up at 5am by the roosters crowing. All the villages we went to had chickens, cows, pigs and dogs. I slept in as much as I could before breakfast. When I went outside, women from the surrounding villages had come and set up little market stores on plastic matts in a circle to sell hats, bags, drink holders and jewellery that they had made. The funny thing was that every single store was the same, each woman had made exactly the same stuff. So, after looking at one womans products, you had seen them all. But, we still felt obligated to have a look at every store. It was quite painful, saying no I'm not interested 10 to 12 times.

The toilets on the trek were probably the hardest thing to deal with. The toilets were squat toilets, in a little room, some of the rooms were made out of bamboo and so if you went at night, you had to turn the torch off otherwise everyone could see in. There was no flush, the flush was a big bowl of water beside the toilet with a scoop, you would scoop the water into the toilet to flush it. To shower, there was another bowl of water with a scoop, and you would scoop the cold water over you. And it was all very dirty and muddy. Needless to say, I was very relieved to be able to use a sit down toilet when I got back to the hotel.

The second day was the longest trek, though we did it in about half the time of most groups. I think our guide said that there are usually some older people, 50 to 60 year olds on the hike, that slow the group down. Our oldest people were early thirties, and they were all very fit. For lunch we stopped near a waterfall, and swam there. Seeing as it was the rainy season, there was a lot of water going down the water fall. The bottom of the waterfall was all pebbles, and the pebbles would be moving about in the turbulant water so that it was a little painful to be in front of the waterfall. But exhilarating none the less.

At times the hike was very steep. Going up hill, this was ok, I enjoy walking up hill. There was a really long up hill bit, usually it takes the group 90 minutes but we did it in 40. That was great. But the down hill was painful. The track was very muddy and slippery, and so it was very easy to slip over. Fortunately, I never did slip over, but I busted some pretty mad dance moves.

The scenary was incredibly green, mud aside, the wet season really is a good time to go trekking in Thailand. I got a number of very nice photos. The village we arrived in that evening was very basic. There were 2 teenage girls there that we tried to talk to in their dialect using our phrase sheet, but they just laughed at us. That was probably the hardest night, because it rained a lot, the roof of the hut leaked, and everything was just very wet and muddy. And by that time, everyones clothes stunk. There also wasn't as much room in the hut.

Day 3

Day 3 was meant to be a fairly quick bamboo rafting trip. Unfortunately though, the river level was too high and moving too fast, it would have been dangerous, because there water was flowing through fallen trees, if the raft turned over and anyone went into the trees, they would have been dragged under the branches, and if they got caught underneath, they would have been dead. So, instead, it was a 4 hour hike. The hike actually wasn't too bad, it just followed the river, went up and down as tracks that follow rivers do, but nothing too steep. Everything was very wet though and a number of people, including myself, got leaches on them.

Our campsite that night was not in a village, it was at a hut beside the river. Compared to the previous 2 nights, this hut was 5 star luxury, the beers were cold! That afternoon we went for elephant rides. It was kinda fun, but elephants are big smelly and disobedient animals, they kept stopping for food. We had a great night that night sitting around the campfire playing games and drinking.

I actually had a good nights sleep that night, they had (thin) mattresses in the hut, and it had a proper tiled roof. The beer probably also helped.

Day 4

Day 4 wasn't much of a day, basically we just said goodbye to our porters, and drove back to Chiang Mai. Our porters were great. Because of the language barrier, having fun with them meant really basic jokes, mostly about being gay. The word for lady boy in Thai is ka-toi. So we were telling our porters they were katoi, and they were saying no, I'm rambo, you katoi. It was all lots of fun.

After getting back to Chiang Mai, most of us ordered masseuses to our rooms. We then went out in the evening and went and saw some Thai boxers sparring, and drank a lot of cocktails.

Rather than saying bits and pieces about the Coup in my blog entries, I thought I'd make one blog entry that I'll graduatally add to with all my thoughts on the Coup, that way the rest of my blog can stay unpolitical.

I've seen a bit of what the Australian media and the Australian government has been saying about the coup. The official advisory said diplomats shouldn't send their kids to school, other things have said that people should stay indoors, keep away from busy areas and don't take any photos or do any filming. I think the coup leaders are justified in being upset with the foreign media for saying things like that.

Today, I saw on the front cover of the Bangkok Post, Thailands biggest English newspaper, a photo of a kid dressed in kahki gear, holding a toy gun, posing in front of one of the tanks. If there was any issue with taking photos in public places, a photo like that would never have made it to the front page of a local newspaper. Rather, I think the coup leaders are very happy for images like that to be posted, because they want everything to be as transparent as possible.

I read that a survey of 1550 random Bangkok residents, http://www.bangkokpost.net/News/25Sep2006_news02.php, showed that something like 97% of residents welcomed the coup, while around 90% were "comfortable" with the military presence, and around 80% said it made them feel "safe". Being here on the ground in Thailand, I completely agree. There is nothing intimidating about the military presence, they are all very friendly, and they want everything to be as smooth as possible. My impression is that they regret that things have come to this, and so want to do everything they can to avoid any inconvenience to residents and especially tourists. Indeed, while we have such a strong military presence in and around the place, and in light of the recent terrorist attacks, I would say that Thailand is a safer place.

As for whether the coup is right or wrong. I read a very interesting opinion column in the Bangkok Post this morning: http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/25Sep2006_news15.php. The writer argued that the reasons for the coup were all right, but morally, the coup was wrong. I think I have to agree with the writer. It is however, very easy for us, knowing nothing of Thai politics, to simply say because it is a coup, it is wrong. One thing I've noticed since coming to Thailand, is that Thai people are very smart, and very friendly. This is not a third world country, where the people don't know what is good for them. Many of them are educated, and they have a very strong desire to help out others. Anytime I was looking unsure or lost, someone would ask me if I needed help. And, they are definitely not a violent group of people. Many of them are very religious, strong Budhists, and believe strongly that what goes around comes around.

So here we are in Thailand, a non violent country, with a military coup that is welcomed. That in my opinion is a very strong sign. If there was any shred of doubt in these people that a military coup was a bad thing, you would think they wouldn't welcome it, that they would strongly oppose. Rather, we see that soldiers are given flowers and cold drinks on the street.

So, my overall opinion of this coup, is that while it is sad that it came to this, it is not a bad thing. I can't comment on the cause, because I am not Thai, but I trust the Thai peoples judgment that it was necessary. And certainly, from what I have seen on the streets, I have every confidence in the coup leaders will resolve it quickly and peacefully.

Well, what a cool trip this is turning out to be. I can say that I was in a country which was a constitutional monarchy one day, and a dictatorship the next. That sounds all very exciting, but really, it's not. Here in Chiang Mai, 12 hours train ride north of Bangkok, everything is normal. No ones uneasy or upset, life just continues on as normal. The only difference is that apparently, and I haven't seen them, there are military personel on the streets with automatic weapons. Unfortunately, it looks like it will have an impact on our tour, in 3 days we were hoping to cross the border into Burma for half a day, but the northern borders have been sealed. My tour guide has said there is absolutely nothing to worry about, and everyone believes that this will be peacefully resolved. I've seen the transmissions on tv, the military appears to have every intention to hand control back to the people as soon as possible.

Anyway, onto my trip. Yesterday we took a 5 hour bus trip to Ayutthaya. Ayutthaya used to be the capital of Thailand, 250 years ago. Then the Burmese came through and destroyed every temple. So the king packed up and went to Bangkok. So, yesterday we went to the ruins of two major temples. They were quite amazing, these buildings were 700 years old. All the budhas had had their heads smashed off.

In the evening we boarded the overnight train to Chiang Mai. Here we met the rest of my tour group for the next 6 days. Up until now it's been 3 of us, but now it's 15. Out of the 12 new people, 6 of them are Mexican exchange students studying at Macquarie University. The rest are Aussies, a young couple from the central coast, a girl from Newcastle, and the rest from Sydney. They're a pretty good group, everyones easy going, so there's no disagreements in what to do etc.

We stayed up reasonably late partying in the dining car, a lot of backpackers were on this train from a large number of different countries. I've never had so much fun on a train before! I had just enough alcohol to put my straight to sleep, usually I don't sleep on trains but this time, no problems.

We arrived in Chiang Mai at around 9am, went to the hotel, and then we went to the jewelery and silk factories. We got to see them make the jewelery and the silk, and I picked up some good bargains for presents for my family. After that we went to one of the temples, a big one up in the mountains. It was very ornate, but temples aren't really my sorta thing.

Well, today I spent most of the day in the area surrounding Kanchanaburi. To start off with, I had a traditional Thai breakfast of rice soup with prawns. It was quite weird to be eating rice in soup, I don't usually do that. I've had a rice porridge before, but this wasn't like that. Very satisfying none the less. We then jumped in the back of a ute for a half hour drive to Hellfire Pass. One of the things that I'm really starting to notice about Thailand is that although the people are poor, the infrastructure is good. The roads out here in the country have been really good, similar to Australian country roads.

So anyway, Hellfire Pass was very moving and sombre. Reading the stories in the museum inspired in me an anger that I had never felt before towards another race. I can now understand why the ex servicemen are so strong about not allowing enemy soldiers to march in the Anzac day parade, seeing the brutality that those prisoners suffered really leaves an emotional scar that for many, is unforgivable. One thing though that you don't see in the old black and white pictures of the prisoners at work is how green and lush the jungle is. It was really quite a lovely walk down the rail bed.

After Hellfire Pass we headed to the Erawan Falls, a 7 tiered waterfall about 2km long. We hiked up to the highest tier, and swam there for a while. The water was a beautiful cloudy green, caused by the calcium in the water from all the limestone in the area. I've only ever seen water that colour in still ponds that you would never swim in. Behind the 7th waterfall there was a cave, dripping with water from the roof, it was very cool inside. We sat there for a while and just relaxed. There were also a lot of fish in the water, big and small, which if you stayed still, would nibble at your toes.

Overall, it's been quite an exhausting day with a lot of walking. Tonight, if the weather holds up, we're going to the Kanchanaburi night markets, and will probably find a nice bar to settle at and have a good time.

Well, I'm now on my tour, and so finally have people to hang out with and talk to.

I spent most of yesterday wandering around the malls. I'm amazed at how American these malls are, more American than Australia. One particular one I went into, nearly all the food stalls were American fast food chains. I was very surprised to see a Sizzler, I didn't think Thai's would be interested in that, but obviously they are. And yes, the Sizzler did serve the nice toast.

At about 4:00 I met my new room mate, Jason. He's an American, but he's been studying at Macquarie Uni this semester.... so he lives about 15 minutes walk from where I work. There's only one other person on the tour, Jennifer, she's a Canadian, and like me, this is her first time overseas. Apparently a further 12 people will be joining us in Chang Mai for 6 days I think, and the n it will be back to just us again. It's nice having such a small group, because we get more attention from our guide, and it's more easy going because we only have to get 3 people to agree on what to do, rather than 15.

Both Jason and Jen only arrived in Bangkok less than a day before the tour started. So, having been there 3 days, I got to play guide last night. I took them to the Khao San Road by tuk tuk, where I tried a banana pancake made on a cart on the street. We also had a drink at one of the bars. It then started raining, so we decided to catch a taxi home. The taxi driver didn't speak any english at all, and couldn't work out where our hotel was from the map we gave him. He ended up dropping us off undercover at a shopping centre, by which time it was absolutely pouring with rain.

When it rains in Bangkok, it really rains. Some streets were 10cm deep with water. We were about 20 minutes walk from the hotel, I managed to get us within sight of it, through shopping centres and undercover walkways, but there was no way to get all the way undercover. So, we ran through the rain, and got totally drenched, arrived at the hotel all laughing and dripping wet. We then called it a night.

Today it was up early to catch a bus to Kanchanaburi. Kanchanaburi is a town about 2 hours by bus west of Bangkok. It sits on the River Kwai, and is famous for its World War 2 cemetry and Death Rail Museum. This afternoon we will visit those places and also the bridge over the River Kwai built by the POWs. Our guesthouse is fantastic, floating on the river where it's very cool, quiet and peaceful. Overall, Kanchanaburi is much more laid back than Bangkok, and much cleaner. It's a nice change from the city, though that's not say that Bangkok wasn't a great city :)