Good morning, Thailand. here goes it, the tour. Please don't let this tour be hoaky.
First up, rafting. white water rafting. lots of instructions. too many instructions how am I going to keep this straight. wait, did i tell the guide I was uncoordinated and a klutz. he should know. 2 americans + 2 russians and one thai guide. go. pad-dle fo-ward. pad-dle four. voice like a song. peaceful. calm. oh shit. first out of 5 big rapids. here goes nothing. awesome. absolutely awesome. 3 more rapids. we are pros. last rapid, it's the biggest. hold on. wait, what's Matt doing? the raft, holy shit the raft it broke. don't even think of grabbing on to me. oh no, he's going overboard. wait, I'm going too. what the? oh no. remember the instructions, do I hang on? but wait don't put legs under raft or maybe I should float and coast it out? how do i do it again, head first? no feet first. oh shit. where's matt? screw matt he's stronger than me. somebody just grab me. ah back on board. so is Matt. that was ridiculous and hilarious. guide is laughing. didn't I say I was uncoordinated?relaxing float back to camp. countryside is beautiful. it's hot. maybe we should go swimming. do you see that elephant? what's he doing? hmmm pooping in the water. yeah no swimming for me, thanks. lunch of chicken and rice + coca-cola and water. next up... biking.
They can't be serious. these are the bikes they want us to ride? bikes are shit. it's hot, like fry an egg hot. where do we go? what? up that huge hill, yeah right. is this one of those aha stupid tourist tours? This sucks. I'm hitching a ride with the tour pickup. Matt, tough Matt, he's going to do it. yeah stupid tourist... ends up walking bike up hill. But downhill, that's another story...... wheee!!!! Brake! brake! brake! finally we are at the elephant camp. that sucked.
the elephant camp is interesting. so many elephants. too many chained. it makes us sad. but we ride anyway. on a hilly path through the jungle. nice way to see the rural countryside. elephants are pigs. sugar cane & bananas... give me more, give me more. the ride is bumpy. Matt loved it although made him a bit sad too. but so did como zoo. touche.
lovely people on the tour with us. all young. 4 germans, 3 irish, 2 russians. germans off to krabi then dubai (Obama good for the world). irish going to Australia to work for six months. russsians spent two months in Dominican, wrapping up in Thailand. ahh the life of the jet set europeans.
Nap time. so nice to lay down. it was a long day. Matt leaves in search of a motorbike. only caution, don't die.
he survived. now it's off to find dinner. 100 baht tuk-tuk ride to east gate of old city. wandering, searching for House restaurant. finally find it. talk about a cluster. 2 restaurants. 5 menus. all at once. we are super confused. we eat in ginger cafe on big couches as dining chairs. Matt attempts to kick hit feet up. really? we are in a restaurant. odds and ends decor, loved by gays. Bon Appetit. dinner is good. dessert and coffee better. we are tired. it's 10:30 after all.
