Thailand Day 9

We got woken up early again to the sound of pigs and cockerals again. After breakfast the owner of the house we were staying in came out with his cross bow to show the kids. After shooting at leaves for a bit he fired his arrows way over the village. The bow was pretty powerful. No idea where his arrows went but hopefully they didn't end up sticking in anyone!

The last part of the trek was following the river and involved crossing back and forth many times. We left our boots with the driver and walked in flip flops so that we could walk in and out of the water. Part of the way along the walk we stopped to feed the fish growing in a big pool. We also foumd the villagers building a dam and directing the water down a newly dug channel so they could get the water into their fields. It looked great fun. Near to the end of the walk we saw a group of villagers fishing in the river by throwing nets out into the water.

At the next village we were picked up by our minibus and driven down to the local town. Here we said goodbye to Mr Boon our treking guide. He was picking up his moped and driving back to his village.

We then drove for a hour or so to get to our next hotel in Mae Hong Son. On the way we stopped at a view point with lots of souvenirs stores. By this time we were pretty much shopped out so didn't buy anything.

Just before we arrived in Mae Hong Son we went rafting down the river for a few kms. We were not allowed to paddle so had to sit and watch as we floated down the river. We passed lots of people collecting sand and stones to make concrete with. John told us this was one of the toughest jobs you could do, mostly done by refugees from Burma. At this point we are only 10km from the border.

Our hotel was the Golden Pai Resort. We seemed to be the only people staying there so we had the pool and restaurant to ourselves

Neve firing the cross bow

Felix getting ready to fire cross bow at leaf

First river crossing.

Mr Boon brought his slighshot with him to try and catch birds. We all had a go at firing it. Apparently Julie had Black Widow catapult when she was a kid so was the most stylish of us all

Final river crossing

These guys were throwing nets into the river to catch fish

Saying goodbye to Mr Boon our treking guide

Another market full of handbags and scarfs!

Julie on mountain viewpoint

More handbags, very colourful

Felix refusing to be in the photo

All kitted up, now where did we put the raft?

The rafts were made of bamboo

Neve shared her seat with a Gecko which hid in the pocket for most of the journey